100 years ago: “Much of the time at the meeting of the city council was devoted to matters pertaining to the change of the city pipe line route. Considerable discussion was had on the kind of pipe to be used. Commissioners Scouton and Redman favoring Oregon Fir spiral wound pipe, owing to the difference in cost as compared with lap-welded steel pipe. The latter pipe was favored by Commissioner Wilson on the basis of its permanency. The wood pie was selected over the protest of Commissioner Wilson.”
75 years ago: “Fire brought damages estimated at $1,500 to the sawmill of the Griggs Lumber Company, located at the extreme east end of Sixth Street in Durango.”
50 years ago: “The city council set Oct. 1 as the date for ‘squatters’ to vacate city property on a the West Side along the Animas River. ... This was the first step in a clean-up program aimed at eventually converting the area into a park and recreational area along the west bank of the river. Over 30 houses, most of them occupied at the present time, will be removed in the clean-up program. In some cases the houses are owned by the occupants, but are situated on city land. In such instances the owner may move the buildings if desired, but if not they will be razed.”
25 years ago: “In the midst a record-breaking heat wave, an expected 35-45 men from the Southern Ute Tribe will begin their annual Sun Dance and dance for four days without food or water. The ceremony, held in the Medicine Lodge on the reservation at Ignacio, is the Ute tradition’s most important spiritual event, according to Eddie Box Sr., spiritual leader of the Southern Ute Tribe. The Sun Dance is a quest for spiritual power, purification and communion with the Great Spirit on behalf of the individual and the tribal community. A Ute male must receive a beckoning to dance, usually through a dream.”
Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.
