100 years ago: “Bob P. Hott, the prosperous cattleman of up the line, blew in to make his proper New Year’s celebration in a regular town. He hails usually from Tiffany, but explained that lots of the bunch there belonged to the church and didn’t celebrate the New Year in fitting style and with the proper amount of eclat – whatever that is. He sure started in well here, all right, all right.”
75 years ago: “During the past week 200,000 loch laven trout eggs from Troy, Montana, arrived at the Durango hatchery. The hatchery also says that the brook trout eggs taken last fall have hatched, and the tiny fish are large enough for feeding.”
50 years ago: “Mechanical difficulties on the chair lift at the Purgatory ski area resulted in a considerably reduced capacity on the lift over the New Year’s weekend, but the good crowd was still accommodated after a longer-than-usual wait in the lift line. Chet Anderson, manager of the area, reports a coupling between the electric motor and the gear box at the top of the lift ‘fell to pieces’ as the lift was fully loaded. An auxiliary motor was promptly coupled on, and the lift riders were stranded only 10 to 15 minutes before the lift started to move again, although it was a slower speed.”
25 years ago: “December 1990 has exited into history, but it’s left behind plenty of icicles and memories of its bitter cold.
Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.
