100 years ago: “J.M. Hayden, of Chama, one of the eldest engineers on the Rio Grande road, pulled the Eastern into Durango having ‘bumped’ Jack Reddington onto the Chama Hill run. Engineer Hayden formerly drove one of the little engines over the range but has not been in here for a long time.”

75 years ago: “Just to settle some of the weather arguments which have ranged with considerable more warmth than the weather itself has manifested, Bob Ayers, local weather observer, proclaims that at 5:15 this morning the thermometer registered 5 degree above.”

50 years ago: “Snow kept piling up and piling up on all the mountain passes leading from Durango and the Colorado State Patrol advised chains on all of them. There were four feet of new snow on Wolf Creek Pass and six new inches on Red Mountain.”

25 years ago: “What price for freedom? Exactly $13 at Kelley’s Kards in Durango, but hurry. Pieces of the Berlin Wall are going fast. The store only has six pieces of the wall left from the 24 pieces the store ordered before Christmas. The $13 price gets you a silver dollar-size piece of the wall in a velvet bag, a written history and a map of the wall, a certificate from American Airlines which flew the merchandise to the United States, and a certificate of authenticity.”

Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Animas Museum and Center of Southwest Studies. Their accuracy may not be verified.