100 years ago: “Dr. William Schumacher, the sheep inspector, left for Ignacio to see that the lambs of that section have enough to eat and a place to sleep.”
75 years ago: “If weather conditions and calculations are correct, the Cosik-Peltier comet, discovered last Jan. 19 will be faintly visible in the western sky shortly after sundown.”
50 years ago: This appeared in the section called Silverton News: “The main talk of the town has been the lack of snow and all the frozen water pipes. It doesn’t seem very long ago that when you turned on a faucet, you got good, clear, cold mountain water. For some time now you have been able to expect most anything and perfectly happy if it was liquid. After finding out what Silverton water smells like when it is lukewarm (ick) we now boil all our drinking water.”
25 years ago: “Spontaneous combustion in the dry wall material behind a kiln caused the blaze that destroyed the 1881 roundhouse of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge, investigators determined. ... Repairing the six historic locomotives damaged by the fire will be a difficult and expensive – but not impossible – task, according to railroad buffs. Manufactories who made parts are no longer in business, very few – if any – similar locomotives exist and the roundhouse machine shop where the mechanics forged their own parts was destroyed. But one longtime Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge worker has no doubt the train will run May 6 as promised.”
Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.
