Dear Action Line: When I hike up into Overend Mountain Park, at the top of one of the many hills there is a slab of concrete, much like a house foundation, as well as a rusted-out metal pole with climbing handles and some form of box-like contraption on one end. What are these? I realize this slab is a fantastic stargazing spot and even a welcoming platform for UFOs to land to observe our corner of the world. Maybe the metal contraption is a method to capture cosmic energies and it had reached the end of its useful life and is awaiting replacement. – Cosmically Curious
Dear Cosmic: Great question. A real stumper. Action Line could write an entire column just about tracking down the answer.
It’d be about TV stations of the ’60s, kids in the ’50s carelessly shooting .22s, boys starting small fires that turned not small, and other doings in the Crestview neighborhood – once lovingly dubbed “Tupperware Heights.” And of course there were many phone messages left with paranormal experts Mulder and Scully that, unfortunately, were not returned.
Action Line went so far as to contact Ned Overend himself, who both the city park and trail (“Ned’s Hill”) that leads to the concrete slab are named for. He didn’t have an answer, but we agreed that the late Ed Zink would. (Zink, the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic founder who passed away in 2019, and Overend were among former co-owners of property that became part of the park.)
Finally, Action Line decided it was time to ask a reliable source who we try not to bug too often. That would be Robert McDaniel, longtime director of the Animas Museum, who just happened to grow up in the neighborhood.
“Remembering the old ‘Car Talk’ program on NPR, they used to have a segment called ‘Stump the Chump.’ While it’s quite possible to stump this chump, it’s not happening this time,” McDaniel began.
“The concrete slab and other remnants are from a short-lived television station located there in the 1960s. I spent my teen years … in Crestview, directly below the hill where that concrete slab is.”
McDaniel said he has a vague memory of going inside the station, and recalled there were cords and cables strewn about carelessly.
“I have a much more vivid memory of watching it burn down at night, sometime in the mid-to-late 1960s. Quite the conflagration lighting up the night sky! You can imagine that the fire department had a difficult time responding to that one.”
The station was almost certainly built on the top of the knoll that overlooks Durango in order to extend its broadcast signal.
“Access to it, however, was difficult at best,” McDaniel added, alluding to the steep, unpaved connecting road. “Picture a good winter snowstorm or soaking monsoon rainstorm.”
Action Line dove into the archives looking for more information, a newspaper story or even the station’s call letters. Nothing so far.
Turns out Action Line’s dog isn’t the only one who doesn’t like magpies.
Reader Larry Haddon, responding to last week’s column about a perceived bird decline, wrote that “magpies are destroying our bird population.”
“I have witnessed them take baby birds from nests to feed their population. … Years ago I think there was a bounty (offered for) decreasing that population of bird. Hope it’s not too late to consider saving our songbirds.”
As Montana’s state wildlife agency says on its website, “They are the birds that everyone loves to hate.”
Colorado law spells out certain species that, if they are causing damage on your owned or leased property, you can “hunt, trap, or take” them “without securing a license to do so.” Magpies are on the list. (Google “Colorado nuisance wildlife laws” to link to more information.”)
The black-billed magpies around here are smart and adaptable. And not 100% bad, as they eat insects and small rodents, a benefit to agriculture. If you don’t want them around, harass them by throwing rocks at them and, this is just Action Line talking, by playing thrash metal loudly. Oh, and make sure not to leave garbage out.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. For those who didn’t get the reference, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were FBI agents on the TV series “X-Files.” Perhaps they’ve moved on. Um, it was a documentary, right …?
