100 years ago: “An astounding find from the Aztec ruins is a pencil – a real pencil, very much like those used today. It is bound with wood and string, and when one wets the end of the pencil and rubs the point on the hand, it leaves a brilliant, dark red stain. Now, one asks, did the Aztecs have grammar and know how to write?.”

75 YEARS AGO: “‘These blank fronts of unoccupied businesses on Main Avenue aren’t doing the town any good in an advertising way,’ declared a speaker on the street this morning. It might be added that he sat right back down to let someone else do everything after he spoke.”

50 YEARS AGO: “The rains, long awaited throughout this hot, dry summer, came to Durango last night, with the clouds opening up and spilling an official total of 0.67 inches. This brings the August moisture total to 2.78 inches, as compared with 1.49 a year ago.”

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