Author - The Durango Herald

Miera y Pacheco was first European to create maps of the Four Corners region

More than 200 years ago, friars Dominguez and Escalante traveled north from Abiquiu, New Mexico, in search of a route to Spanish missions at Monterey in Alta California. Their tr...

DATE: Apr 14, 2018 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Durango’s master saddlemakers combine the finest craftsmanship, artistry

Growing up on the eastern Colorado plains, we always had horses. I chopped ice in frozen stock tanks and busted hay bales in winter. We hung saddles in the tack shed with ropes t...

DATE: Mar 10, 2018 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Protecting the sacred: Navajo Nation buys land at revered peak in Colorado

For decades, Navajos have sought protection for their sacred places, and now the Navajo Nation has bought Colorado ranch land at the base of one of their sacred peaks. With a recent $8 milli...

DATE: Feb 10, 2018 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

World War II bombers once roared through the Grand Canyon

‘Terrified visitors on the South Rim craned their necks to see what was coming’

DATE: Jan 13, 2018 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

A poisonous past: At Monticello Mill, the story of uranium’s deadly legacy

Tourists flock to Monument Valley, Utah, where red sandstone spires of the Mitten Buttes rise above desert sands. Publicity promotions of that iconic geology omit reference to the two nearby...

DATE: Dec 10, 2017 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Treasure trove: Nina Heald Webber’s extraordinary donations to Fort Lewis College

By Andrew Gulliford Special to the Herald Colleges love donors, and Fort Lewis College is no exception. Center of Southwest Studies at FLC has many friends and donors, ...

DATE: Nov 11, 2017 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

The soul of Bluff: Visionary Gene Foushee built, restored desert town

After 60 years of marriage, Gene and Mary Foushee passed on this summer just nine days apart. The couple was 88 years old and had lived a rich, full life. They will be remembered...

DATE: Oct 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Inside the walls of time: In Hermosa, Fisher house carries 1890s legacy

In grocery stores today, we can buy fruit from all over the world. A century ago, farm products were local, and a thriving orchard business had begun in the Animas Valley at Hermosa under st...

DATE: Sep 9, 2017 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

The sublime Yampa: Quiet canoe miles on a free-flowing, wild river

Imagine being on a Colorado river in the heart of the summer and seeing no one else on the water for 32 miles, three days and two nights. I couldn’t believe it, but there we were...

DATE: Aug 11, 2017 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Sheep wagons: From Old West function to New West fashion

Across the Old West, what was once function is now fashion. Well-worn cowboy boots, spurs, saddles and Stetsons all have a new cachet as collectibles. One man’s junk is another man’s buffed ...

DATE: Jul 7, 2017 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

The truth behind a frontier myth in Pagosa Springs

Just west of Pagosa Springs is a small roadside park north of the highway. A bronze plaque set in granite says that more than a century ago Capt. Albert Pfeiffer stripped naked on behalf of ...

DATE: Jun 10, 2017 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels

Putting Everett Ruess to rest: Perhaps a final conclusion to a 1934 desert mystery

One of the great mysteries of the Four Corners and the Southwest has been the 1934 disappearance of young artist Everett Ruess. He left the Utah village of Escalante alone, descended Davis G...

DATE: May 13, 2017 | CATEGORY: Gulliford's Travels