-
Joy Coy Twins in NFL
Baca County Boys play against the Packers, Bears and NY Giants in 1928 Originally published in print edition of the Plainsman Herald February 2, 2022. By Greg Crane A good number of Baca Countians have always had a keen interest in sports, from T-ball and pee-wee wrestling, to high school state championships in track, football,…
-
Kansas Trip
We are getting closer to the completion of a project we will call “Before it Was Baca, Persons Stories, Incidents and Letters from the Early Day East Enders: 1886-1889,” We are waiting on a very interesting set of artifacts, but I hope can finish by the end of summer. The following letter excerpt from that…
-
The Two Buttes Cyclone: Aug 1917
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, newspapers and the general public in the United States often referred to tornadoes as “cyclones.” This can be attributed to a misunderstanding of the terms and a general lack of knowledge about the distinct differences between these two weather phenomena at the time. As meteorology advanced and…
-
Orville Ewing meets Former Baca Countian in Klamath Falls Oregon, 1959
There are literally thousands of Orville Ewing references in newspapers across the country between 1938 -1971, but this one caught my attention as it references a man named Frank Cotton who apparently as a boy lived in Baca, who rode around with Ewing on a mail-delivering beat when he was a youngster in Colorado.. I…
-
John B. Garvin, an Unsung Springfield Hero from the County Seat Fights
John B. Garvin, an Unsung Springfield Hero from the County Seat Fights John Garvin is usually a footnote in the history of Baca County. You usually see him mentioned as a name in a list of early Springfield newspapers as follows: Sam Konkel mentions him in the Springfield paper in 1918 (Right) when he pulled…
-
Baca County’s Connection to 1939 Czechoslovakia: Another Unusual Baca County Dust Bowl story.
The Sudetenland, a region located in the western part of what was Czechoslovakia (The Czech Republic until 2016, and is now called Czechia) has a long and complicated history that has been marked by controversy and conflict. The area is known for its cultural diversity, and strategic importance, which has made it a coveted…
-
HUGE IRRIGATION PROJECT ABOUT TO START
The possibility of a dam on Two Buttes Creek had been discussed as early as the 1880’s by early settlers in the area, but it was after the turn of the century before anyone attempted to develop the idea. The Springfield Herald, Volume 22, Number 19, January 8, 1909 reprinted a Pueblo Chieftain piece on…
-
Passing of a Great Range Herd
Prairie Cattle Company, Owners of the JJ Brand, Quits Business The Prairie Cattle Company was established in December of 1880 with headquarters in Edinburgh Scotland. The initial investors noticed that the ranching business had assumed extensive proportions in the Western States and territories of America and had yielded very large profits, in spite of the…
-
Butte City: 1886
Boston wasn’t quite the first in the east end as this part of Las Animas county as it was thencalled. Butte City was started in June 1886; we believe that less than half a dozen houses were builtthere when it was abandoned and the houses moved over to Minneapolis, started a few miles west of…
