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How about something different…like an Early Baca County Town Crossword
Well…here is something different. Here is an online version and a downloadable PDF. If you load the online version and refresh it may go away and you may have to delete your history or remove the cookies. If the online version doesn’t work, try this downloadable PDF. Good Luck
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Dust Bowl Research Update: Origins of the term”Dust Bowl”, Maps and more
I have been collecting artifacts of the Dust Bowl as it relates to Baca County for awhile. My focus is compiling a resource that tells the “Dust Bowl” story from the perspective of the Baca County Newspaperman, in particular, Springfield Democrat Herald, Editor Ralph Williams. However, the research from other newspapers across the country…
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Kliesen City, Colorado’s Namesake
As is normal, I was looking for something else when I discovered the namesake of another long gone Baca County Colorado town. Mostly what we know about Kliesen City is that it was located north of the tracks, north of Vilas, Colorado. The present day Konkel lollipop factory is just south of what was Kliesen…
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The Move To the New Host complete.
The Move To the New Host is Complete. The images not so much. Will be adding those back gradually. Thanks for reading.
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Names of Springfield Residents of 1889 Disclosed in Letter this Week…
The names of those who lived in Springfield and community back in the year 1889 disclosed in a The Democrat-Herald (Springfield, Colorado) 25 Jan 1935. — clipping from the Springfield Herald, the predecessor to The Democrat-Herald. This is a reprint of a February 25, 1889 letter written from Springfield, Colorado and reprinted in the…
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A 1907 View of the Santa Fe Trail.
We have had several conversations about the portion of the Santa Fe Trail which crosses Baca County. Most recently we posted Jim Womack’s “Ruts of the Santa Fe Trail, The Aubrey Trail Cutoff.” The following article in the Springfield Herald (Springfield, Colorado) May 31, 1907, is attributed to the Syracuse Journal, but no specific issue. It…
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Sam Konkel’s take on the Al Jenning’s “Fishy” Autobiography.
In “Old Boston: As Wild As They Come” we tell the story of many of the characters of the that short-lived (1886-1889) and wild Colorado Boomtown, Boston, Colorado. The key resource for this story are the 1918-1919 writings of Sam Konkel, who ran one of two newspapers in that town. Konkel told us much about the…
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Sam Konkel’s Map of Southeast Colorado Stagecoach Routes 1887-1889
A couple years ago I found a copy of Sam Konkel’s Southeast Colorado Stagecoach map in terrible condition. The quality was so poor it was basically useless and it led me to the development of the 1886-1889 Boom Town map located here in a previous blog post. However, in my last visit to Baca County, I…
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Reading Old Time Newspapers: A Primer
It feels great to find interesting tidbits in old newspapers—for me it has been part of researching my book, for others, it may be finding an obituary, marriage announcement, or other types of notice. But sometimes historical newspapers used abbreviations and terms that are no longer common, leaving some of us scratching our heads. …
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Baca County Festivals and Fairs: Part 1
I will probably work at adding to this in pieces, maybe in the form of a timeline, but I thought it would be fun to start looking at various festivals and fairs held in Southeast Colorado/ Southwest Kansas/ Baca County through the years. Sam Konkel mentions an 1888 fair in Boston, Springfield, and Minneapolis, but there isn’t…
