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A 1933 Dust Bowl Thanksgiving
Football Game Between Springfield and Lamar Includes Former Professionals The 1920s earned the moniker “The Golden Age of Sports” due to the dawn of high-level competitive athletics and the rise of exceptional athletes across various disciplines. With increased leisure time and improved transportation, individuals exhibited unwavering devotion to local sports, fostering an unprecedented sense of…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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THE WELDING SHOP
by Kathryn Ratliff Benes(A special thank you to Donitta Johnson for the photographs of the Welding Shop) The notice in the weekly county newspaper informed the public that Cow County Welding had sold its inventory effective in January, 2000. Eugene and Marilyn appreciated the years of continued patronage. The welding shop had closed. An era…
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Life of Early Cowboy was Hard: JJ cowboy John Layton
As today, Dec 29, is the 140th anniversary of the incorporation of the Prairie Cattle Company I have compiled a couple of related items. The April 30, 1963 issue of the Guymon Daily Herald reprinted the autobiography written by my great uncle John Layton who was a JJ cowboy from 1901 to 1911ish. I have…
