Baca County History

by the Plainsman Herald

Category: Baca County

  • When the Humble Broom built Broomcorn Empires

    It has been reported that  99% of all American households have at least one broom, and that a broom is vital to everyday living. -Los Angeles Times 1988 Think people don’t have strong feelings about the humble broom?   A recent review at Amazon.com of an old fashioned broomcorn broom says, I have backyard chickens, and…

  • Sheriff’s of Baca County

    1950 Baca County Sheriff Voting Tally Sheet.  Also note the Voting Tally for: County Superintendent of Schools between Eva Acre and Lillian Collings County Commissioner, 2nd Commissioner District  between Jess Suhler and Lee Twyford. Hope I don’t stir up some 60 year old political wounds. Here is my Granddad Huckaby’s 1953 – 54 Colorado Rail…

  • I Was Working on the Railroad…In The Heart of the Dust Bowl?

    Dust Bowl noun, Associated Press staff writer Robert Geiger was in Boise City Oklahoma writing a series of articles on a day that is sometimes referred to as Black Sunday. In his April 15 release for the Washington, D.C., Evening Star he wrote: “Three little words…If it Rains” as the title of a story on…

  • More Tales of the Prairie: The Kar-Vu Drive In…An American Icon

    A drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars. -Wikipedia What a treat it has been watching a social…

  • Letters From a Navy Boy – November 11, 1942

    As I move many of my dad’s Navy letters to a digital format I will occasionally provide samples as shown below.   I picked this one simply because it was from the set of letters from 1942 which  I thought was lost.  Also most of the language from the letter is original.  I changed a couple items…

  • A Bevy of Wandering Muleteers

    Some might say Orville Ewing was  born 100 years too late.  However, I have discovered while learning about his adventures he wasn’t alone.  In various written accounts I have encountered references to muleteers traveling the countryside during Orville’s 30 plus years of traveling the highways and byways.  What is a muleteer you ask?  Merriam Webster…

  • Orville Ewing’s Odyssey Begins

    Orville Ewing called himself  an “artist from the Old West”. He crisscrossed the United States in his covered wagon/trailer with his menagerie for about 30 years, selling literally thousands upon thousands of different postcards of himself over the years and described in my previous post  “Orville Ewing’s Postcards”  A sample is shown below: Orville’s own…

  • Carrizo Springs School

    The Carrizo Springs School (also called the Cole School by some) was located where the  North Crease and the West Crease of the Carrizo Creek join on what was the Dunlap Ranch. The tall cottonwood trees were a beautiful setting for hide and seek places which was one of the games the children loved writes…

  • Letters Home: The Process for this Project is Developing.

    I am beginning the process of what I hope will be transcribing all of my Dad’s letters home from the Navy during WWII.   Since I don’t really know what I am doing I thought I would just start.  I don’t have a scanner with me so I will be adjusting some things I as…

  • Free Dust Bowl Teaching Resources

    August 2018 NOTE: This resource will be updated extensively later this fall as I am currently preparing a resource “The Dust Bowl: The View from Ground Zero.”  Stay tuned. Growing up in Springfield Colorado in the 1930’s, my mother was a child of the Dust Bowl.   I asked her once if she remembered Black Sunday any more…