Baca County History

by the Plainsman Herald

Category: Dust Bowl

  • Decade of Dirt: A Book Project Primer

    Decade of Dirt: A Book Project Primer

    The Great Depression, and the much worse Dust Bowl that accompanied it, was the most impactful and profound time period, indeed the watershed moment, for southeastern Colorado. It was like year zero on our calendars, BDB – Before the Dust Bowl, and ADB – After the Dust Bowl.  Our good friend and history partner Steve…

  • A 1933 Dust Bowl Thanksgiving

    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…

  • Baca County’s Connection to 1939 Czechoslovakia: Another Unusual Baca County Dust Bowl story.

    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…

  • The View from Ground Zero: Sunday Oct 11, 2020 winds bring memories of Dirty Thirties

    The term ground zero is usually associated with an explosion and describes the location closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ground zero refers to the point on the ground directly below the detonation.   In recent American culture it often refers to the location nearest 911 terrorist attacks on…

  • Dust Bowl Poems(1930s) by Nellie Grover Bamber

    This post is a true pleasure. There are some little things to look for. The image of Grandma Bamber printed on an early dot matrix printer is a piece of history in itself. The poems? Priceless. In the not so recent past I had a conversation with Nancy Hall Nelson about using her Grandma’s Poems…

  • Growing Up in Baca County, Episode #4 by John Havens

       As the dust storms increased many of the farm families and a few of the town residents had to pull up stakes and look for greener pastures.  As a kid working around the service station I observed first hand family after family load all their belongings into cars and onto pickups and head out…

  • Growing up in Baca County, Episode #2b, by John Havens.

    A couple years ago, Kathy pushed out a series in the Plainsman Herald by John Havens. We are going to replay that on this blog over the next few weeks. Kathy’s intro is as follows: A Little Bit of History, By Kathy Nutt. “A while back we received a letter and several pages of history…

  • Growing up in Baca County, Episode #2 – John Havens.

    A couple years ago, Kathy pushed out a series in the Plainsman Herald by John Havens. We are going to replay that on this blog over the next few weeks. Kathy’s intro is as follows: A Little Bit of History, By Kathy Nutt. “A while back we received a letter and several pages of history…

  • Growing up in Baca County, Episode #1 John Havens.

    A couple years ago, Kathy pushed out a series in the Plainsman Herald by John Havens. We are going to replay that on this blog over the next few weeks. Kathy’s intro is as follows: A Little Bit of History, By Kathy Nutt. “A while back we received a letter and several pages of history…

  • 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…