Baca County History

by the Plainsman Herald

Category: Vilas

  • Growing up in Baca County by John Havens- Episode 3

       On the farm my pet was Big Dog, but when we moved into Vilas I had to leave Big Dog on the farm.  So for a while I didn’t have a pet.  Then one day when I was home from school, and sick with the Measles, Dad came in with the cutest little dog. …

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • The Town Boom Years in Southeastern Colorado 1886-1889: A Map

    Sometimes it is hard to understand old forgotten towns.  Especially since we don’t always know where they are located in relationship to present day landmarks and towns. The map in this post contains the towns which popped up in the area as well as towns that were connected.  For example, many settlers rode the train…

  • A Cowboy’s Story: Fred Hollister

    November 19 , 2017 Update to the original October 26, 2017 post: Thank you, Kathy Maestas, for the paintings of Fred and Fannie Hollister (see below) it makes the story of this cowboy so much better! Addendum to the Original October 27 Post: I stopped by to see my Uncle Harold today and took him a…

  • Place Names of Baca County by Steve Doner

      This information was taken from the website – https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/Place_Names_of_Colorado.pdf Some information may indeed be questionable, but we have to start somewhere. Information I have added is in italics. This format does not allow for grids so the listings follow -Town/Location Name – County – Type – Notes – Section/Township/Range – Reference To save space…

  • Some More Old Vilas

    The Springfield Herald had a regular series in  either 1918 or 1919 called “Persons, Stories, and Incidents of Old Boston and the Old Days.”  I am a bit confuse on the year because several of the issues have the year 1918 marked out in pencil with 1919 written in. This occurs in several issues but…

  • Lucius McAdam: Baca County Pioneer and Confederate Veteran

    Lucius McAdam came to Las Animas County Colorado in 1886.  This was a couple years before Baca County was split off from Las Animas County and established as a county.  McAdam was born in Chariton County Missouri January 16, 1845.  He left Chariton County in 1884, spent a couple years in western Kansas before moving…

  • 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…