Baca County History

by the Plainsman Herald

Celebrating the Colorful History of Baca County, Colorado


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  • Orville Ewing meets Former Baca Countian in Klamath Falls Oregon, 1959

    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 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.

    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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  • Sam Konkel: The Writer

    Sam Konkel was the editor of one of the two Boston Colorado Newspapers, The Boston World (1886-1889) and later the Springfield Herald /Springfield Democrat Herald (1913-1930).  It was in 1918 -1919 during this time in Springfield where he relived and wrote during the stories of his time in Boston, which we used as the foundation…

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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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  • Butte City: 1886

    Boston wasn’t quite the first in the east end as this part of Las Animas county as it was thencalled. Butte City was started in June 1886; we believe that less than half a dozen houses were builtthere when it was abandoned and the houses moved over to Minneapolis, started a few miles west of…

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