Indianapolis, Colorado – Est. 1887.
In the 1880s Americans were moving in droves to the Western frontier. Waves of migrants were inspired by the promises of cheap land and riches, Following the completion of the…
Wilde, Colorado: Colonel York, the Bloody Benders, and West Point.
Wilde was founded by Colonel A.M. York from Fort Scott Kansas. The town, Wilde, Colorado is not Baca County. It was technically in Old Bent county or what is now…
Boston, Lamar, & Sam Konkel’s “An Outlaw in Lamar”
There are many connections between Lamar, Colorado and the 1886-1887 Boom towns of Southeast Colorado. If you have not familiarized yourself with those boom towns click here to see a…
THE OLD SETTLEMENT AND THE NEW SETTLEMENT OF BACA COUNTY: by Sam Konkel
Sam Konkel told us much about the first wave of settlement in the 1886-1887 time frame. In this article from the December 21 1917 issue of the Springfield Herald he…
Sam Konkel’s take on the Al Jenning’s “Fishy” Autobiography.
In “Old Boston: As Wild As They Come” we tell the story of many of the characters of the that short-lived (1886-1889) and wild Colorado Boomtown, Boston, Colorado. The key resource…
The Digital Campfire of Social Media and How it Sparked a Book Project
Greetings from an unseasonably mild but windy Casper Wyoming. I have a little bit of reflection and a couple of messages related to a local history blog, social media, and…
The Sidewalks of Old Boston
The Springfield Herald had a regular series in 1918 called “Persons, Stories, and Incidents of Old Boston and the Old Days.” The episode author is listed as “The Writer” who…
Known All Over Creation and Down in Arkansas as The Great County Builder: Sam Konkel
The more I dig into the history of Baca County, the more I appreciate Sam Konkel’s contributions to the development of early Baca County. He started the “Western World” paper…