Baca County History

by the Plainsman Herald

Tag: Sam Konkel

  • 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…

  • 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 first transcontinental railroad in 1869, the journey west became considerably easier. Many entrepreneurs and private town  companies began heavily advertising real estate, investment and tourism…

  • Wilde, Colorado: Colonel York, the Bloody Benders, and West Point.

    The town, Wilde, Colorado is not Baca County.  It was technically in Old Bent county or what is now Prowers County just west of Two Buttes Mountain and north of Butte Creek. However, most of us from Baca County feel the mountain, just over the county line, and the area just north of Two Buttes…

  • 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 map.  The news about migration to Southeast Colorado and those new towns was often reported in newspapers such as the following from the March 24,…

  • 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 offers some observations comparing that first wave with the second wave starting in 1907 Sam as always is entertaining with his writing. I will leave…

  • 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 for this story are the 1918-1919 writings of Sam Konkel, who ran one of two newspapers in that town.  Konkel told us much about the…

  • 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 sparks that lit a book project about one of the wildest little towns of the old west.   Four years ago,  I launched Bacacountyhistory.com.  At…

  • 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 is actually Sam Konkel.   Left: Sam Konkel   Middle: Sam Konkel 188ish   Right Sam Konkel 1930ish Photos courtesy of Zaylan Konkel The October 19, 1918,…

  • 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 in Old Boston and ran it throughout the three years Boston existed. He left the county for several years before returning to the high plains…