In 1959, two Carbondale school teachers, Dorothea Ike (later Farris) and Patricia Richmond, were lamenting the fact that their students couldn’t do any research after school because the school library was closed and the nearest public library was in Glenwood Springs, too far for the kids to travel. From Richmond’s journal, “Roaring Fork Valley Recollections […]
Sue Gray
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Historiography: Hot potato
Author’s note: To view the rare Red McClure potato as well as other localheirloom vegetables, visit the Carbondale Heritage Garden Booth at Potato Day. In the 1940s, schoolteacher and farm wife Edna Sweet compiled historical accounts of the first homesteaders. In her book, “Carbondale Pioneers 1879-1890,” Sweet tells a familiar tale of a miner turned […]
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Historiography: What’s in a name?
The Rocky Mountain News “Colorado Q & A,” Jan. 20, 1957: Q: Often, as I traveled the road between Glenwood Springs and Aspen, I have been impressed by the beauty of that solitary peak called Mt. Sopris. How did this lovely mountain get its name? A: That beautiful mountain was named for an interesting Colorado […]
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La Feria de la Montaña es historia
Mientras el pueblo se recupera de su tradicional Mountain Fair, que este año tuvo como tema “Camp Bonedale”, vale la pena recordar las similitudes con otra famosa reunión en las Montañas Rocosas que también reunía vendedores, música, baile, juegos y celebraciones. La celebración de Carbondale no fue la primera feria de montaña en Colorado. Ese […]
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Historiography: Mountain Fair is history
As the town recovers from its annual Mountain Fair with this year’s theme of “Camp Bonedale,” it’s worth noting similarities to another famous gathering in the Rocky Mountains involving vendors, music, dancing, games and merriment. Carbondale’s celebration was not the first mountain fair in Colorado. That distinction goes to a rendezvous that started in 1825, […]
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Historiography: Alice Cooper in Carbondale
In Mills, Iowa in 1875, Isaac and Sarah Cooper welcomed their second daughter Alice into the world. Shortly afterward, the family came to Colorado, where Isaac engaged in mining operations. After traveling to Boulder, Golden and Leadville, the Coopers eventually ended up in Defiance, at the confluence of the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers. Isaac […]
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Ditch the water
Everyone living in Carbondale is familiar with the Town’s extensive, gravity-fed irrigation system, comprising eight miles of open ditches and underground culverts that carry water diverted from the Crystal and Roaring Fork rivers between May and October. But the history of this ingenious system isn’t well-known. When homesteaders began settling here in the 1880s, they […]
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Historiography: ‘Touch Not Yon Dandelion!’
Historically, Carbondale was known for its fine and abundant potatoes. What is less known is that the dandelion was responsible for the transition from grain crops to potatoes, according to premier spud grower Eugene Grubb in “Carbondale Pioneers, 1879-1890” by Edna D. Sweet: We grew alfalfa and our land was worth only $50 per acre, […]
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Historiography: Tragedy at Coal Basin
On Highway 133, near Redstone, Colorado, a memorial plaque reads: This monument stands in tribute to the miners of Coal Basin, who confronted adversity and proved themselves resourceful, innovative and intrepid. We honor their achievements and their sacrifices, remembering in particular those brave, good men whose lives were lost in the mines … Placed with […]
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Historiography: The Politics of Water
Turn on the tap, water pours out. We take it for granted. But our water was hard-fought in the early 20th century by some of the Roaring Fork Valley’s legendary champions of water rights. In the late 1880s, Glenwood Springs attorney Edward T. Taylor dealt mainly with cases involving land and water issues. Particularly concerned […]