For over a century, big game hunters have been coming to the rugged mountains of Western Colorado to escape their stressful everyday lives and lose their cares in the primal pursuit of deer, elk, sheep, lion and bear. In 1905, Jake Borah was a successful hunting guide in the Glenwood Springs area. Most of his […]
Sue Gray
Posted inColumns
Historiography: ‘They came from Missouri’
Anita McCune Witt was born in Kansas to city folk, so when her dad bought her a horse as a child, she had to board it on some vacant land outside of town. Nevertheless, she fully embraced the Western lifestyle. Witt told Walter Gallacher in a 2014 Immigrant Stories interview (www.bit.ly/IS-Anita): “I started dressing like […]
Posted inColumns
Historiography: Carbondale’s pioneering entrepreneur
In July 1944,“The Colorado Magazine,” an arm of the state’s Historical Society, published “A Pioneer of the Roaring Fork,” as told to Ivah Dunklee by William M. Dinkel. A footnote explained that though Dinkel died in 1918, his stories were relayed to Miss Dunklee in many after-dinner chats at his home in Carbondale. Dinkel’s story […]
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Historiography: ‘Out of the air’
“Have you got your ear to the air? Thousands have. Enthusiasm over the wireless telephone is spreading tremendously. From a fad and a toy, the radio receiving set has become a household convenience. Out of the air come daily news bulletins, lectures, sermons, vocal and instrumental concerts, operas, market reports, government time signals, shipping news, […]
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Historiography: ‘A man, a plan, a canal, Panama!’*
*Leigh Mercer coined this palindrome (the phrase reads the same backwards and forwards) in the Nov. 13, 1948 issue of the Oxford quarterly journal “Notes & Queries.” From The Glenwood Post, Oct. 30, 1924:“Mrs. Frank Sweet gave a delightful dinner Tuesday evening in honor of Mrs. Hattie Holland and her guest, Miss Clark. Mrs. Holland […]
Posted inOpinion
Historiography: ‘Stranger in Angel Town’
His·to·ri·og·ra·phy: the study of historical writing When Nancy Lester, a 22-year-old graduate of Middlebury College, Vermont, accepted a teaching job at Carbondale Union High School (CUHS) in 1950, she didn’t intend to put her experiences into print. But Lester, who grew up in New Jersey, found Carbondale’s mid-20th-century agricultural community so foreign and fascinating that […]
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Scuttlebutt & Calendar
Justice DinnerThe Roaring Fork United Methodists Justice Ministries Team is hosting a Justice Dinner and panel discussion at 6pm on Friday, Jan. 17, in the Glenwood Springs Library Community Room (second floor). Invited panelists include representatives from Voces Unidas, Cook Inclusive, Planned Parenthood, PFLAG, Gay For Good and the Garfield County Public Libraries District, addressing […]
Posted inLetters
Letters
No double votingThe Carbondale Historical Society received an email from local octogenarian Pauline Bowles who wished to explain the reason Martha Witchey was holding a needle in the 1974 election photo printed on page 24 of the April 11th issue of The Sopris Sun. Bowles said she was a Basalt election official around that time […]
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Enduring influence: Three women’s legacy of true grit
The annals of Roaring Fork Valley history contain numerous stories of courageous perseverance and a resilient spirit. The following is a glimpse into the lives of three remarkable women: Mary Ferguson, Pearl “Tommy” Thomson and Margaret Morgan.The Sopris Sun spoke with Sue Gray, museum director for the Carbondale Historical Society, and Carolyn Cipperly, Roaring Fork […]
Posted inFiction
Works in Progress
A Paper Predicament By Deborah Holt WilliamsGlenwood Springs The assignment was “try origami.” I folded a giant green frog. But things didn’t go quite according to plan — My homework, it seems, ate my dog!