Baca County History

by the Plainsman Herald

Category: Baca County

  • The Town Boom Years in Southeastern Colorado 1886-1889: A Map

    Sometimes it is hard to understand old forgotten towns.  Especially since we don’t always know where they are located in relationship to present day landmarks and towns. The map in this post contains the towns which popped up in the area as well as towns that were connected.  For example, many settlers rode the train…

  • Tributaries of Baca County by Dr. Bill Stoner

    We have all heard the cry: “Two Buttes is Running!” or “Bear Creek is Running!”  When I was a young boy I often wondered how such a little creek in my own neighborhood (Bear Creek) could occasionally usher so much water.  At the time, I was not aware of the tremendous infrastructure that produced the…

  • A Cowboy’s Story: Fred Hollister

    November 19 , 2017 Update to the original October 26, 2017 post: Thank you, Kathy Maestas, for the paintings of Fred and Fannie Hollister (see below) it makes the story of this cowboy so much better! Addendum to the Original October 27 Post: I stopped by to see my Uncle Harold today and took him a…

  • The Last J.J. Steer

    UPDATED: March 29, 2020- In the American west, it was common practice for early large cattle operations to file on only parcels of land that contained access to water.  This allowed those operations to control  a great deal of the public domain land.  The J.J. Ranch was founded in 1869. By 1879 the JJ controlled…

  • Blanchat: by Dr. Bill Stoner

    NOTES:  This post enhances a previous post: “An Old Stone Schoolhouse in Springfield”  If you recall Joseph Blanchat was a stonemason who helped build that building.   The article below was posted first in the Plainsman Herald awhile back.  Thanks, Bill for the work on this.  I have added a few artifacts supporting this article.…

  • 2017 Baca County Fair: Early Baca County History Presentations

    Steve and I would encourage you to bring maps, clippings, and stories that will add to the database of information about places all over the area of what is now called Baca County.   Very excited to get the chance to share a few more tidbits about early Baca County Colorado History.  

  • Bringing Faith to a Mammoth Sized County: The Story of Lay’s Chapel

    Baca County Colorado is an expanse of prairie in Southeast Colorado that has at various times in its history has been known as the heart of the 1930’s Dust Bowl and a little later the Broomcorn Capital of the World.  However, like most places, there are stories of people who brought something to a place…

  • Ruts of the Santa Fe Trail: The Aubry Trail Cut Off — By Jim Womack

    Special thanks to Jim Womack for sharing spectacular photos as well as the following about the historical Santa Fe Trail  which passed through Baca County: One of the few remaining places you can see the wagon wheel ruts on the Santa Fe Trail; this is the Aubry Cutoff a few miles southeast of Campo, Colorado…

  • 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,…

  • Place Names of Baca County by Steve Doner

      This information was taken from the website – https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/Place_Names_of_Colorado.pdf Some information may indeed be questionable, but we have to start somewhere. Information I have added is in italics. This format does not allow for grids so the listings follow -Town/Location Name – County – Type – Notes – Section/Township/Range – Reference To save space…