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Baca County Festivals and Fairs: Part 1
I will probably work at adding to this in pieces, maybe in the form of a timeline, but I thought it would be fun to start looking at various festivals and fairs held in Southeast Colorado/ Southwest Kansas/ Baca County through the years. Sam Konkel mentions an 1888 fair in Boston, Springfield, and Minneapolis, but there isn’t…
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It is Given to Few: by J. Ralph Jett
Reprinted from the June 1929 Issue of the Western Empire Magazine: Nineteen years ago there came into the little town of Two Buttes in Baca County, a suffering, and broken man. Upon his graying head sentence had been passed, and he had no thought but that his doom was sealed. Great Men of the medical…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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…
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The Challenge of the Broomcorn Harvesting Machine
“No machine has yet been invented to successfully replace the hand labor. The men, using broomcorn knives with sharp five-inch knives, move down rows in a field, bending the heads or brush with one hand and cutting the stalk about six inches below the bottom part of the brush with the other hand. “ -Pueblo…
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Bear Tracks & Cactus Trees: More Info on Life in Early Baca County
Hi there! I’m Heidi, Kent’s wife. I swiped this blog for a minute so I could tell you about a great book filled with Baca County history. I grew up in Balko, Oklahoma and until recently I thought Kent was my only connection with Baca County. My parents recently surprised me with a book they…
