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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…
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A memory that makes me smile… By Debbie Kuroiwa
This memory is reposted with permission from the Kuroiwa Family Blog (Thanks Deb). This is one of my favorite pictures of all time…. This is me and my grandfather. Though I grew up in the same area as my grandparents, I didn’t really grow up with them. Oh…I knew who they were but….not really. My…
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“Hand Dug Wells” by George Chatham
By George Chatham In the area where my granddad Chatham and Great Uncle Elmer homesteaded there were no live springs or natural water holes to obtain water for household use or for the livestock to drink. So it meant that one of the first priorities of homesteading was digging a well. The two homestead wells…
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FAMILY WELL DISPUTE: by George Chatham
By George Chatham After my grandparents, Fred and Ethel Chatham, were married April 14, 1914, there was a “dug-out” build on Fred’s homestead; but exactly when it was built is in question. Apparently there was a well dispute and the couple lived for a time with her Father, Daniel Chenoweth, who was a widower. According…
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How My Grandparents Met: by George Chatham
By George Chatham My Great-Uncle Elmer Chatham filed a “homestead” claim to 320 acres on South Horse Creek, located 7 1/2 miles north and 2 miles west of Springfield. That claim was proved January 12, 1917. It was on this homestead that I grew-up. Because Fred Chatham, my grand-father, wasn’t old enough to file a…
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The Old Stone Schoolhouse in Springfield
“…the handiwork on that building – during those times – defies description.” -Aug Blanchat We’ve talked many times about the old Springfield School our social media groups and how it was built in 1889 by the Swiss Stonemason Joseph Blanchat. This is an update to the previous blog. The building served as the elementary and…
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Orville Ewing’s Travels: The 1930’s
I mentioned in a previous post the large number of Orville Ewing postcards available for sale online, but there are also over 300 newspaper references to his 30 plus years of travel. UPDATE: April 2020. This past week I received another scan of the picture above. Since we already have it the picture isn’t that big…
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I Was Working on the Railroad…In The Heart of the Dust Bowl?
Dust Bowl noun, Associated Press staff writer Robert Geiger was in Boise City Oklahoma writing a series of articles on a day that is sometimes referred to as Black Sunday. In his April 15 release for the Washington, D.C., Evening Star he wrote: “Three little words…If it Rains” as the title of a story on…
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More Tales of the Prairie: The Kar-Vu Drive In…An American Icon
A drive-in theater is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movies from the privacy and comfort of their cars. -Wikipedia What a treat it has been watching a social…
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Mrs. Tune, The Sheriff and the Goats
NOTE: This is the first story I wrote down in 2009 when I began thinking about preserving local history. Vesta Tune lived in Springfield Colorado in the 1940′s and 50′s, Prior to that she lived in the Lycan Colorado area (north of the present day town of Walsh Colorado) near the Brooks side of my…
