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As we take part in that annual icon of the southeast Colorado prairie, the 2026 Baca County fair it seems appropriate to talk a little about the culture, history and present-day issues surrounding the event. Some circles of society might question the relevance and value of a county fair when less than 2 percent of…
By Kent Brooks Before the telephone reached most towns in the American West, one of the largest ranching companies in the world had already built its own private communications network stretching across what is now southeastern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico. Most histories of rural telephones focus on the famous barbed-wire fence telephone systems that…
“Low characters naturally gravitated in this direction where they would be in less danger of the law. Peaceable men were sometimes forced to become murderers through association with the lawless element who were thrown in their midst. Questions were not asked of their past.” -J.R. Austin, 1936, An Early History of Baca County In the…
One hundred and forty years is a long time. When George Hosmer published the first issue of the Springfield Herald in the spring of 1887, Baca County had not yet been organized. There was no courthouse, no county government, and many of the communities that would eventually dot the High Plains had yet to be…
Few men embodied the spirit of southeastern Colorado more fully than Alfred A. Arraj. Born far from the windswept plains of Baca County yet forever shaped by them, Arraj rose from small-town lawyer and civic booster in Springfield, Colorado, to become one of the most respected federal judges in the American West. Today, his name…
This started as a post about the near completion of a book. Then, as often happens on the High Plains, life changed quickly. The recent fires in southeast Colorado — fires that nearly took Campo itself — became a reminder of something much bigger than a book project. As flames pushed across the prairie, smoke…
Several people have recently asked a straightforward question: “Are you using AI for any of the Broomcorn Book?” The short answer is: Yes, absolutely. Mostly, it is to speed up picture corrections. The topic of broomcorn is one that doesn’t have a lot of content available other than the The longer, more nuanced answer involves…
Reference: Martin, Arthur. The story of broomcorn. 1950. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/56245. (Accessed April 23, 2026.). Public domain. Published 1923-1977 in U.S. without printed copyright notice. Contact dcc@library.uiuc.edu for information.
By Norman L. Kincaide, Ph.D. A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request granted by the Pike National Forest and Cimarron and Comanche National Grassland (CCNG) in reference to the revised CCNG Management Plan and Draft Assessment on September 2, 2025 by Norman Kincaide of Rocky Ford, CO, has provided an initial document drop. On February…
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