Category: History
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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…
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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…
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“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…
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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…
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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.
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By Steve Doner and Kent Brooks In the block towards the rising sun we found Charley Malmberg trying to pound the stuffin out of a piece of iron. We don’t know whether Charley has planted the famous chestnut tree or not, but if he hasn’t he ought to, as he has the ideal shop. Springfield…
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History often hides in plain sight. We have often written of the Jennings clan’s time in Southeast Colorado. Much of that is in my book “Old Boston: As Wild As They Come,” We recently stumbled upon a remarkable photograph of a routine day in Woodward, Oklahoma, dated 1901, showing broomcorn being delivered. But behind the…
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By: Yann and sod Some of us have been enjoying the interesting posts about our region on a Facebook page titled Colmexhoma, USA. (Colorado+New Mexico+Oklahoma) Kent Brooks and I thought the creator must be from Boise City, OK, or Clayton, NM, or somewhere south of us, and that we needed to get acquainted with this…
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In the late 19th century, a feverish wave of migration swept toward the Western frontier. While the transcontinental railroad brought settlers to the edge of the plains, the tracks only went so far. To bridge the gap between the railheads and the remote “boom towns” of Southeast Colorado, a vital network of stagecoach lines emerged.…
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A look back at the heart of the Southeast Colorado community of Vilas, and a glimpse at how its story might be told in the Digital Age. For the residents of Baca County, Colorado, a Kent Homsher social media post with a single photograph of “Tony’s Market” was enough to unleash a flood of memories…
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