Wray Rattler, February 27, 1919 John Breuss went missing from his Silt, Colorado ranch home on November 18, 1918. By late December of that year, Sheriff Charles W. Fravert of Garfield County, on suspicion that Breuss was dead, offered a $250 reward for the recovery of Breuss' body, and another $250 for any information leading …
Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today: Wealthy Rancher Murdered, Buried Under Manure
Herald Democrat, February 26, 1919 Dr. Alice L. Goetz (née Littlejohn) was a lecturer on the subject of sexually transmitted infections, then known as venereal diseases, from the late 1910s into the 1920s. She joined the Bureau of Social Hygiene in 1920, which operated under the State Board of Health as a part of the …
Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today: Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and VDs, Oh My!
Herald Democrat, February 25, 1919 Dr. George Norlin, President of CU Boulder Carnegie Library for Local History Dr. George Norlin's legacy as President of University of Colorado is primarily two-fold: 1. He expanded the campus to allow for the student body to grow from 1,500 to 5,000 by bringing on board architect Charles Z. Klauder …
Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today: Norlin Elected President of CU Boulder
San Juan Prospector, February 21, 1919 What a wild experience it must have been to explore Rocky Mountain National Park in 1919. The park was practically brand new, having been established on January 26, 1915 as the ninth National Park in the United States. The National Park Service was not established until August 25, 1916, …
Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today: Rugged and Raw, Rocky Mountain National Park
Herald Democrat, February 20, 1919 Two campers, who look like they rode a bike attached to boat, think this horsehair rope will protect them from rattlesnakes.Popular Mechanics Magazine, Jan 1919 Myth alert! It doesn't matter what kind of rope you put around your campsite, bedroll, naptime knoll, or burrow, if a rattlesnake is headed toward …
Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today: Magic Rope Wards Off Rattlesnakes
Craig Empire, February 19, 1919 Andrew Carnegie, best known as a steel magnate and a philanthropist, donated 90% of his earnings during his lifetime, which amounts to an unparalleled 350 million dollars. That's the equivalent of billions of dollars today. Jeff Bezos, are you taking notes? Carnegie Libraries are pillars of Andrew Carnegie's enduring philanthropic …
Alamosa Courier, Volume XXXI, Number 7, February 15, 1919 The Animas River turned cow teeth gold? Never heard of anything like it! Oh wait, isn't this the river where the EPA accidentally blew out 3 million gallons of water containing high levels of iron, arsenic, and other toxins during the Gold King Mine cleanup, which …
Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today: Animas River Turns Cow Teeth Gold
Herald Democrat, February 14, 1919 Governor Oliver H. Shoup (shoop ba-doop) was elected the 22nd governor of Colorado in November, 1918, and he was already receiving death threats by February, 1919. "Lunatics" weren't wasting any time. Granted, Shoup's own head was not under threat but that of a proxy, Hamilton Armstrong, long-serving Denver Chief of …
Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today: Lunatic Threatens to Cut Off Police Chief’s Head
Colorado Transcript, February 13, 1919 William "Cement Bill" Williams is a guy I'd have loved to share a drink with, just to pry him for stories. Bummer that prohibition would've gotten in the way. But every time I come across a newspaper article about Bill he's got his calloused hand in some new business or …
Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today: Cement Bill Gets Into Clay
Fort Collins Courier, February 12, 1919 The old Lyric Theater in Fort Collins, 1915 Last night I was watching an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel where a male booking agent meets the comedian he hired, Midge Maisel, for the first time. She's wearing a black evening dress. Her hair is fabulous. She looks gorgeous. …
Continue reading 100 Years Ago Today: Mabel Normand, Silent Film Comedy Star
Pick and Sledge 