history
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100 Years Ago Today: Small Son Tells How Father Killed Mother
Let’s fill out some key points to this terrible story. On December 2, 1918, 34-year-old Pearl(e) Centers, plow factory worker, father of nine-year-old Raymond Centers and former husband of now-deceased Daisy Myrtal Centers (34), killed his wife because she refused to reconcile their recent divorce, aka she wouldn’t take his sorry ass back (Sings: Try Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: White Gold Saves Colorado Economy
All hail the sugar beet, aka white gold, a crop that can actually grow in Colorado’s arid climate and rocky soil! In 1919 the sugar beet reached an all time high price of $10.02 per ton paid to beet farmers, which was two cents per ton higher than the national average. No wonder growers were Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Marks of WWI Service
A chevron is a ‘V’ shaped stripe that was sewn onto an American Expeditionary Force (AEF) or a stateside soldier’s service coat, signifying length of service, honorable discharge, or number of wounds received, depending on the color and the placement of the chevron. Chevrons were also known as “overseas stripes.” Some chevrons were machine made, Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Forest Service Issues Booklet for Vacationist
As late as the 1860s, the noun ‘vacation’ was used almost exclusively to describe the time in a school year when class was not in session. It was a time when the schoolhouses and universities were literally vacated. The other use of the word was to describe when an elected official left their position, e.g. Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Football Claims 9 Victims This Year
Football is, and always has been, one of the most violent sports in the United States. That’s not a hot take. The players know this. The fans know this. People who do not care about football at all know this. Even 100 years ago, newspaper readers knew this. Now here’s a take: 1919 marks the Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Sell Your Extra Large Coyotes for $15
Who knew that furs were all the rage back home (shoutout to my Interpol stans) in Colorado circa 1919? From what I’ve read about Jim Bridger and his ilk back in the 1850s, the trap(per) game had become so unprofitable during that decade that many trappers turned in their skinning knives for hardrock pickaxes and Continue reading
About Me
Local history enthusiast curious about how Colorado’s present is informed by the people and places of its past
Pick and Sledge 