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100 Years Ago Today: Chevrons Causing Trouble
Chevrons are making headlines again! Today’s post is a follow up to a previous article filed under ‘100 Years Ago Today’ about chevrons called Marks of Service, which concludes with the author pleading to its readers: “The man who displays any of the chevrons…has done his full duty by his country and is worthy of Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Pithy News, Woman Dreams of Teddy Roosevelt’s Death
Let me get this right. A woman in Moffat County, Colorado had a dream that The Old Lion, The Rough Rider, The Bull Moose, T. R., The Trust Buster, The Hero of San Juan Hill, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., the 26th President of the United States, died in his sleep at the young age of Continue reading
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100 Years Ago Today: Two Men Killed in Boiler Explosion
Railroading was so incredibly dangerous 100 years ago. One of the reasons why these old pictures and stories of railroad routes through the Rockies leave me shaking my head in awe is just how much risk there was in building, maintaining, and operating these lines. I’m especially fascinated by the Moffat Road, aka Rollins Pass Continue reading
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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
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100 Years Ago Today: Influenza Pandemic Waning, Still Deadly in CO
The flu pandemic of 1918-1919 (aka La Grippe, aka Spanish flu) was responsible for the deaths of at least 50 million people worldwide, which was more than 3% of the world’s population at that time. It is estimated that 1/3 of the world’s population was affected by flu symptoms during the pandemic. In Colorado, at the height of 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 