(Information was gleaned from copies of the Wet Mountain Tribune, all from the second week in December.)

100 Years Ago – 1909

A big go-devil with eight head of horses attached has been put in service breaking roads out into the Valley this week. The snow is found to be drifted badly in some sections.

Last Saturday night was the coldest of the season, when the thermometer registered twenty below zero.

A Rio Grande carpenter crew has been up from the main line this week making repairs at the stockyards and about the depot.

The branch engine got derailed in the yards here Tuesday and as a consequence the train did not get away until after dinner. It required another engine, from the main line, to help the boys out of their dilemma.

In the holiday line Westcliffe merchants certainly have the goods. Profit them, yourself and your own community by doing your holiday shopping with them.

A blaze started over the kitchen stove at Mrs. McCormick’s restaurant on Thursday but was discovered in time to be easily controlled. The damage done was trivial.

Ed Walker, the jockey, for some time past in the employ of the Canda boys left Wednesday for Jacksonville, Fla. where he will be employed by Belmont.

There was a birth at the home of I.C. Atkinson in Silver Cliff Tuesday but the little one’s life was of short duration, it passing away on Wednesday.

50 Years Ago – 1959

Custer County students who spent the Thanksgiving holidays with relatives and friends here included Miss Arlene Hanssen, Miss Joan Piquette, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Piquette, Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Hanssen and baby and Mr. and Mrs. Chester Koch from Gunnison; LeRoy Dietrich from Canon City; Miss Beverly Koch and Miss Charlotte Ann Benson from Denver; Lloyd Slevc from Pueblo; Miss Linda Luthi, Miss Carolyn Zulch, DeLace Schwarz and Mr. and Mrs. Don Hartbauer from Fort Collins.

The local women’s basketball team will start practice next Thursday night in the high school gym. Any ladies who care to play on the Westcliffe Sharpshooters team are invited to be at the gym and begin practice. The team annually plays a March of Dimes benefit game sometime in January.

Colfax Home Demonstration Club will hold their annual Christmas party on Thursday at the home of Mrs. Gladys Miller with Mrs. Bessie Miller assisting hostess.

The annual Christmas bazaar of St. Luke’s Guild will be held this Saturday at the Guild Hall of the Episcopal Church. Items for sale will include centerpieces, evergreen wreaths, handmade fancy work and baked goods.

25 Years Ago – 1984

A $98,000 pumper truck has been given to the Fire Protection District by the Westcliffe Land Corp., the developers of the Conquistador Ski Area. Also given the district was a one-acre parcel of land which will be used for a district substation near the ski resort. The fire district has two other substations, one at Lake DeWeese and one at Rosita, in addition to the main station in Westcliffe.

A dogfight of sorts took place at the Westcliffe town board meeting Monday, when town man and humane officer G-No Hensley threatened to resign because, he said, he and police chief Terry Killen “can’t get along.” The two had clashed over the release of a dog and her seven puppies that had been impounded at the Fremont County Humane Society. Killen agreed to let Hensley handle dog ordinance issues, and both agreed they had been wrong.

For sale: The 2,800 acre Griffin Ranch on the Oak Creek Grade ten miles north of Westcliffe. $250 per acre. See Custer County Realty.

10 Years Ago – 1999

An unusually dry fall came to an abrupt end last weekend when a snowstorm blew in and left as much as two feet of snow in most areas of Custer County. Sheriff Fred Jobe said Highway 96 through Hardscrabble Canyon was closed for several hours Friday after two trucks jack-knifed.

Custer County School and the Custer County Clinic were evacuated at about 8:30 a.m. yesterday due to an apparent gas leak at the school. C-1 superintendent Morris Ververs said the leak apparently occurred in a propane regulator above the ceiling in the science room. Firefighter Basil Lane said the clinic was evacuated after propane fumes were detected there; he said the smell wafted from the school, a distance of about three blocks.

The float entered by Jennings Market won the first place prize in Saturday’s Parade of Lights in downtown Westcliffe. Other winners of cash prizes were All Seasons Rental, Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church, and Creative Minds.

5 Years Ago – 2004

Newly elected officers of the Custer County Chamber of Commerce are vice-president Dee Hoag, secretary Linda Niemeyer and member-at-large Jan Lee. Directors whose terms aren’t up for re-election are president Paul Wenke, treasurer Marty Van Boennighausen, and directors Pat Bailey and Yvonne Keyston.

Sheriff Fred Jobe said two county inmates have been placed on lock-down following an incident in which they riled-up other inmates after one allegedly found a hair in his food. Jobe said he suffered minor injuries after he and two deputies were called in to get the situation under control.

Citing steady population growth in the county, zoning officer Linc Lippincott told the county commissioners Monday that his office has brought in more than $216,000 in zoning fees so far this year, as compared to $114,000 in 1999.

1 Year Ago – 2008

Lorraine Silva has been hired to serve as the county’s veterans’ service officer and director of the county’s new resource center.

County commissioners-elect Jim Austin and Lynn Attebery trekked to Colorado Springs last week for the annual winter conference of Colorado Counties, Inc., giving them an opportunity to meet other county leaders from throughout the state. In January, the two will attend a special CCI training session designed for newly elected commissioners.

The board of directors of the Round Mountain Water and Sanitation District has fired its district manager, citing poor job performance.