The spring thaw will be quickly upon us. The irrigation ditches will need to be readied to accept the glorious flow of water. To ensure the hay meadows receive the optimum amount of precious water, so...

50 YEARS AGO March 4, 1971 - Anyone who is interested even in a small way, in preservation of Ouray County’s history and artifacts, should make a firm commitment to be at the meeting next Sunday, Marc...

Dear Editor: It pains me that we are engaging in a heated political debate over a giant new American flag in the valley. C’mon folks, can’t we save our brain power and passion for other, more pressing...

Ouray reached a climatological and human tipping point last weekend. Cabin fever had settled in quite nicely after 12 days of mostly cloudy weather, including to continuous snow days. Some was the ult...

50 YEARS AGO February 18, 1971 - Student Editorial from “The Voice of Troy” - Prejudice is a dangerous disease which is afflicting America today. It seems that the majority or dominant group do not su...

Ridgway is 130 years old next month. Ridgway’s story is also a railroad tale, so let’s look back. Silver and gold were found in the San Juans in the years following the Civil War, and newcomers “rushe...

In this business we ask a lot of questions. It’s kind of our job. Sometimes we ask questions that don’t lead to clear answers, and that means we keep digging. At first we might have a blurry idea of w...

Throughout the course of the nearly two years we have owned this newspaper we’ve promised to you that when we get something wrong we’ll correct it — and do so as quickly as possible. Part of building ...

50 YEARS AGO February 4, 1971 - Editorial: President Nixon’s budget text included the message that the cloudseeding project here has provided “roe first opportunity to assess possible social and envir...

50 YEARS AGO January 28, 1971 - If the flu bug bedded you fora few weeks before the end of 197o don’t worry. If your employer kept you on the payroll you have the sympathy of the Internal Revenue Serv...

50 YEARS AGO January 21, 1971 - Television in Ouray and Ridgway leaves a lot to be desired. If Ouray’s booster isn’t out, which is most of the time, there still is only one channel to watch. The repai...

50 YEARS AGO January 14, 1971 - It’s probably never been done before but there’s one sure way to camp in Yankee Boy Basin without fighting waves of tourists. A group of 12 college students from Massac...

50 YEARS AGO January 7, 1971 - Parents can no longer tell their children to “go out and play in the traffic (but watch out for cars)”, at least not as far as Ouray’s sledding areas are concerned. And ...

50 YEARS AGO December 31, 1970 - Many adults saw for the first time Monday night what the young people of Ouray County have achieved in building and maintaining their Youth Center at Ouray. The center...

A story in the Dec. 17-23 edition, “Body cameras not qualified for virus aid reimbursement,” erroneously reported the amount of money left to spend in CARES Act funds. The county has already spent mor...

50 YEARS AGO December 24, 1970 - Though the Ouray City Council had discussed plans to plow all sidewalks of the town with majority approval at its Dec. 7 meeting nothing definite had been decided. Bid...

50 YEARS AGO December 17,1970 - Mrs. Evelyn Bates, Ouray school instructor, has won honorable mention as a Colorado Teacher of the Year for 1971. Mrs. Bates was born in Ouray and raised here. She grad...

50 YEARS AGO December 10,1970 - Plans were made at the Ridgway Town Council meeting Monday night to build an ice-skating rink on school-owned property on the north side of town. Permission had been ob...

50 YEARS AGO December 3,1970 - Two men were seriously hurt in an accident at the Camp Bird Mine, about 5 p.m. Wednesday last week, when an ore slab of about zoo tons fell on them as they worked at the...

When we were on a book tour in New Zealand, we came across a country inn marquee advertising the “Best Muscles in the World,” green-lipped ones. We pulled in. Mussels (not muscles), beer and a band -w...