Sanborn Souvenir Co. published this postcard, postmarked Aug. 11, 1953, picturing Main Avenue. The card is part of the Nina Heald Webber Southwest Colorado Collection.
Sanborn Souvenir Co. published this postcard, postmarked Aug. 11, 1953, picturing Main Avenue. The card is part of the Nina Heald Webber Southwest Colorado Collection.Courtesy of Center of Southwest Studies<br><br>http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/images/M194/M1941160.htm

75 years ago: “Jim Decker, state representative from the district, was in town from his summer home in Northdale, in the Dove Creek country, where he is attempting to raise an 850-acre crop of beans. Several good rains have benefited conditions in that section, according to Jim, and early prospects for a bumper crop are good.”

50 years ago: MESA VERDE – “Mesa Verde National Park set a new visitor record on three days of this summer’s June. Daily visits exceeded 3,000 on three days this June, a number not reached on any June day in the past.”

25 years ago: “Thanks to recent rains and lower water usage, city officials were able to postpone water restrictions. With a lower water level in the city reservoir on Fort Lewis Mesa and higher than average daily water use Durango’s director of public works, said he was on the verge of imposing the first stage in the city’s water-restriction plan. But rains filled the reservoir, and residents cut water usage in the last three days.”

Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Animas Museum and Center of Southwest Studies. Their accuracy may not be verified.