75 years ago: “The D. & R.G. W. started to build a new stockyard at the south end of Third Avenue. … With a good force at work the new stockyards, or loading pens, should be completed within the next two weeks. Then the work of tearing down the old yards in west Durango can be done.”

50 years ago: “A complete, beginning-to-end account of one of the most dreadful chapters in American history – the assassination of President Kennedy and the events that followed – is being prepared by the Associated Press in a book titled The Torch Is Passed. The Durango Herald arranged to make it available to all of its readers at the very reasonable rate of $2, plus 6 cents tax. It will not be sold through bookstores.”

25 years ago: “Shannon Lester, daughter of Phil and Montie Dietrich of Ignacio, has been selected as an entrant in the 1989 Miss Colorado Pageant. The contestant chosen from Colorado will be in the Miss U.S.A. Pageant in February. Lester is a student at Fort Lewis College majoring in business.”

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