75 years ago: “Mrs. Joe Piccoli has taken personal charge of the 7-Up Cafe and soft drink establishment owned by the Piccolis.”

50 years ago: “Fire hit the Continental Trailways bus depot, 678 Second Ave., for the second time in three days. This time the bus depot office, the Trail Cafe and the Trembly garage, all contained in the building, were completely destroyed. … Durango’s last major downtown fire was Nov. 15, 1959, when the Muller Corp. building on Eighth Street at the D&RGW tracks burned down.”

25 years ago: “A 30-year-old La Plata County man was arrested for suspected cultivation of 107 marijuana plants with a street value estimated at $150,000 to $200,000. A sheriff’s deputy spotted 55-gallon drums and five plots of blue-green leafy plants during the second day of an air search over southern La Plata County. … Authorities found the mature female plants nestled in pinon, juniper and oak brush nipped with the first gold of fall in a remote, dry area off county roads 318 and 310 between Bondad and Ignacio.”

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