Brief by Ed Quillen
Regional News – July 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
“She wore a yellow ribbon …”
Yellow ribbons, symbolizing support for American military forces, are a common sight these days; you see them on poles, fences, gates, doors, cars….
However, the yellow ribbon symbolized something very different in Denver a century ago, according to the book Hell’s Belles, a history of the city’s vice by Clark Secrest (reviewed in our June, 2002, edition):
“Forbes Parkhill reported that Denver at one point required ‘public women’ in the city to wear yellow ribbons on their arms when on the streets as a badge of their profession. The edict was no match for the madams of Market Street; they dressed their girls in yellow from slippers to bonnet and ordered them to swarm through the restaurants and other public places where ‘respectable people’ gathered. There were hundreds of them, Parkhill wrote, and apparently they were disregarding the city edict that they should not travel outside their district. To the visitor it must have appeared that there was not a chaste woman in Denver. It was all the idea of Mattie Silks and Jenny Rogers. They thought it was a hoot. The rule was repealed.”
No more kicks on Route 666
The “devil’s highway” in the Four Corners region now has a new number: U.S. Highway 666 officially became U.S. Highway 491 on June 2.
The 194-mile highway runs from Gallup, N.M., to Monticello, Utah, and passes through Cortez and Dove Creek in Colorado along the way. The satanic connotation comes from the Bible, in a passage about the Antichrist: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” (Revelation 13:18)
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson pushed the change, and he was supported by the governors of Colorado and Utah. It was approved by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which handles such matters.
States are in charge of naming highways, but it simplifies matters for travelers if federal primary and secondary highways don’t change numbers at the state line.
The highway’s old number was happenstance, according to a report on National Public Radio. It was the sixth federal highway branching from famous old Route 66, and it came naturally after 665.
In ways, 491 makes more sense than 666. Generally, primary east-west routes have two-digit even numbers (i.e., U.S. 50, U.S. 24). Primary north-south routes have two-digit odd numbers (U.S. 85). Secondary routes have the same odd-even rules, but three digits (U.S. 285, U.S. 160).
Since 666 was much more a north-south road (about 150 miles) than an east-west route (about 30 miles), it should have had an odd number in the first place.
As for our own numeric superstitions, when we were starting up and getting a mailing permit, we had a choice between permit numbers 66 and 77. Seven is supposed to be a lucky number, so we picked 77.
High water, but little flooding here
Most of Colorado (the Rio Grande drainage was an exception) got a decent snowpack last winter, and as the snow melted with warm days in May and June, some streams left their banks.
Thus floods were reported along the Front Range along Clear and Boulder creeks.
But the only reported flooding in our part of the world was in Lake County, where the Arkansas River got so high on June 2 that it threatened to cover County Road 9. The county dispatched some heavy equipment to shore up the road.
Yet another depot snag
The old Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad depot in Buena Vista, which had become a private residence, was going to be moved to a site along the tracks. Then the Union Pacific increased the amount it wanted for rent.
So the town decided to move it to McPhelemy Park, and June 6 was going to be the big day — the new foundation was ready.
Overhead utility lines had to be lifted for the move, and the electric and cable companies were ready to go. However, the phone company, Qwest, had only one line-lifting crew in the area, and they had other business that day.
So the move has been postponed until there’s a day when all three utilities have an available crew; no word on when that day will dawn.
Salida’s Boathouse War
Salida’s major annual celebration is FIBArk (“First In Boating, Arkansas river kayaking,” or something like that), which started as a kayak race down the river in 1949 and has added concerts, carnivals, raft races, and many other events over the years. It has also become “Blue Paddle FIBArk” on account of a brewery sponsorship.
The event is managed by a non-profit corporation with a board of directors, and the corporation had one physical asset — the Boathouse near the river, behind Headwaters Outdoor Equipment on F Street.
The Boathouse offered showers and storage for local and visiting boaters, and held FIBArk’s records and memorabilia. For one week in June every year, it was the headquarters for the festival.
In May, the FIBArk board agreed to sell the building to Ray Kitson, owner of Headwaters, for $160,291 — about $10,000 less than the appraised value. Kitson had been leasing the building for another of his enterprises, the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Center, which offers “kayak instruction” and “peak bagging,” among other things.
Kitson also sits on the FIBArk board. Although he recused himself from the discussions, the proposed sale has drawn heavy criticism. Some have argued that even though all the sale discussions were legal, the board should have solicited other bids, so as to remove the appearance of an insider deal.
Others say that the Boathouse was the focal point of a community celebration, and so the board should never have considered selling it. As we went to press, Kitson had a sales contract with an October closing date, and anti-sale petitions were circulating throughout Salida.
Lively election looms in Lake County
It seems early for presidential campaigns, since the election is 16 months away, and yet there are many announced Democrats, as well as one Republican — George W. Bush has officially announced for re-election.
So it seems really early for a campaign for county commissioner in the 2004 election, and yet there are two announced candidates in Lake County.
In May, Leadville Mayor Chet Gaede said he would not seek another term this November, because he plans to run as an independent for Democrat Jim Martin’s county commission seat next November (Martin has hit his term limits). “My greatest frustration as mayor has been dealing with the county commissioners,” he told the Herald-Democrat.
He will face competition from Carol Hill, owner of the Book Mine, who serves on the city council. In 1996, she received 22% of the vote when she ran as a Libertarian for the county commission. This time around, she’s running as a Democrat for the county seat.
Gaede and Hill have disagreed frequently over the years. Gaede once referred to his political antagonists as “cave dwellers,” which resulted in some Leadville T-shirts which said that “cave” stood for “Chet Annoys Virtually Everybody.”
It should be a hard-fought campaign, and we like those — but we also hope that they’ll wait about a year before they start campaigning.
Hayman burn area open,
but has new dangers
Almost a year after Colorado’s largest forest fire — the 137,000-acre Hayman Fire of 2002 along the east flank of South Park — the area has been re-opened to the public by the U.S. Forest Service.
However, “open” means “open to foot traffic,” since many roads remain closed to vehicles because they have not been cleared, and most campgrounds are closed.
The Forest Service cautions that with so many signs and markers still missing, it’s easy to get lost. Indeed, that happened to two interns from the Student Conservation Association on May 30. They were working with the Forest Service to assess potential restoration work near Lake George. They took a wrong turn, and without signs to point them the right way, ended up spending a night outdoors.
They were fine the next morning, but henceforth all Forest Service workers will be equipped with whistles and compasses.
Urban woes in the Wet Mountain Valley?
The news in the Wet Mountain Tribune has had an urban cast to it recently, starting with murder.
A woman’s body was found at an old dump site along Jenkins Park Road in Custer County on May 20. She had been dead for several weeks, and had been wrapped in a blue tarp. She was later identified as Diane Mercer, 38, of rural Westcliffe. The sheriff’s department is handling the case as a homicide.
On the lighter side, Westcliffe has a parking problem on Main Street, so the town board has adopted two-hour parking limits in effect from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
While Front Range cities impose bans on all indoor smoking except in private homes, Westcliffe took a minor step. The town board voted 4-3 to draft an ordinance that would ban smoking in the town hall.
Daughter of Coffee Creamer Bear
Two years ago, homes in subdivisions near Jefferson in Park County were raided by a sweet-toothed bear who broke into trailers; her food preferences gave her the nickname “Coffee Creamer Bear.” In the interest of public safety, she was killed, but her two cubs were not.
Now there’s another bear invading trailers in the Indian Mountain area, going after the same things. Mark Lamb, district manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, told the Fairplay Flume that his “best guess is that it’s one of her offspring because she’s doing the same stupid things. The sows teach the cubs.”
This sow is a mother who’s teaching her own cubs — one of them has already been tattooed and ear-tagged, which means a death sentence if she’s caught bothering humans again.