Sidebar by Ken Jessen
Local History – January 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine
The Story Behind the Story
I met the Salazar family quite by accident during the summer of 2000. My wife Sonje and I were in the San Luis Valley hunting ghost towns for Volume 3 of Ghost Towns, Colorado Style. We were eating in La Jara and talking about the location of Los Cerritos, when John Salazar overheard our conversation and introduced himself and his father Henry. John told us about Rincones and the Salazar ranch. The information was added to the book.
In the summer of 2002, Channel 4 producer Doug Whitehead and I paid the Salazar family a visit. We had a wonderful time with Henry showing us around the valley including the casitas where family members once lived. Henry greeted Doug and me like long lost relatives, and Doug and I were both saddened by his subsequent passing. During the visit, June asked me to begin the process of recording the Salazar family history.
At the start of my interview with Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar on April 10, 2003, in his office, I was impressed with his hospitality.I am accustomed to people insisting that the conversation center on them, so I hardly knew what to say when Ken asked me about myself. His kind, caring manner put me at ease. I should have expected this after meeting his parents, sister and two of his brothers. Relaxed, I was able to concentrate on questions about the origins of his family and the nature of the two small communities of Los Rincones and Los Cerritos. –K.J.
