A farthing is a British coin worth a quarter of a British penny, or 1/960 of a pound. Not much value there. In 1918 a Dr. Farthing in Rio Blanco County was worth his weight in gold. Dr. Charles H. Farthing was recorded in the county clerk’s records as certified[Read More…]
Tag: Ed Peck
Guest Column – Everything is a hammer
Our White River Museum has a room full of tools. OK … some of them we call kitchen appliances, but they are still tools. I believe the first tool a man ever used was a rock. He used it as a hammer to crack open acorns and walnuts and dispatch[Read More…]
Guest Column: Aerobic Gift
This was written years ago by my late mother-in-law Pat Hendrickson. She had a wondrous gift of humor which I would like to share. This is for all of us who have put on pounds during the holiday and bought gym memberships on impulse. This is dedicated to every woman[Read More…]
History Lessons: The Cavanaugh mystery, Part 1
“Mommy, why is there a grave next to the museum? Did someone die inside?” As you are strolling along Park Ave., you may have noticed a white gravestone placed between the White River Museum’s Heritage Center and the Garrison building which was the officers’ quarters. There is no body buried[Read More…]
Guest Column: Camp Hale
By ED PECK WHAT!? I joined the Army to fight the Japanese Imperial Army and you want me to strap two barrel slats on my feet and slide down a snow pile in Colorado?! I want transferred…er, Sir? You may occasionally see a Colorado license plate with the shield of[Read More…]
Guest Column: One of Meeker’s Founding Fathers: George Hazen, Part 2
Part 1: Our Founding Fathers: Part One At the suggestion from George’s brother, Col. William B. Hazen, the post office appointed George Stillwell Hazen postmaster of Meeker, Summit County, Colorado on Oct. 4, 1880. George had some experience in this job. He was the civilian postmaster at Fort Buford, Dakota[Read More…]
Guest Column: Grand Army of the Republic, Part 2
Read Part 1 I have two ancestors who fought in the Civil War. One on each side. This is not unusual. There were many families torn apart with this issue. It was a matter of personal conscience. One side claimed victory but both sides lost in my opinion. A whole[Read More…]
Guest Column: The Grand Army of the Republic: Honoring the Civil War veterans
Before our V.F.W. (Veterans of Foreign Wars) and V.A. (Veterans Administration) and American Legion, there was an organization called G.A.R. which stands for Grand Army of the Republic. It was a fraternal organization made up of American Union soldiers and sailors who served in our Civil War. There had been[Read More…]
It’s a …
ED PECK PHOTO/CUTLINE Kevyn Mack was the first reader to supply correct answers to last week’s “what is this tool?” quiz. Answer: The wrench was designed for specific nuts and bolts on a McCormick Deering mower of unknown year. Old machines often had carriage bolts with square nuts. McCormick Deering[Read More…]
Guest Column: Paul Revere
One of the pitfalls in studying history is the lack of fact-checking. Once an action has been recorded in print, it becomes gospel. A mistake is self-perpetuating. This has been amplified a hundredfold in our age of social media, but it certainly didn’t start there. I would like to take[Read More…]
Guest Column: Bagpipes
A shifty looking guy in a kilt walks into a London pub, orders a pint, and very carefully puts down the plastic bag he was carrying. The suspicious barkeeper asks, “What’s that?” The Scotsman answers, “Six pounds of explosives.” The barkeeper replies with obvious relief. “Thanks goodness, I thought it[Read More…]
Guest Column: Whaddya mean, you branded the hill?!
We may never know exactly what inspired Regas K. Halandras Sr. (father of Gus and Chris) to cut two giant letters — RH — into a hillside of sagebrush. The idea had been probably stewing for a while. According to Chris, Regas had seen somewhere an area of sage brush[Read More…]
