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Snapshots Sunday: Walsenburg

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Walsenburg Sign Image One
Photo Credit: Acts & Tracks (Radio Ronin WordPress Site)

As a companion piece to the Fort Sumner post, my ex-Marine and I headed north, still on our way to Liar’s Lodge. We headed into snow and landed in Walsenburg, Colorado, in Huerfano County, a town smaller than the one I am living in and, as of 2019, continues to hemorrhage people from a peak of 5,855 in 1940. We arrived after dark and stopped to eat. There’s not much there, back then or now. ~Vic

New Mexico Mountains Image Two
Driving north on I-25 through New Mexico.
Click for a larger view.
Mileage Sign Image Three
Las Vegas, New Mexico, by the way…
Driving Into Snow Image Four
The snow showed up.
Click for a larger view.
Snowy Road Image Five
Continuing north.
Click for a larger view.
Empty Diner Image Six
This is from December 2008 but,
the diner looks like it’s from 1974.
Alpine Rose Cafe
Click for a larger view.
Deserted Diner Image Seven
It was open but, deserted.
We had a decent meal.
It’s still there as of 2018.
Click for a larger view.
Radio Station Image Eight
KSPK
It appears to still be there.
It is the only home of Colorado Rockies Baseball
in Southern Colorado.
Huerfano Courthouse Image Nine
County courthouse and jail all lit up.
The lights in the windows are odd.
Click for a larger view.
Snowing Image Ten
It started to snow, again,
while I was attempting another picture.

Additional Reading:
Returning to the Place I’d Never Been (Acts & Tracks/radioronin.wordpress.com)
City of Walsenburg (colorado.gov)
Walsenburg (colorado.com)
Walsenburg (Uncover Colorado)

Shutterbug Saturday: Old Fort Sumner Museum

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I lived in Texas for nearly a decade. My ex-Marine and I did some traveling through the west when we had opportunities. I’ve been digging around in some old stuff and found some photos from a visit to the Old Fort Sumner Museum in New Mexico in December of 2008. We were on our way to Liar’s Lodge. The museum closed in 2017. ~Vic

Old Fort Sumner Museum Image One
A terrible shot of the front of the museum.
It was so overcast.
It never occurred to me to take pictures inside.
Historic Marker Image Two
Official Marker
Lucien Maxwell
Fort Sumner
Bosque Redondo
Elusive Tombstone Image Three
They kept stealing it.
Joe Bowlin
Notice the reference to Texas International Airlines
Jarvis P. Garrett is Pat’s son.
UPI Article on the 1981 Recovery
Stone Marker Image Four
Group death record.
Charlie Bowdre December 23, 1880
Tom O’Folliard December 19, 1880
Billy's Tombstone Image Five
Henry McCarty
AKA William H. Bonney
AKA Billy The Kid
July 14, 1881
“The boy bandit king,
he died as he lived.”

Late Add:

Fort Sumner Cemetery Panorama Image Six
Fort Sumner Cemetery
Photo Credit: Erans World
02-11-2014
Click to view full picture.

Additional Reading:
BTKOG (Billy the Kid Outlaw Gang Site)
Whiskey and the Devil: Taiban, New Mexico (City of Dust Blogspot January 10, 2012)
Billy the Kid’s Two Graves (Roadside America August 15, 2020)
Caught With His Pants Down: Billy the Kid vs Pat Garrett (True West Magazine August 1, 2010)
Brushy Bill Roberts (Wikipedia)