Colorado Country Life June 2010

JUNE 2010

THE PONY EXPRESS Remembering the tragic story of station master Jack Slade

The official publication of the Colorado Rural Electric Association Volume 41, Number 06

Publisher/Editor Associate Editor

Mona Neeley, CCC Donna Norris

OFFICERS President Vice President

Chris Morgan, Gunnison

Secretary

Bill Midcap, Fort Morgan

Treasurer Executive Director

Don Kaufman, Sangre De Cristo

Bob Bledsoe, Tri-State

Kent Singer, CREA

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Virginia Dale Stage Station

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mike Sramek Delta-Montrose Empire

John Porter

Grand Valley Highline Holy Cross K.C. LaPlata Mountain Parks Mountain View Poudre Valley San Isabel San Luis Valley San Miguel Sangre De Cristo Southeast United Power White River Y-W Yampa Valley Associate Members

Sylvia Spangler Jim Lueck Michael Glass Dan Mills Tom Compton Stan Cazier B.D. Paddock Jack Schneider Joseph Costa, Reg Rudolph Mike Rierson, John Villyard Michael Saftler Paul Erickson Mark Grasmick Jim Jaeger Bill Jordan Stuart Travis Sam Haslem Basin Electric Co-Bank Wheatland Electric

EDITORIAL Denver Corporate Office 5400 N. Washington Denver, CO 80216 Phone: 303-455-4111 Email: MNeeley@coloradocountrylife.org Website: coloradocountrylife.coop Facebook: Colorado Country Life Twitter: @COCountryLife

F E AT U R E

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COLUMNS

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Gardening Praise for penstemon: perfect plant for Colorado BY EVE GILMORE

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Recipes Delicious ways to get fruit and vegetables into your diet BY LINH

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TRUONG

Outdoors Reminiscing about good, old fashioned trout fishing BY DENNIS SMITH

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Energy Tips New dishwashers — cleaner plates and lower bills BY JAMES DULLEY

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D E PA R T M E N T S

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Viewpoint Rural Energy Savings Program brings efficiency home BY KENT SINGER

ADVERTISING Kris Wendtland 303-902-727 National Advertising Rep Groups: NCM 800-626-1181 The Weiss Group 915-533-5394 COLORADO COUNTRY LIFE (USPS 469-400/ISSN 1090-2503) is published monthly for $9/$15 per year by Colorado Rural Electric Association, 5400 N. Washington Street, Denver, CO 80216 Periodical postage paid at Denver, Colorado.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Colorado Country Life, 5400 N. Washington Street, Denver, CO 80216.

Publication of an advertisement in Colorado Country Life does not imply endorsement by any Colorado rural electric cooperative or the Colorado Rural Electric Association. Editorial opinions published in Colorado Country Life magazine shall pertain to issues affecting rural electric cooperatives, rural communities and citizens. The opinion of CREA is not necessarily that of any particular cooperative or individual.

The Pony Express The tragic story of station master Jack Slade BY DAN ROTTENBERG

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Letters Calendar Co-op News News Clips Funny Stories Discoveries

COVER: “GOD SPEED TO THE BOY AND THE PONY,” A BRONZE MAQUETTE SCULPTED BY BRENDA DANIHER. PHOTOGRAPHED BY BRENT WARD WWW.BRENTWARDPHOTO.COM

Energy Efficiency Rural Energy Savings Program Act could bring energy efficiency home for more people

BY KENT L. SINGER, CREA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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t the electric co-ops we talk a lot about energy efficiency these days. But what does it really mean for you as electric co-op members? It could mean a more comfortable home and more money in your pocket.

Kent Singer Now I will admit that energy efficiency can be a rather dry topic full of statistics and engineering jargon and, frankly, not all that interesting. That is, until you talk to someone who has done the research and pushed past all of the charts and numbers and actually made thoughtful changes that are making his or her home more comfortable while saving real dollars. Talk to that person, and all of a sudden energy efficiency gets a lot more exciting.

That person will be happy to explain the changes he made, the new triple-pane windows or the R-21 insulation in his walls. He’ll go on about how warm that family room was when the winds were blowing outside and how comfortable the house stayed even when the temperature soared outside. But more than that, he’ll talk about his energy bill with a smile on his face.

We’re working to help more of our co-op members have these kinds of experiences. Colorado’s electric cooperatives have been supporters of the efficient use of electricity since the program began in the 1930s. The co-ops have incorporated the “waste not, want not” ethic that is common in rural Colorado and throughout rural America into their corporate culture.

Electric cooperatives across Colorado have implemented policies and programs encouraging energy efficiency. Those programs include rebates for energy-efficient appliances, time-of-use rates to encourage energy consumption during off-peak hours, distribution of compact fluorescent

4 Colorado Country Life JUNE 2010

lightbulbs, installation of LED lights and more. In these uncertain economic times, Colorado’s electric co-ops are determined to enable their members to find ways to save money on their energy bills.

The co-ops are also supporting a bill recently introduced by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and others in the United States Congress called the Rural Energy Savings Program Act (H.R. 4785). This new program would make short-term loans available to rural energy consumers to be used for major improvements on their homes related to energy efficiency. Improvements include such things as new insulation, replacement windows or new heating and air-conditioning systems.

The program would provide up-front investment money for home owners that would be paid back over 10 years using the money saved on energy bills.

The Rural Utilities Service (the same federal agency that currently administers loans to electric co-ops) would make 0-interest loans to the electric co-ops from money appropriated to RUS by Congress. The co-ops would then make low-interest (no more than 3 percent) micro-loans to individual members for improvements that are deemed costeffective. There is no risk to the government because the individual electric co-op would be required to repay the loan.

Co-op members would apply to the co-op, specifying the improvements to be made and the expected energy savings.

(It is expected that the typical loan would be in the $1,500 to $7,000 range.) The co-op would then conduct an energy audit and determine whether the project would save the members enough money for them to pay back the loan in 10 years.

The great part is, the co-op member will continue to enjoy the benefits and the

savings provided by the improvements long after the loan is paid off.

It sounds like a great program, and that is why the Colorado Rural Electric Association supports this legislation. And in addition to the cost savings that will benefit co-op members, the Rural Energy Savings Program will create new jobs in our rural areas. There will be jobs for auditors to check homes and jobs for contractors who will install the energy efficiency improvements. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association estimates that the new program will create or save an average of 20,000 to 34,000 jobs in each of the 10 years of the program.

Although CREA as an organization supports the passage of H.R. 4785, it will be up to individual co-ops to implement this energy efficiency program along with the many energy efficiency programs they already have in place. Each electric co-op will have to look at the program requirements, look at its members’ needs and decide whether this new program makes sense for it or not.

But with or without this proposed program, energy efficiency will continue to be a priority for Colorado’s electric co-ops.

You’ll continue to hear more about how we are saving energy as electric co-ops; we’ll continue to share ideas on how you can save electricity at home; and we’ll keep offering rebates and other incentives to help you be more energy efficient every day.

Using the energy we have efficiently is a goal all of us can support.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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Drawing Winner Just a quick note to thank you for the charming necklace I won in the February giveaway.

Nancy Skelton, Akron

Library Donation Thank you for the collection of fiction and nonfiction books you sent us. I know you were in cahoots with Sangre De Cristo Electric Association and whatever you two were up to, we appreciate it.

Jeffery Donlan Salida Regional Library

Directing Our Lights In response to a letter regarding yard lights (April ’10), I don’t believe that their use should be prohibited either. The problem is not the lights, but “light spillover.” Many of the lights that I see not only illuminate the intended target but spill over onto adjacent roads, property and the night sky. Simple shields or directional lighting is the answer. Empire Electric (in Cortez) has a program to replace the 360-degree fixtures with down-facing ones that better illuminate the area without spillover.

Jim Skvorc, Dolores

Why This Magazine?

I am thoroughly puzzled about Colorado Country Life. I do not understand why an electric co-op would send this magazine.

P UZZLED

IN

C OL ORADO

Editor’s Note: Colorado’s electric co-ops send this magazine as a cost-effective way to get information to their members.

Studies have found that readership for an electric-only newsletter is low. However, when that information is included in a general interest publication, readership goes up. And the more members of electric co-ops know and understand about their co-op, the more involved they are with their co-op, which is member owned and operated. At only 37¢ a copy, Colorado Country Life is an inexpensive way to keep the communication flowing and keep members involved.

Send your letter to the editor by mail or email.

You must include your name and address to be published. Letters may be edited.

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Gallop Through Time

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Buy a book about the Wild West.

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JUNE 2010

Colorado Country Life 5

JUNE CALENDAR June 11 in Silver Cliff

June 13–July 18 in Grand Lake

June 21–25 in Durango

July 3 in Falcon

Historic Walking Tour

Vintage Hats/Clothes Exhibit

Packing for the Real World

Falcon Freedom Days

Takes visitors around historic sites Silver Cliff Town Hall, Highway 96 719-783-0263

Kauffman House Museum 970-627-9644 www.kauffmanhouse.org

Intensive packing clinic for horsemen 970-259-1581 www.4cbch.org

Meridian Ranch Boulvard and Stapleton Road www.easternchamber.org

June 11–13 in Silver Cliff

June 14–18 in Durango

June 26 in Westcliffe

July 3–4 in Leadville

Mining Days

Mountain Horsemanship Clinic

San Isabel’s General Auction

Showcases rich mining history 719-783-0263

Improve skills for enjoying scenic mountain trails on horseback 970-259-1581; www.4cbch.org

719-783-3018 www.sanisabel.org

Amateur Trapshooting Competition

Denver Concert Band

June 18 in Cheyenne Wells

Leadville Trail 100 Training

Tabor Opera House, 7:30 p.m.

719-486-8409 www.taboroperahouse.net

Cowboy Camp Supper & Fireworks

Group training runs 719-486-3502 www.leadvilletrail100.com

June 12 in Leadville

June 26–28 in Leadville

Includes local talent performance Medicine Arrow Park

June 12 in Durango

June 18–20 in Durango

June 26–27 in Estes Park

Men Who Grill

Day Out With Thomas™

Scandinavian Midsummer Festival

Feasting and fun Main Avenue, 11:30 a.m.-3p.m.

970-247-1242

Scandinavian music, dance, food, crafts; Bond Park, 9:30 a.m.–5 p.m.

303-449-9596

Family Fun Festival

Thomas the Train and a train yard full of fun for the kids Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad 970-385-8801 www.durangotrain.com

State Bank Building, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

719-495-1677

June 19–20 in Youngsville, New Mexico

June 12 in Falcon

Mud Run Cheyenne County Fairgrounds, 2 p.m.

719-767-5755 www.townofcheyennewells.com/upco mingevents.htm

A self-guided art tour along New Mexico’s Highway 96 575-638-5012 www.pedernalheritage.org

July 2 in Granby

Annual Library Book Sale Preview book sale Granby Library, 5–7 p.m.

Lap the Lake 50 Bike Race June 12–13 in Limon

Limon Railroad Days Limon Rock Island Railroad Museum Saturday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Sunday, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.

303-324-2634 www.technographicsLLC.com/ limontrainshow

Parade, 5K fun run and fireworks 719-486-3900 www.visitleadvillecolorado.com

Salida Aspen Concert Series

Community Book Sale

Ingrid Fliter, piano Anton Dressler, clarinet Salida High School 719-539-6153 www.salidaaspenconcerts.org

Granby Library, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Trail Marathon & Heavy Half Marathon Course runs through Leadville’s historic mining district 719-486-3502 www.leadvilletrail100.com

June 20 in Sterling

Community Pancake Breakfast

High Plains Outdoor Expo

Planes, door prizes, silent auction Granby-Grand County Airport, 7–11 a.m.

970-531-9641 www.eaa1267.org

July 3 in Granby

Send calendar items two months in advance to Calendar, Colorado Country Life, 5400 N. Washington St., Denver CO 80216; fax to 303-455-2807; or email calendar@coloradocountrylife.org.

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July 4 in Leadville

July 10 in Salida

Three laps around Turquoise Lake’s paved road Turquoise Lake 719-486-7484 www.lakecountyco.com/recreation

Logan County Fairgrounds 970-522-5070 www.logancountychamber.com

Ride the train to Silverton and return to Durango after the fireworks Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad; 970-385-8801 www.durangotrain.com

July 3 in Granby

July 3 in Leadville June 20 in Leadville

July 4 in Durango

Independence Day Train Ride

Fourth of July Celebration

Pedernal Arts Tour June 12 in Cheyenne Wells

Leadville Rod & Gun Club 719-486-3929 www.rmclaysports.com/CSTA.html

July 10–11 in Leadville

Lake County Rodeo Bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling, kids’ mutton bustin’ Lake County Rodeo Grounds 719-486-6371 www.leadvillerodeo.com

For more information on these activities, visit www.colorado countrylife.coop. Click on Events and discover what’s happening.

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JUNE 2010

Colorado Country Life 11

Electric Co-op Smart Grid Project on Track he stimulus-supported smart grid project being undertaken by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Cooperative Research Network is moving along so well that the U.S. Department of Energy said it is “considerably ahead of other teams,” a CRN official reported.

“DOE believes right now that the CRN-NRECA-co-ops team is the furthest along of the projects,” Craig Miller, CRN senior program manager, said during the National Information Solutions Cooperative’s Gridposium event.

Speaking April 20 — Day 63 of the CRN project — Miller said DOE gave the co-ops 120 days to complete the first phase, which includes all of the planning.

“We plan to deliver the first phase much sooner,” he said. “There’s a hard project deadline that you have to be installing equipment by July 2011. We are on track to beat that by seven months.”

CRN was among the winning bids picked by DOE late last year to receive smart grid grants. Twenty-one electric co-ops in 10 states are participating in the $68 million project, with the government paying half. There are 10 different areas of study and some 100 activities with two primary areas of focus: demand response

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and distribution automation.

“The critical element here is that we’re not treating each of these 100 as an independent activity. We’re building a central data collection point to study the activities as a whole,” noted Miller, who is overseeing the project for CRN. “Electric cooperatives have the possibility of being in a leadership role, of being on the cutting edge in building a smarter grid.”

To Martin Lowery, NRECA executive vice president for external affairs, the smart grid project is further proof of the proud record that co-ops have had over the past 75 years in operating and maintaining electric delivery systems.

Lowery said the CRN smart grid project will be a game changer for the way electric co-ops are viewed.

“Electric cooperatives have the possibility of being in a leadership role, of being on the cutting edge in building a smarter grid,” Lowery told Gridposium attendees. “Looking back 10 years from now we ought to be able to say that we have achieved some things that would not otherwise have been achieved with smart

grid technology because of the way we look at our mission as cooperatives, the way we focus attention on our memberconsumers and the way we think about cost effectiveness.”

Lowery noted that “there was quite a bit of surprise and interest outside of the cooperative family at the large number of cooperatives that applied for grants and the significant number that won.”

To those that applied but did not receive a grant award, Lowery said, “Because of the effort you made, and the fact that your board of directors approved putting the application forward, you have a technology plan that’s ready to go. And so I think that you’re going to see over the next five years a great deal of activity not only among those that won grants, but also among the many cooperatives that did expend the time and effort in to put a plan in place.”

And, Lowery added, “I strongly urge us to move forward together in terms of information sharing. There will be many lessons learned along the way, and we will learn from one another what the best applications and best practices will turn out to be.”

Source: Smart Grid, April 22, 2010

RURAL BUSINESS GRANTS AVAILABLE SDA is accepting applications for business and community development grants through June 28 to help rural communities with economic development. The funding is being provided through USDA Rural Development’s Rural Business Opportunity Grant program, which provides grants for technical assistance and planning activities to improve economic conditions in rural cities or towns of 50,000 people or fewer.

Funding under the RBOG program can be used to pay for economic planning, technical assistance and training for rural communities, entrepreneurs or economic development officials. The amount of funding available is $2.48 million.

More information on how to apply for a USDA Rural Business Opportunity Grant is available at www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/rbog.htm

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Tri-State G&T Elects Board New Chairman new chairman of the board was elected recently when more than 500 electric cooperative representatives and industry officials attended Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association’s 58th annual meeting.

Longtime Tri-State chairman Harold “Hub” Thompson, of Wyoming, retired as an electric co-op director after 26 years as Rick Gordon Tri-State’s board chairman. Rick Gordon, representing Tri-State member co-op Mountain View Electric Association of Limon, was elected to replace Thompson as chairman. Gordon joined Tri-State’s board in 1994 and has served as vice chairman for the past 13 years. He has served on his MVEA board since 1992.

Tony Casados, representing Northern Rio Arriba Electric Cooperative in Chama, New Mexico, was elected vice chairman, after having served as an assistant secretary for the past nine years. Casados has served on his local co-op board since 1982 and has been on the Tri-State board since 2000.

Jim Soehner was reelected as secretary, a position he has held for the past two years. Soehner represents Y-W Electric Association in Akron and has served on the Tri-State board since 1991.

Lou Costello, who has represented Gunnison County Electric Association in Gunnison on the Tri-State board since 1999, was elected treasurer. He had previously served in an at-large capacity on the executive committee.

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Wayne Child was reelected to one of two assistant secretary positions, a role he has filled for the past 23 years. Child has been on the Tri-State board for 27 years, representing High West Energy in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, where he has served since 1973.

Bill Bird, who first joined the Tri-State board in 2004 representing member system Otero County Electric Cooperative in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, was elected to the other assistant secretary position. He had previously held one of three at-large seats on the executive committee.

The executive committee’s three at-large positions are being filled by incumbent Gary Merrifield, representing Sangre De Cristo Electric Association in Buena Vista, and newly elected Stuart Morgan from Wheat Belt Public Power District in Sidney, Nebraska, and Jack Finnerty from Wheatland Rural Electric Association in Wheatland, Wyoming.

In 2009, Tri-State delivered a record 14.3 million megawatthours of electricity to its members, while recording a member peak demand of 2,447 megawatts in July. Combined with offsystem energy sales, the G&T sold a total of 18.6 million megawatt-hours for the year and posted year-end revenues of $1.2 billion and assets of $3.7 billion.

Based in the Denver suburb of Westminster, Tri-State supplies power to 18 member electric cooperatives in Colorado, 12 in New Mexico, eight in Wyoming and six in Nebraska, which in turn provide electricity to nearly 600,000 meters or a population of approximately 1.5 million people.

ELECTRIC CO-OPS SUPPORT ENERGY EFFICIENCY BILL he electric co-ops’ support for the Rural Energy Savings Program Act (H.R. 4785) was reiterated by National Rural Electric Cooperative Association CEO Glenn English in mid-May, when he testified before the U.S. House Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research Subcommittee in Washington, D.C. T his ne w program can produce significant energy efficiency savings for consumers and create jobs, while allowing electric cooperatives to avoid building new generation infrastructure, English told the subcommittee. He noted that energy efficiency investments have long been a part of electric cooperative business practices, but electric co-ops have limited financial resources to undertake these efforts on a large scale.

The genius of this program is that it will allow the co-ops to help more con-

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An electric thermal heating system is one investment in energy efficiency that pays off.

sumers overcome the barriers to energy efficiency savings and it will use the current Rural Utilities Service loan program and avoid creating any new federal infrastructure.

RESPA sponsors House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) and Reps.

Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) and Tom Perriello (D-Va.) highlighted the program’s potential to boost efficiency savings and local jobs in rural areas when they spoke before the subcommittee. Rep. Whitfield specifically noted that giving electric co-ops another resource to increase energy efficiency would help meet future electricity demand.

While neutral on RESPA, RUS testimony noted that electric co-ops are nationally recognized leaders in energy efficiency and demand side practices but have limited RUS resources to help make efficiency upgrades affordable for consumers. This bill would address that problem and promote energy efficiency across the country.

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Colorado Country Life 13

INDUSTRY

Powering Up Don’t be left in the dark on how power is restored after a storm aves of thunder rumble then roar toward your home as strong winds whip through the trees.

Lights flicker, then fade, as errant tree limbs crush power lines. Another Colorado storm has announced itself and then doused your lights.

Other times, the storms come silently.

Last winter it might have been the softly falling layers upon layers of snow that collected on trees and spread slowly over power lines, dragging them to the ground.

Other times the staccato tap of ice against windowpanes may have heralded a growing problem with your electric lines. One inch of ice on a single span of electric wire weighs as much as 1,250 pounds — a force capable of causing far more damage than wind as the weight

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drives tree branches and power lines to the ground.

Tornados, hurricanes, ice storms, blizzards — whatever the weather, the end result may be temporary power loss.

Local electric cooperatives in Colorado routinely do right-of-way maintenance, trimming foliage and removing trees that hover dangerously close to power lines.

This prevents all kinds of weather from blowing trees and limbs into power lines and causing outages. But when nature prevails, line workers, engineers and other employees of Colorado’s electric co-ops are standing by around the clock, ready to take action to get your lights back on.

But first they need to know that your lights are out. So when the lights go black, report your outage as soon as possible by

BY MEGAN MCKOY

calling your co-op. Then it’s a matter of waiting until repairs can be made.

But where will your electric co-op start the process of restoring power? When the co-op’s staff members begin assessing storm damage, they focus on fixing the biggest problems first, prioritizing repairs according to how quickly and safely they can get the most homes back into service.

Step 1: Clearing the path When you think of how electricity flows to you, think of it as a river in reverse. It originates at a single ocean of power (a generation plant) and diverges from there into a series of transmission lines, substations and smaller feeder lines until it reaches homes and businesses at a trickle of its original strength.

Transmission lines, which carry power

When electricity goes out, most of us expect power will be restored within a few hours. But when a major storm causes widespread damage, longer outages may result. Co-op line crews work long, hard hours to restore service safely to the greatest number of consumers in the shortest time possible. Here’s what is going on if you find yourself in the dark.

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INDUSTRY at high voltages from power plants, and local substations, where the voltage is lowered for safe travel to neighborhoods, must both be inspected for damage and repaired before other efforts take place. After all, if the substation linked to your neighborhood’s power supply has been damaged, it doesn’t matter if line workers repair every problem near your home — the lights will stay dark.

Step 2: Bulk efforts After restoring the flow of power to local substations, the local electric co-op’s focus is on getting power back to the greatest number of members. Distribution lines in highly populated areas are checked for damage and repaired quickly, delivering electricity to most members the quickest.

What does this mean? You might live on a farm with neighbors a mile or two away, or you could live in a neighborhood surrounded by 10 or 20 homes. Folks in neighborhoods will likely see power return before members in remote areas. Line repairs are once again prioritized by the number of members who benefit.

er power to transformers outside homes and businesses. This is the final stage of power restoration, requiring a bit more patience.

Individual households may receive special attention if loss of electricity affects life-support systems or poses another immediate danger. If you or a family member depend on special medical equipment, call your local electric co-op before an emergency arises.

Still in the dark?

If you notice your neighbors have power while you remain out of service, there might be damage between your home and the transformer on a nearby pole. If you didn’t report your outage earlier, be sure to call your co-op so a line crew can make repairs.

There are limits to what the electric co-op line workers can repair. You — not the co-op — are responsible for damage to the service installation at your home or business. If the problem is behind the meter, call a licensed electrician to make your repairs.

Step 3: One-on-one

Be Prepared

After fixing damage blocking power from large pockets of members, the co-op will focus on repairing tap lines (also called supply or service lines). These lines deliv-

While utilities work hard to reduce the effect strong winds and storms have on power lines, it’s good to be prepared for any disaster that might hit your community.

Store a few basic items in your home.

You should have at least a three-day supply of water on hand, one gallon per person per day. It’s also a good idea to have a three-day supply of nonperishable, highenergy food on hand — protein bars, breakfast bars, and canned food are winners.

Remember to store handy tools like a radio, can opener, flashlights, extra batteries, hand sanitizer, and first aid supplies. Include a seven-day supply of medications for you or other family members. Finally, retain copies of important documents — birth certificates, passports, and insurance policies.

Those are the basics, but you can further customize your emergency kit. Think about including family photos; candy, nuts or other snack food; even a deck of cards to help pass the time. Rechargeable flashlights in key areas of the home provide instant light if the power goes out.

To learn more about how to prepare for storms and other emergencies, visit www.redcross.org/domore.

Megan McKoy writes on consumer and cooperative affairs for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the Arlington, Virginiabased service arm of the nation’s 900-plus consumer-owned, not-for-profit electric cooperatives.

“Hitch our wagon to a star.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson WWW.COLORADOCOUNTRYLIFE.COOP

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Colorado Country Life 15

Jack

SLADE

This sketch is believed to be that of Joseph (Jack) Alfred Slade. The sketch was given to Clyde Brown by Mrs. G.L. Harris July 14, 1942.

The tragic hero who saved Julesburg, the Pony Express — and the Union

BY DAN ROTTENBERG

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If you cross the Union Pacific tracks and the South Platte River from Julesburg, you will enter a hallowed piece of America’s past.To a stranger, the river road heading southwest from Julesburg is merely a lonely gravel strip in Colorado’s northeast corner, extending only about 10 miles and leading nowhere. But in the 1850s this road bore the names of the great westbound routes that have captivated American imaginations ever since: the Oregon Trail, the Emigrant Trail, the Mormon Trail, the Overland Trail and the Pony Express.

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ome 5 miles west of Julesburg, you reach a seemingly nondescript stretch where two historical markers stand side by side. At first glance, amid the weeds and brush, it’s difficult to conceive that on this barren spot, near the bank of a largely dried-out river, the future of the United States — and, consequently, the future of modern democracy — once hung in the balance.

For in the summer of 1859, at the very moment that the northern and southern states were breaking apart over the slavery issue, this was the spot that the struggling new Jones & Russell stagecoach line chose as the critical junction where its two westbound lines would diverge: one southwest to the new mining town of Denver, and the other northwest to Salt Lake City and from there to California.

At that moment the Jones & Russell line constituted the federal government’s only northern link with America’s richest state: California. Without a fast and reliable northern line of communication, it was conceivable that, as the North and South split apart, California would cast its lot with the South or break off and form an independent nation of its own.

As early as 1858 a grizzled French-Canadian trapper named Jules Beni had operated a trading post and saloon at this socalled Upper California Crossing of the South Platte. His cluster of a half-dozen buildings — the largest settlement along the 350-mile stretch between Fort Kearny in the Nebraska Territory and Denver — came to be called Julesburg (not to be confused with the present-day town of Julesburg located 5 miles to the east). And when the stagecoach line came through, “Old Jules” Beni seemed the logical choice to manage the company’s station there.

But Old Jules lost no time in demonstrating that he was the wrong man for the job. From his first day, horses, hay and other valuable company property — even the U.S. Mail itself — began to disappear, often to be speedily returned for a reward arranged through Beni’s kindly offices.

Partly as a result of this mischief, Jones & Russell was out of business by October 1859, its U.S. Mail contract taken over by the newly organized Central Overland, California & Pike’s Peak Express Company. The irrepressible William H. Russell, who remained as president of the reorganized company, was deeply in debt. In his desperation, he concocted an audacious gamble to recoup his partnership’s losses.

Russell proposed to supplement Central Overland’s heavy stagecoaches with a unique horseback relay service that could reduce the cross-country mail delivery time from three weeks to as few as eight days. In the process this “Pony Express” would win his partnership a much more lucrative U.S. Mail contract.

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It might also keep California and all its gold wealth in the Union. But everything depended on finding someone to clean up the weakest link in Central Overland’s chain. In effect that meant cleaning up Julesburg, which meant confronting Julesburg’s de facto feudal lord, Old Jules Beni himself.

The man chosen for this assignment, Joseph Alfred Slade, stood just 5-foot-8 — hardly a physical match for the hulking Beni. Slade’s build was not lean but husky: He weighed about 160 pounds. His hair was reddish, and he spoke in a high-pitched voice. Of Slade’s physical characteristics, only his dark, piercing eyes could be described as intimidating.

Yet, at the age of 28, Slade was already a legend along the Overland Trail. As a teenager he had served in the MexicanAmerican War. As a wagon master and stagecoach superintendent during the 1850s, he had organized mobs of unruly men and animals into efficient teams capable of defying floods, droughts, blizzards, outlaws and hostile Indians. Less than six months earlier, he had quelled an incipient mutiny on a wagon train by shooting the apparent ringleader dead. Slade was said to be educated, polite, soft-spoken, rigorously honest and a devoted husband, but word of mouth had amplified his ferocious reputation wherever freighting men camped between the Missouri River and the Pacific.

In the fall of 1859 — because of his reputation — Slade was appointed superintendent of Central Overland’s Sweetwater Division, which covered nearly 500 miles from Julesburg west toward the Rockies. This was considered the most dangerous section of the company’s 1,200-mile route between the Missouri River and Salt Lake City.

Rarely has a man risen to a challenge so superbly. Slade quickly established order along his division by conspicuously capturing and hanging a few robbers and horse thieves and letting word of mouth drive away the rest. In a land devoid of courts and law enforcement — present-day Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming — he functioned as a benevolent feudal lord of the prairie, protecting settlers, emigrants, stagecoach passengers and the U.S. Mail. Along the Overland Trail he became known as “The Law West of Kearny.”

Beni, cowed by Slade’s reputation, stepped aside peacefully as stationmaster, and relations between the two men appeared to be civil at first. But in the early months of 1860, as Slade drove his men relentlessly to prepare for the scheduled April 3 launch of the Pony Express, Beni stewed unnoticed at Julesburg, his fury stoked by a succession of petty slights by Slade. The last straw, apparently, occurred when Slade rode into one of Beni’s corrals and appropriated two mares he believed Jules had stolen from the company. [continued on page 18]

JUNE 2010

Colorado Country Life 17

[continued from page 17]

In mid-March, on an inspection tour, Slade arrived by stagecoach at Julesburg. When Beni noticed that Slade was unarmed, he disappeared into his house and emerged moments later with a Colt revolver in his hand, emptying its contents into Slade’s body.

Then Beni reached inside the doorway of his house for a doublebarreled shotgun and dispensed its contents into his adversary as well.

This view of Jack Slade’s Virginia Dale Overland Trail Stage Station, circa 1865, was drawn by W.H. Jackson.

Remarkably, Slade survived this barrage. While Beni fled to Denver and then farther west, a Pony Express rider galloped 175 miles to Fort Laramie, in what is now Wyoming, to fetch a military surgeon, who a day or two later picked out a few pistol balls from Slade’s body. A few weeks later, in a tribute to Slade’s value, the Central Overland Company transported him a thousand miles by stagecoach and rail to St. Louis, where skilled surgeons removed more (but still not all) of the lead from his body.

By June of 1860 Slade was back at work.

In August 1861, when Beni foolishly returned to Slade’s division and threatened to finish him off, Slade posted a reward for his capture. At Cold Spring station — some 25 miles southeast of Fort Laramie — Slade’s men killed Beni while attempting to arrest him. When Slade sliced off the dead man’s ears as souvenirs, that gesture added yet another page to his already grisly legend.

After the Pony Express had closed shop and Indians devastated Slade’s division in a series of raids in the spring of 1862, the stage company responded by moving its line 300 miles south through Denver, a safer and more heavily trafficked location. Yet at precisely this moment — with his authority firmly established and the stagecoach line finally on solid financial footing — Slade degenerated into a brawling drunk incapable of managing himself, much less a stagecoach line. After holding the line together for four years — at a time when other men burned out within months — Slade seemingly cracked.

When inebriated, he took to riding his horse into saloons, shooting glasses off the shelves and picking fights with his best friends, one of whom he shot and wounded. On one occasion

18 Colorado Country Life JUNE 2010

he killed a sleeping dog; on another, he cut the ear off a mule.

When sober, he apologized profusely and paid for the damages he had caused.

In the process, Slade lost not only his job but also his life and his reputation. Following a two-day drinking binge in March 1864, Slade was lynched by vigilantes in the new gold-mining camp of Virginia City, Montana, although he had committed no crime there other than disorderly conduct. He was only 33.

Despite Slade’s critical role in opening the West and saving the Union, most historians and Western writers subsequently dismissed him as a “notorious gunman,” a “desperado” and even an outlaw. His name, as one acquaintance put it, “became synonymous for all that is infamous and cruel in human character.”

The explanation for Slade’s tragic downfall remains elusive to this day. To some observers, Slade was an early example of a split personality, decades before Robert Louis Stevenson penned The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

To western writer Kenneth Jessen of Loveland, Slade was “a responsible manager who happened to be an alcoholic” at a time and place where “the only response was to hang him.” John DeShazo, a U.S. medical officer who served in Vietnam, speculates that Slade may have suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome stemming from his near-fatal ambush by Beni. “A wounded soldier is a changed soldier,” DeShazo notes.

The original Julesburg, where that shooting took place in March 1860, is no more. It was burned by Cheyenne Indians in February 1865. The present-day town of Julesburg, established in 1880 some 5 miles upstream from the original, is actually the fourth place to bear that name and it is proud of its history.

In 1960–61, following the Pony Express centennial celebration, Julesburg residents were inspired to launch the Fort Sedgwick Historical Society. The society has since spawned two impressive museums, one of them in the town’s old Union Pacific Railroad depot. Throw in an antique car museum and the preserved 1940s bandstand developed by Lee Kizer, Julesburg’s former mayor, and you have a tourist attraction waiting to be discovered.

Kizer, now in his 80s, became a history buff listening to the stories of old timers who sat in his barber chair over more than half a century. Of course, he adds — what is perhaps the most fitting epitaph for Jack Slade: “People always tell negative stories, never nice ones. It’s still that way today.”

Dan Rottenberg is the author of Death of a Gunfighter: The Quest for Jack Slade, the West’s Most Elusive Legend (Westholme, 2008). A paperback edition was published in April 2010. For more information about the book and Jack Slade, visit www.deathofagunfighter.com.

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Happy Birthday, Pony Express Celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express

T

he Pony Express galloped off on its first delivery on April 3, 1860, from St. Joseph, Missouri, and arrived on in Sacramento, California April 13. In those 10 days, that first nowunknown rider covered nearly 2,000 miles of vast wilderness, high mountains and sometimes hostile terrain.

This year marks the 150th anniversary celebration of the first high-speed information delivery service that reached the western part of United States. In honor of this sesquicentennial, the National Pony Express Association is planning a host of celebrations all along the original Pony Express route, which stretched from Missouri to California, passing through Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada.

Pony Express history is preserved in the federally designated Historic Trail (administered by the National Park Service), museums, Pony Rider monuments, books and the annual re-creations by the NPEA. This summer the association will dedicate a national Pony Express monument at Sidney, Nebraska, on June 18

BY ALLISON MELUN

at 6 p.m. You can check out the design and plans for this monument at www.pxmonument.org/ index.html. The eight Pony Express states will be memorialized at the monument with granite markers that form the shape of a horseshoe, and a state flag will be flown behind each stone.

Other local celebrations are happening throughout the summer along the route.

Beginning on June 6, the NPEA will conduct its annual Re-Ride over the 1,966mile route. Starting in San Francisco, California, the ride will arrive in St. Joseph on June 26. Normally, this is a 10-day, around-the-clock event with more than 500 riders and horses. In 2010, however, the ride will be done mostly during the daytime hours so that communities along the route can hold their own celebrations.

Riders will carry commemorative letters in saddlebags called mochilas, just like the original Pony Express riders. The envelopes will show they were carried by the Pony Express and the first class postage will have a special U.S. Postal

Service cancellation. Only the number of letters purchased will be carried. They will available for purchase by NPEA members, historians and philatelists. The letter bags will also contain President Abraham Lincoln’s 1861 inaugural address, which was the most famous piece of mail carried by the Pony Express. At each stop, the public can have letters cancelled with a special Pony Express insignia.

There are two celebrations planned for Colorado. On Saturday, June 19, a pancake breakfast is planned in Ovid at 7 a.m. Later that day, at 6:30 p.m., a barbecue and music festival will take place in Julesburg. The final celebration of the Re-Ride will be on June 26 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Missouri chapter of the NPEA will hold a colorful circa 1860 procession through downtown St. Joseph to the Patee House Museum, site of the original Pony Express headquarters.

For more information about events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Pony Express or to follow the progress of this year’s ride, go to www.xphome station.com/150th-Anniversary.html. To check out more information about the trail itself, go to the National Park Service’s website at www.nps.gov/poex/planyourvisit/ index.htm.

Virginia Dale Frontier woman remembered in stage line building

I

n 1859, frontiersman Jack Slade became superintendent of the Central Overland stage line through some of the most dangerous stretches of the Overland Trail in Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming.

Early the next year, he took his skills and his reputation to Julesburg to clean up the weakest link of the new Pony Express as its trail cut across Colorado’s northeastern corner. He rose to the challenge but made enemies and was shot for his efforts. (See story on page 16.) A tough fighter, Slade recovered and in 1862 he oversaw the construction of the Virginia Dale Overland Trail Stage Station, named for his wife, an admired frontier woman. Today, this hand-built log building north of Fort Collins is the only stage station on the Overland Trail still intact.

The Virginia Dale Community Club works to preserve the beauty and culture of rural living and to promote the historical significance of this unique building and its community. The club will hold an open house on June 12 from 9 a.m. to

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BY ALLISON MELUN

4 p.m. The event will feature demonstrations of period professions and impersonations of famous western personalities, games for the entire family, a raffle for an original handmade quilt, and a silent auction, plus many local vendors selling their wares. Admission is free, but donations of canned food winter and hats and gloves are encouraged.

The station is north of Fort Collins and Livermore on Highway 287. After the Virginia Dale Post Office & Café, turn right onto County Road 43F. Watch for signs.

For more information, check the organization’s website at www.virginia dalecommunityclub.org.

JUNE 2010

Colorado Country Life 19

Praise for the Penstemon This just may be the perfect plant for Colorado gardens BY he prolific Penstemon genus boasts 62 species native to Colorado alone. Commonly referred to as beardtongue, they are perfect for Colorado’s native soils, and, in turn, our challenging climate is ideal for them.

This point could not have been made clearer than when I witnessed a gardener attempting to grow penstemons in Portland, Oregon. She was a penstemon enthusiast willing to go to extreme measures in order to court the recipient of her admiration. She had devised what she referred to as a “rain bonnet” to protect her penstemons from the soggy conditions for which Portland is known. These doted-over penstemons also had to be grown in pots to keep their soil sufficiently dry. I felt woeful for the coast gardeners who make such desperate attempts to create a more Colorado-like climate for this genus of plants that we grow so effortlessly.

No matter where you live in this state, there is a penstemon for you (and for most of you, a whole slew of them). Penstemon palmeri grows about 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide on dry road cuts in my part of the state and has earned the common name Giant Pink Snapdragon for the resemblance of its large pale pink flowers to that much-loved annual. Incidentally, penstemon and snapdragons (Antirrhinum sp.) are botanical cousins, both members of the figwort (Scrophulariaceae) family — a family that boasts many lovely and well known plants: speedwell (Veronica), foxglove (Digitalis), figwort (Scrophularia), Indian paintbrush (Castilleja) and monkey flower (Mimulus), among others.

Cliff Penstemon (Penstemon rupicola) is a small ground cover perfect for the rock garden or a location where it can be viewed up close, its beauty admired. It only gets about 4 inches tall and 8 inches wide, but it has surprisingly large, brilliant rose-pink flowers for its proportionately small mat of blue-green leaves.

Another small but impressive selection that is more readily available in the nursery trade is Colorado Narrowleaf Beard-

EVE GILMORE

T

20 Colorado Country Life JUNE 2010

Tall red penstemons brighten a Colorado garden.

This beautiful, native Penstemon comarrhenus flower exhibits the bilateral symmetry typical of the figwort family.

tongue (Penstemon linarioides v. coloradensis). This species has a popular variety called Blue Mat, aptly named for its clouds of lavender-blue flowers hovering above blue evergreen leaves.

The extremes within this single genus

— all perfect for Colorado gardens — are just the tip of the iceberg. Penstemons span the spectrum of flower color. Their leaves are most often evergreen, and they tend to be sun lovers. By and large, they are happy to be grown dry as long as they are well-established and get some moisture in the spring, either by Mother Nature or by the gardener with a vested interest in their survival.

These perennial, low-maintenance flowers are so special and so admired, they have their own fan club, the American Penstemon Society (www.apsdev.org).

You may want to look at its website first to help you get familiar with the praiseworthy penstemon.

Look for them at your local nurseries.

Most locally owned nurseries and garden centers will offer an array of impressive penstemons for your gardening pleasure.

You can reach Eve Gilmore at www. gardensbyeve.buzztown.com or 970-7693319.

Read previous gardening columns at www.coloradocountrylife.coop.

Click on Gardening.

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Next month — Draft horses

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JUNE 2010

Colorado Country Life 21

Get Your Daily Dose Delicious ways to get more fruits and veggies in your diet

BY LINH TRUONG

ver wonder about the nutritional value of what you eat? A new website, www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov, launched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can help you figure it out. Get a nutritional analysis for the food on your plate or try a new, healthy recipe like those below. Use fruits and vegetables, such as cherries, lettuce, strawberries and rhubarb, that are now in season in Colorado.

E

Strawberry Yogurt Shake 1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice 3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt 1-1/2 cups frozen, unsweetened strawberries 1 teaspoon granulated sugar Add ingredients in order listed to blender. PurĂŠe at medium speed until thick and smooth.

Apple Carrot Salad 1 cup shredded carrot 3 medium unpared apples, diced 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1/2 cup raisins 1/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise salad greens Combine all ingredients except greens. Chill thoroughly.

Serve on salad greens.

Rhubarb Pico de Gallo 1 cup diced rhubarb 1 cup diced tomatoes 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup diced white onions 1-1/4 cup chopped cilantro juice of 1/2 lime Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Refrigerate. Serve cold.

Cherry Pepper Salad 1 cup pitted fresh sweet cherries 1 cup thinly sliced sweet yellow peppers 1 cup thinly sliced green peppers 1/4 cup thinly sliced mild chili pepper 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar 1/2 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon sugar salt and pepper to taste 1 tablespoon pickled ginger strips (optional) 4 cups mixed salad greens Toss together all ingredients except greens; refrigerate 1 hour or longer. Serve on mixed greens.

HEALTHY SNACKING

For more fresh fruit and vegetable recipes, visit our website at www.coloradocountrylife.coop and click on Recipes.

22 Colorado Country Life JUNE 2010

Keep a bowl of cut-up vegetables in a see-through container in the refrigerator. Carrot and celery sticks are traditional, but consider broccoli florets, cucumber slices or red or green pepper strips.

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WIN TICKETS TO ELITCH GARDENS

Color Yourself a Winner Win tickets to Elitch Gardens in Denver ids! Enter the Colorado Country Life art contest and win four tickets to Colorado’s largest amusement park. First place will be awarded in each of four categories. All winners will receive four tickets to Elitch Gardens.

Deadline for entries is Friday, June 25, 2010. Winners will be announced in the August issue. Tickets will be sent to winners in July.

Here are the rules:

K

• Send a drawing or painting done with pencil, crayon, paint or any other medium.

• Size should be no smaller than 8 inches by 10 inches and no larger than 11 inches by 14 inches. DO NOT FOLD ENTRY. • Include artist’s name, age, parent or guardian name, address, telephone number and electric co-op on the back of the art. (Use the coupon to the right) • Choose a subject according to age as listed: Age 5-6 .....................................Any subject Age 7-8 .....................................Summer activity Age 9-11....................................Favorite Colorado scene Age 12-14 ..................................Favorite Colorado scene NO ENTRIES WILL BE RETURNED. Watch for winners and runners-up on Facebook.

COLOR YOURSELF A WINNER Name: Parent/Guardian: Age: Phone: (

)

Address: City:

State:

Zip:

Electric Co-op: Send all entries to Colorado Country Life, 5400 N. Washington St., Denver, CO 80216. All entries become the property of Colorado Country Life and will not be returned.

Deadline: Friday, June 25, 2010.

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JUNE 2010

Colorado Country Life 23

Fishing With Angleworms Reminiscing about good, old-fashioned trout fishing

BY DENNIS SMITH

t’s June as you’re reading this but late April as I’m writing it. A soft rain is falling here in the Colorado foothills, and though I know it could turn to snow in a New York minute, the day has that sweet, familiar smell about it that hints of spring.

Living in a part of the country that verges on desert, I’ve learned to take genuine pleasure in rain — any rain — but I especially enjoy the first rains of spring. I suspect most anglers do, for obvious reasons. But there’s more to it than knowing it’s only a matter of days before the streams warm up and the blue-winged olive mayflies start to hatch. You can’t really begin a new trout season without somehow flashing back to those in the past.

I’ve been a fly fisherman for more than 50 years now, but I got here by Old-fashioned fishing often involves plump angleworms and summer days. way of the worm. Some of my fondest memories of trout fishing are of chilly spring days spent sneaking along the little Catskill creeks near home with my dad’s hand-me-down fly rod and a can of worms.

Not just any worms, mind you, but “angleworms.”

Angleworms are small — no longer than an inch or two — and barely capable of hiding a No. 10 bait hook. Spring trout simply devour them. You could dig them in the backyard garden, but the best ones were picked by hand from under the rocks and wet leaves along the creek banks. You kept them in one of those old green bait cans stuffed with damp moss. It hung from your belt or in a big pocket on the front of your canvas hunting coat, which in spring became your fishing coat and acquired a distinctly earthy fragrance.

Nowadays we fish with chenille or plastic worms. They’re sanitary, sit in neat little rows in our fly boxes and have fancy names like “pink annelid” or “San Juan worm.”

They fool fish, maybe as well as the real thing, but they lack the smell of the forest, decayed leaves, damp moss and the heady aroma of spring.

As soon as this rain lets up, I’m gonna grab the old rod, my hip boots and my funky coat. I’ll head up the creek, and when I get there I’ll roll a couple of rocks over or grub around in the wet leaves for a few minutes. I’ll rig my rod for short-line nymphing, but instead of tying on a synthetic San Juan worm, I’ll thread a real, live, brown, wiggly angleworm on a bare No. 10 hook and drift it through the quiet back eddies where spring trout like to hide. June and summer dry fly-fishing will be here soon enough, but for now I’ll take great pleasure in dunking these little worms for spring’s trout.

I

Colorado Women’s Task Force

WIN THIS BEAUTIFUL QUILT Drawing set for October 20, 2010

1 ticket = $2 3 tickets = $5 Proceeds will go to the electric co-ops’ Energy Camp; the Washington D.C. Youth Tour; and the Employee Burn Fund

Send checks for tickets to: Shelly Grantham % Morgan County REA PO Box 738 Fort Morgan, CO 80701 Send a self-addressed stamped envelope, and return address labels with phone number along with your check. (Make checks payable to CWTF Raffle.)

24 Colorado Country Life JUNE 2010

Read earlier columns at www.coloradocountrylife.coop. Click on Outdoors.

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Energy Star Clean plates and lower bills

BY JAMES DULLEY

hen it’s time to replace an old and obsolete dishwasher, what are the important efficiency features? Is hand washing dishes more efficient?

W

R.E.A.

BY MARVIN HASS

Fifty-two is when we got it.

How I’d marveled every night.

When they hooked us up to the REA, High-lines brought a dazzling light.

Mama got refrigeration.

The neighbors was an IHC. We got the frig and a brand new stove But ours was all G.E.

Kerosene would fuel our sooty lamps, Nothing like they had in town.

Aladdin lamps were used for company But R.E.A. beat ‘em all hands down.

In fifty-six we got TV. It was pure magic to see its glow While watching cowboys ride & shoot In a blizzard of falling snow.

We had one bare bulb in every room; Our outbuildings were wired too.

We even had one in the chicken coop And our cow barn…it had two.

The greatest gift for farmers, Right up there with an inch of rain, Was a blessing through the wires When “The REA,” it finally came.

A pump jack for our stock tank, A brooder for our chicks, A motor for the wash machine, A heat lamp for the newborn pigs.

Marvin Hass is a member of Sangre De Cristo Electric Association, headquartered in Buena Vista.

Using an automatic dishwasher is typically more efficient than hand washing dishes (although if you take your time and are miserly with water usage, hand washing can be more efficient).

The vast majority of dishwashers made today exceed the Energy Star efficiency standards. Over the life of the new dishwasher, the energy and water savings can pay back your initial cost.

The majority of the cost of using a dishwasher comes from the energy to heat the water. A portion of this energy is used by the home’s primary water heater, the rest by an internal heater. So if a dishwasher consumes less water, less energy is needed.

Always compare the overall water-consumption specifications for an average load cycle among the models.

The most important feature is how well a washer cleans dishes. If it doesn’t clean well, people tend to run it on the heavy cycle or hand rinse the dishes first. Rinsing can use more than 10 extra gallons of water, and if hot water is used, more energy is consumed. With a good dishwasher, a simple hand scraping of dirty dishes should be adequate.

Top-of-the-line dishwashers offer many cycle settings, but you can get by with three basic cycles: light, medium and heavy. Some dishwashers have a twopump design in the bottom of the tank: One small pump is used for spraying the dishes, and another is used to drain the unit. And newer electronic controls offer greater convenience and efficiency.

Have more questions? Send them to: James Dulley, Colorado Country Life, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244 or visit www.dulley.com.

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For more information on dishwashers visit www.coloradocountrylife.coop and click on Energy Tips.

JUNE 2010

Colorado Country Life 25

MARKETPLACE

MEET KRIS Kris is our new adverstising sales representative and she has super powers to make your business soar.

To advertise in Coloraodo Country Life magazine contact Kris Wendtland at advertising@colorado countrylife.org or 303-902-7276.

26 Colorado Country Life JUNE 2010

Thanks for entering May’s contest. We had more than 250 entries. The winners of “Cussler Gear” are Darlene Bigham, Mountain View Electric, and George French, San Isabel Electric.

Go to www.coloradocountrylife.coop and click on “Contest” to enter June’s contest. Good luck.

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MARKETPLACE

Call 303-455-4111 to advertise in MarketPlace.

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JUNE 2010

Colorado Country Life 27

TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD Please type or print your ad on a separate paper. Indicate how many months you would like your ad to run and which month to start. There is a minimum of 12 words at $1.42 per word/month. Be sure to include your full name and address for our records. Check MUST accompany this order or call to pay with a credit card. Send your ad to: mail: Colorado Country Life 5400 N. Washington Street, Denver, CO 80216 phone: 303-902-7276 fax: 303-455-2807 email: classifieds@coloradocountrylife.org

FARM MACHINERY & PARTS SAWMILL EXCHANGE: North America’s largest source of used portable sawmills and commercial equipment for woodlot owners and sawmill operations. Over 800 listings.

THE place to sell equipment.

800-459-2148. www.sawmill exchange.com. (267-08-10)

FINANCIAL SERVICES ANTIQUES

BOOKS

ANTIQUE SHOWS June 12-13 Longmont Boulder County Fairground, 9595 Nelson Rd, $4 admission; June 26-27 Ault CO, Old School Gym, Hwy 14, 14 miles east of Ft. Collins, $3 admission, under 14 no charge.

Go on a treasure hunt, seeking all the things worth remembering plus so much more! Saturday 9-5 Sunday 10-4. Info: Jo Peterson 719-596-8839 (51006-10)

DOES DAD LOVE COWBOYS? Buy him a book about the Wild West. Now on sale for $25.

Colorado’s Rodeo Roots to Modern-Day Cowboys. Call 303-455-4111 to order yours today.

CHAIR CANING, hand caning, machine caning, fiber rush caning. Pueblo West, 719-5470723. chaanita@aculink.net.

(858-06-10) COMPLETE RESTORATION of antique wood burning stoves.

Some parts available. Free estimates. 719-924-9192. (874-0610) GRANDMA’S CLOCK QUIT? Expert repair of spring and weight driven clocks. Berthoud, 970-532-3022 Email: four burros@aol.com. (126-04-10)

ANTLERS ANTLER CHANDELIERS made only from REAL antlers. Wholesale, as much as 60% off store prices. Many other antler products and mounts, including giant 5’ moose mount!

970-627-3053. (105-02-11)

BOOKS “ENJOYING CRESTED BUTTE the Easy Way” Great new guidebook for finding our famous wildflowers, waterfalls, and aspens on easy trails and gorgeous drives. $15.95 plus $2.95 S&H. 501-580-9918 baskinmc@yahoo.com (89107-10)

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES (These opportunities have not been investigated by Colorado Country Life.)

AVON sells — you earn money.

Generous profits. Flexible hours. $10 start up. ISR. 719-550-0242. (133-08-10) PIANO TUNING PAYS. Learn with American School homestudy course. Tools included.

Call for info. 800-497-9793.

(158-01-11)

CARS/TRUCKS/BOATS 1956 CHEVY BELAIR, 2 door post, 327 engine, 4-speed, very nice car. $21,900, 970483-5188 (893-06-10) 1995-2009 — SUBARUS, Foresters, Outbacks, Imprezas, WRXs and Tribecas! Great Prices! One-Year Warranty!

Dealer: 719-510-2212 or 303-870-2212. (574-08-10)

CLOCK REPAIR & RESTORATION DURANGO AREA. Clocks of all kinds repaired. Howard Miller service. Call Robert 970-2477729. (109-07-10)

DIET FOOD DISCOUNT DIET FOOD. Highest quality, lowest prices. Our plan or yours. Diethighprotein.com.

(763-06-11)

Read the classifieds on www.coloradocountrylife.coop.

28 Colorado Country Life JUNE 2010

EARN BETWEEN 7% - 8% guaranteed in an income retirement account —Guaranteed Lifetime Income; Tax Deferred; No Risk. Call Town & Country Financial Services at 877-887-3131. (851-09-10) GRANT MONEY for college, healthcare, general welfare, prescription medication and more! For more information send $1 to Grant Sources, PO Box 206, Henagar, AL 35978.

(888-06-10)

FOR SALE 14 FT COMPLETE Millennium quilting system. Been used less than 10 quilts. Pd $17,185.

Asking $13,000. 719-523-4242 (896-06-10) 30x50 POST FRAME pole barn package. Complete! Top quality product at the low, low price of $6,981. Call 719-347-2023, Calhan. (857-06-10) HEAVY DUTY CATTLEPENS. Portable or Permanent; 32x45 working pen w/ 16’ crowding tub, $3,015. Call Kenneth 580-876-3699, www.cccattle equipment.com. (882-08-10) OLATHE SWEET CORN SEED. Discount to co-op members.

970-323-5708, olathehardware@ qwestoffice.net. (87706-10) RX – SAVE 50-90% on monthly meds! Hundreds of brand name and generics from licensed pharmacy partners shipped to your door. 90/180 day supply. Prescriptions required. Advair – Symbicort – Zyprexa – Abilify – Risperdal – Lantus – Humalog – Plavix – Actos – Nexium – Lexapro – Crestor – Lipitor – Alphagan – Xalatan – Timolol – many more! Call 800-288-9526 for free info today. (886-08-10)

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HOBBIES & CRAFTS

TARPS – HEAVY DUTY. 16’x50’, hemmed. Expired billboard faces. $50 each or 12’x38’ $35 each. Add $15 for shipping or can pick up at Jones Sign, 1711 Scheuring Road, De Pere, WI 54115. (885-08-10)

NEW GALLERY OPENING, Grand Lake, CO. Looking for new artists. Karen 970-5310139 (892-09-10)

FREE FREE BOOKS/ DVDS. SOON THE “Mark of the Beast” will be enforced as Church and State unite. Let the Bible reveal. The Bible Says, POB 99, Lenoir City, TN 37771. thebiblesays truth@yahoo.com, 888-2111715. (814-07-10)

HELP WANTED $400 WEEKLY ASSEMBLING PRODUCTS FROM HOME. For free information, send SASE: Home Assembly – CC, PO Box 450, New Britain, CT 060500450.

SPINNING, WEAVING, KNITTING, crochet, felting, dyeing, books, patterns, classes. Table Rock Llamas Fiber Arts Studio, 6520 Shoup Road, Colorado Springs, CO 80908, 866-4957747. (791-11-10)

IN-HOME CARE IN-HOME MEMORY CARE PROGRAM. Greater Colorado Springs Care agency provides warm companion care to comprehensive personal care, twice a week or 24 hours a day. Call us for a FREE in home assessment. Call Jeff or Pennie at HomeWatch Caregivers, 719-358-8659. (861-08-10)

LIVESTOCK FOR SALE ARE YOU LOOKING FOR EXTRA income? Would you like to work from home? For more information call 800-390-0364 or www.ecobusiness.com/mspeak er/extra-income. (854-06-10)

OREO CATTLE. Black Belted Galloways. Loveland, CO. Registered and crossbred.

970-667-5333. DonAten@ mesanetworks.net (694-0910)

GREAT BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY to work from home.

Looking for motivated people.

719-783-9535. (897-06-10)

MISCELLANEOUS

HOBBIES & CRAFTS ADULTS: PAINTING CLASSES, 1pm–5pm, water color, oil, acrylic $60 with supplies; $30 without. Beginners/intermediate, 970-531-0139, Grand Lake.

(892-09-10) AWARD WINNING LONG-ARM QUILTING — reasonable rates, quick turnaround. Karen Niemi, 303-470-9309, http://creative. stitching.home.comcast.net.

(846-08-10) ARTS ON PARK AVENUE 970531-0139, 1117 Park Avenue, Grand Lake, CO, offers art classes: Kids 10am-12pm Wed., Thurs., Friday, Saturday, Sunday $10 per person. Adults welcome. (892-09-10) FREE ARTISTS SHOW, Grand Lake, CO, July 3&4. Bring tents, tables. Karen, 970-5310139 (892-06-10)

PUT YOUR OLD HOME MOVIES, slides or photos on DVD. Call toll free, 888-609-9778 or www.transferguy.com. (46506-10)

POULTRY/GAMEBIRDS FREE — 5 EXOTIC CHICKS or 3 ducks with 100 frypan special @ $31.95 plus shipping. Also Cornish Cross, standard breeds, fancy chicks, ducks, geese, turkeys, bantams, guineas, pheasants, quail, supplies, video. Brochure. Cackle Hatchery – PO Box 529, Lebanon, MO 65536. www.cacklehatchery.com. (87607-10)

REAL ESTATE GRACIOUS MOUNTAIN HOME remodeled for the disabled, handicapped and elderly.

Beautiful mountain setting with many amenities. Long or short term available. Pets welcome.

Visit Homeaway.com, Property I.D. #288492 (895-07-10)

WWW.COLORADOCOUNTRYLIFE.COOP

REAL ESTATE

VACATION RENTAL

WANTED TO BUY

LAND WANTED — large land buyer is seeking to purchase 500 to 50,000 acres in Colorado. Will consider bail out, bankruptcies, foreclosures and existing subdivisons.

Cash buyer can close quickly. Call Joe at Red Creek Land Company 719-543-6663. (648-06-10)

KAUAI VACATION RENTAL, 2bdr, full kitchen. Minutes from beaches. $600/wk. 808-245-6500; makanacrest.com; kauaiweddings. com. (756-05-11)

OLD GAS AND OIL items: gas pumps, advertising signs, globes, etc. Pieces, parts, etc., considered.

Also 1930-40 Ford cars and trucks, parts and pieces too. Any condition. Brandon, 719-250-5721. (51911-10)

MILLION DOLLAR VIEWS, Horse Property, 40.76 acres, no covenants, subdividable, west of CR270 and CR280 near Mt. Princeton Hot Springs, www.hereishome. com, $195,000. 303-909-9701.

(881-08-10) MOUNTAIN CABIN 3 bdr, 2 bath, between Taylor Park Reservoir and Tincup. Information 719-275-2431 (898-09-10) PROPERTY IN NORTHWEST FLORIDA for sale. Subdivided into 20 lots or entire parcel available. Electronic gates, property owners association, county electric and water, stocked lake, walking areas, close to championship golf course, hospital, Panama City and Tallahassee, FL, and Dothan, AL. For further information call 850-482-8204 or 850-209-1900. (894-06-10)

RELIGION BECOME AN ORDAINED Minister by correspondence study. Founded in 1988. Free info. Ministers for Christ Outreach, PMB 207, 7549 W. Cactus, #104, Peoria, AZ 85381. http://www.ordination.org. (44106-10)

SERVICES LAKE OR POND? Aeration is your 1st step toward improved water quality. Complete systems $199 to $369!! Waterfall? 11,000 GPH water pump only 3.6 amps! Only $429.99. wwwfishpondaerator.com, 608-254-2735. (879-08-10)

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND beach house for winter rental. $2,400/mo. 3 bdrm, 2.5 bath. Call for full details. Sharon 832-2752515. (884-06-10) TELLURIDE VACATION RENTAL. On lift 7 and the San Miguel River. True ski in/out, mountain bike, hike, fly fish, festivals. Enjoy a great getaway. Very affordable, nice. Sleeps four. 970-946-9416. (887-08-10)

WANTED TO BUY ELK AND DEER ANTLERS in bulk quantity. Also bear traps. Phone toll free 877-400-1156.

Antlers1@powellantlershop. com. (863-11-10) BUYING — OLD MODEL AIRPLANE engines and balsa kits. Will pay shipping. Don, 970-669-3418; drunnells2@msn.com. (866-06-10) I WILL BUY YOUR German daggers, helmets and other military items.

Don Simmons, PO Box 4734, Springfield, MO 65808, 417-8815645. DSimmons@corpranet.net.

(470-06-10) NAVAJO RUGS, old and recent, native baskets, pottery. Tribal Rugs, Salida. 719-539-5363, b_inaz@ hotmail.com. (817-06-10) OLD COLO LIVESTOCK Brand Books prior to 1950. Call Wes 303757-8553. (889-06-10)

OLD POCKET WATCHES – working or non-working and old repair material. Bob 719-859-4209 watchdoctor@hotmail.com. (87008-10) OLD TRACTORS that don’t run.

Jerry Browne, 2707 Weld Co. Rd. 19, Fort Lupton, CO 80621.

303-659-7026. (220-04-11) OLD WITTE DIESEL/ELECTRIC generator, any condition, and used Bullet swaging tools. Call Walt 719-738-1176 (890-07-10)

and at a game recently the score was tied 21 to 21.

One of the girls came to me and asked seriously, “Coach which one are we?”

“The score is 21 to 21,” I told her.

Excitedly she asked, “I know; but which 21 are we?”

John Mikita, Florissant

Father’s Day was near when I brought my 3-yearWANT TO PURCHASE mineral and other oil/gas interests. Send details to: PO Box 13557, Denver, CO 80201. (402-08-10) WANTED: JEEP CJ OR WRANGLER. Reasonably priced. No rust buckets. 888-735-5337. (227-09-10) WE PAY CASH FOR minerals and oil/gas interests, producing and nonproducing. 800-733-8122.

(227-09-10)

WEDDINGS DO YOU WANT TO CREATE a magical, romantic, unforgettable wedding on the beach? The NEW Beach Wedding Planning Guide and Workbook shows you how.

Download now at www.Beach Wedding Magic.com. (12-10)

OLD COWBOY STUFF–hats, boots, spurs, chaps, Indian rugs, baskets.

ANYTHING OLD! Don’t throw it away until you call us! We’ll buy whole estates before you have yard sales.

We’ll come to you! Call 970-7593455 or 970-565-1256. (871-07-10)

Now that I have your undivided attention. Why don’t you place your ad in the classified section?

We go to more than 186,000 readers, who are looking for products and services.

Call Kris at 303-902-7276.

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I coach third- and fourth-grade girls volleyball,

old son, Tyler, to the card store. Inside, I showed him the cards for dads and told him to pick one.

When I looked back, Tyler was picking up one card after another, opening them up and quickly shoving them back into slots, every which way. “Tyler, what are you doing?” I asked. “Haven’t you found a nice card for Daddy yet?”

“No,” he replied. “I’m looking for one with money in it.”

Anonymous

My young grandson, Nick, has called his Grandpa Bandy “Beat” ever since he was able to talk. It is an endearing term that only made sense to Nick. The rest of us shook our heads and chuckled.

One day, “Beat” was lying on the floor with his eyes shut. It must have shocked Nick to see him laying so still, because he came running out of the room yelling, “Dead Beat, dead Beat!”

Mary Smolezyk, Westcliffe

While looking at a quarter, my little granddaughter, Alina, asked her mom whose face was on the coin.

My daughter replied, “George Washington, our first president.”

“Did you vote for him?” Alina asked.

Juleen Edwards, Pueblo West We pay $15 to each person who submits a funny story that’s printed in the magazine. At the end of the year, we draw one name from those submitting jokes and that person will receive $150. Send your 2010 stories to Colorado Country Life, 5400 N. Washington Street, Denver, CO 80216 or email them to funnystories@coloradocountrylife.org.

JUNE 2010

Colorado Country Life 29

Following the Pony Express ack in 1860 Americans were amazed that the Pony Express could deliver a letter from Missouri to California in only 10 days. Today, you can take 10 days or more to follow that Pony Express National Historic Trail in your car using auto tour route interpretive guides provided by the National Park Service. As the tour dips into Colorado, it will take you to the Colorado Welcome Center in Julesburg where you can see exhibits inside and out on the Pony Express and the other westward trails that came through this area. Visitors can then follow the South Platte River Trail to see trail ruts from early pioneers, a marker commemorating the original location of Julesburg and the Pony Express station and more.

Download your own interpretive guide at www.nps.gov/poex/planyourvisit/ brochures.htm or call the Colorado Welcome Center in Julesburg at 970-474-2054.

B

On the Trail Through Colorado

TEACHING HISTORY

he Pony Express route was not the only westward route to cross Colorado back before it officially became a state. There was the Oregon Trail heading toward the West Coast, and there was the Santa Fe Trail that brought people through the state toward the southwest. One group working to preserve and promote the history of these trails and the many landmarks along their way is the Oregon-California Trails Association.

The group encourages the study of these trails and offers group tours, educational materials and more. June 11-13 OCTA will sponsor a group car tour of the Santa Fe Trail. Participants will leave from Lamar and visit Las Animas, Boggsville and Trinidad before driving into New Mexico and visiting points of interest on Raton Pass, Las Vegas, Pecos National Historical Park and Santa Fe. It may be too late for the June 4 registration deadline, but it would be an interesting trip even without the group. For information, email kynature@bellsouth.net or call Berl or Pat Meyer at 502-608-7806. You can find tour information at www.octa -colorado.org/calendar.htm.

Here comes the Pony Express

T

hare the s tor y of the Pony E x p r e s s a n d o u r c o u n t r y ’s unique history with the next generation using Here Comes the Pony: The Story of the Pony Express.

This fun activity book is geared toward fourth-graders and comes complete with a teacher’s guide at the end of the book.

Published in conjunction with the Pony Express Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri, this book is available at http: //octatrails.org/mm5/mechant. mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=octa or by calling 888-811-6282.

S

The Boy and the Pony ulesburg’s Pony Express station is commemorated with a heroic-sized bronze statue of a rider racing across the prairie outside the Colorado Welcome Center and Fort Sedgwick Museum in Julesburg. Commissioned by the Colorado Division of the National Pony Express Association, the bronze, “God Speed to the Boy and the Pony,” was created in 2001 by southeast Colorado artist Brenda Daniher.

An internationally renowned bronze sculptor, Daniher lives and works on the family ranch near Higbee south of La Junta. She has done more than 30 life-sized or larger bronzes, as well as many smaller pieces. The Pony Express piece took her 18 months to complete.

Daniher has also created a limited edition tabletop maquette version of the Pony Express statue (as seen on cover) and still has four available for sale. For more information, visit www.benbronze.com or call her at 719-384-4356.

J

Win “Here Comes the Pony: The Story of the Pony Express.” Send your name, address and electric co-op name in an email to contests@colorado countrylife.org and put “Pony Express” in the subject line. Or send your name, address, phone number and electric co-op name to Pony Express Contest, 5400 N. Washington, Denver, CO 80216. Deadline is June 14.

30 Colorado Country Life JUNE 2010

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