Colorado History Archives - The Colorado Sun

Sheep win in San Luis Valley livestock vs. billionaire ranch owner battle

Jennifer Brown — Thu, 14 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

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About 20 miles of tall fence borders the Cielo Vista Ranch east of San Luis. (Owen Woods, Alamosa Citizen)

" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Looking-toward-NM2-scaled-1.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" />A ruling in the dispute strikes a compromise, allowing livestock grazing but prohibiting firewood collection around the ranch owner’s new home

Silas Soule died for refusing to whitewash the Sand Creek Massacre. His actions are more relevant than ever.

Kevin Simpson — Sun, 10 May 2026 10:10:00 +0000

Group portrait of the Camp Weld Council, Denver Colorado shows white and Native American (Arapaho and Cheyenne) men arranged in three rows. Identification: Left to right, kneeling: Maj. Edward Wynkoop and Capt. Silas S. Soule; seated: White Antelope, Bull Bear, Black Kettle, Neva, Na-ta-nee; standing: unidentified, unidentified, John Smith, Heap of Buffalo, Bosse, unidentified, unidentified. Source of identification: Halfbreed : the remarkable true story of George Bent : caught between the worlds of the Indian and the White Man / David Fridtjof Halaas ; Andrew E. Masich (2004), photograph on page [6] of plates. (Denver Public Library)

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Group portrait of the Camp Weld Council shows white and Native American (Arapaho and Cheyenne) men arranged in three rows. Identification from left to right: Front row, kneeling, Maj. Edward Wynkoop and Capt. Silas S. Soule; seated: White Antelope, Bull Bear, Black Kettle, Neva, Na-ta-nee; standing: unidentified, unidentified, John Smith, Heap of Buffalo, Bosse, unidentified, unidentified. Source of identification: “Halfbreed : The Remarkable True Story of George Bent, Caught Between the Worlds of the Indian and the White Man,” by David Fridtjof Halaas and Andrew E. Masich. (Denver Public Library)

" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/10032079.TIF.jpg?fit=780%2C528&ssl=1" />The Army captain’s letters and testimony helped break through decadeslong efforts to hide the massacre’s brutal truth behind a facade of frontier myth

1914 Ludlow Massacre took lives of 25 miners and family members during bitter strike for fair wages

Robert Forrant, The Conversation — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 20:03:21 +0000

The Ludlow Massacre in 1914 on this site brought congressional attention to miners’ labor rights in Colorado. (Denver Public Library photo)

" data-large-file="https://newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/file-20260419-63-ixopbj.avif" />Colorado voters had endorsed an amendment to the state constitution in 1902 that guaranteed an 8-hour work day, but it was not uniformly enforced.

Parts of beloved El Rancho building will move, “preserving the essence,” as huge gas station takes its place

Michael Booth — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:12:18 +0000

Evergreen Park and Recreation Department holds a press conference announcing a project with QuikTrip to preserve elements of the El Rancho restaurant building Feb. 19, 2026 in Evergreen, Colorado. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)

" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/EL-RANCHO-KS-02192026085.jpg?fit=780%2C522&ssl=1" />Evergreen, county officials praise a compromise that moves elements of the building to a new public arts pavilion, but a planned QuikTrip at El Rancho exit remains controversial

An old land dispute in the San Luis Valley pits the privacy of a billionaire’s new home against grazing sheep

Jennifer Brown — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

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A gate with a private property sign leads to some of the buildings at Cielo Vista Ranch, which was purchased by Texas oil heir William Harrison in 2017, pictured on April 16, 2024. (John McEvoy, Special to The Colorado Sun)

" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Cielo-JMc-16-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C520&ssl=1" />A multiday hearing with roots in the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant of 1844 takes place this week in Costilla County

Ken Salazar embodies southern Colorado history. He just gave boxes of it to History Colorado’s Borderlands project.

Kevin Simpson — Sun, 08 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Ken Salazar arrives at the History Colorado Center, family artifacts in hand, with the Borderlands of Southern Colorado exhibit as a backdrop on Feb. 2, 2026 in Denver. (Kathryn Scott, Special to The Colorado Sun)

" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/KEN-SALAZAR-02022026027.jpg?fit=780%2C517&ssl=1" />The initiative preserving the region’s multicultural past will benefit from a trove of papers and career artifacts

Newly discovered dinosaur fossil from 150 million years ago excavated at Dinosaur National Monument

Parker Yamasaki — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 23:13:44 +0000

Dinosaur National Monument staff work on excavated dinosaur fossils in the Quarry Exhibit Hall Parking Lot. (Photo by ReBecca Hunt-Foster, courtesy of National Park Service)

" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Quarry-Parking-Lot-Excavation.jpg?fit=780%2C556&ssl=1" />A large, long-necked dinosaur was discovered beneath the parking lot at the monument’s most-visited attraction. It’s the first excavation from that area in over 100 years.

Time is up for operators of a beloved Grand Junction farm market

Nancy Lofholm — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 11:12:00 +0000

In one of the farms’ seasonally empty greenhouses, Frank Nieslanik removes the seeds from dried New Mexico chili peppers for next year’s crop at Okagawa Farms’ Grand Junction property. (Gretel Daugherty/Special to the Colorado Sun)

" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/5-OKAGAWA-FARMS-120425-177.jpg?fit=780%2C506&ssl=1" />The owners of Okagawa Farms say they’re ready to move on after 34 years and have put out a “for sale” sign on their operation fronting the Colorado River

Nearly a century ago, Coloradans celebrated two Thanksgivings in a bid to jumpstart the economy

Kevin Simpson — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 11:05:00 +0000

Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr, right, prepares for a broadcast segment in this undated photo. (History Colorado. 2022.57.17178)

" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Ralph-Carr-Thanksgiving-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C563&ssl=1" />Nearly a century ago, Coloradans celebrated two Thanksgivings in a bid to jumpstart the Depression-era economy.

A University of Colorado database could help revive the Arapaho language before its last speakers are gone

Andrew Cowell — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 10:51:00 +0000

Andrew Cowell talks with Arapaho speakers Alonzo Moss, Sr. and Edward Willow about an Arapaho place name near Grand Lake. Including place names in the database has been a key part of Cowell’s work to preserve the Arapaho language. (Photo by Sara Wiles, Lander, Wyoming)

" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-coloradosun.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Screenshot-2025-11-26-at-12.46.10-PM.png?fit=780%2C547&ssl=1" />Many Native American languages currently have few Native speakers, and the speakers are typically the oldest members of the community.