Fountain Valley News - Your Hometown Community Newspaper

I was in England this last month. Their driving is really different from here. The rules, road signs and traffic to be sure. I have discussed driving here before, but I thought this list I found might...

I told this story some years ago, but I often get asked about the school districts and what the numbers mean. The county at one time had a superintendent, and the county was divided into community...

In 1914, a story surfaced in the Cripple Creek newspaper that was quite curious. It made not of a strange gent who lived up on the hill above Cripple Creek. The newspaper called him "The Hermit of...

A real problem was raising the ire of school boards, teachers and parents a hundred years ago. Now, there was a resurgence of concern in the problem after World War II, and some thin even today, but I...

With our recent flurry of rain, I am reminded, it could have been snow! Yes even I have seen massive amounts of snow right here, in September. Oh, then there were the October storms, mainly at...

With the activity on Old Pueblo Road, I thought I would repeat some story items about that road. It was the way we got to Pueblo before the 1930's and the "new" highway. It was not just to get to...

I've done stories about some of the stories of unusual characters I have learned about in the past, but this one might be about his horse! This one starts in police court in Colorado Springs in the...

I've done stories about some of the stories of unusual characters I have learned about in the past, but this one might be about his horse! This one starts in police court in Colorado Springs in the...

My grandfather grew up on a farm in what is now part of Monument. He told us many stories about growing up there. One of my favorites was about going to the big city! A trip into town was like...

I have talked about the plaster business in Manitou and Colorado City. In January, 1921 the Manitou plaster mill was just getting cranked up again. They used to say that Manitou was a "little...

This summer has been interesting for the crews who work at the shops along the highway up the mountain. No trains, except for an occasional maintenance train on the cog, lots of workmen at the new...

I told this tale a few years back, but when I researched Fort Carson I found another item. This tale started in 1920. A fellow who was in the Pueblo County jail, escaped, and was suspected to have...

In 1932 a private railroad car was set out at the Colorado Springs, Santa Fe station. Now this had happened regularly since the railroads were built. Usually the resident of the car would then take a...

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I have done a few stories about the changes to Colorado with the use of automobiles. There have been tales about how the roads changed, along with the advent of driving rules, but today I want to...

Not since 1931 had the red plush chair cars of the Midland Terminal carried passengers over the famous Cripple Creek road. Not since the middle twenties had the observation coach echoed the oohs and a...

On an interesting story from the Fountain Police in the 1920's, they had furnished Marshal M.O. Askey a new piece of equipment. A motorcycle had been purchased for his use to enforce the town's new...

I have been reading the newspapers from the World War II era and have come up with many airplane crashes around here. Peterson was a training base, but it was not training new pilots, there were...

As an former teacher, I think long and hard with every shooting I hear about in the news. I do not have to wonder long about, "What would I Do?" This may come as a surprise to many of you, but...

I get asked regularly about train robbers. We are close to the range of the well known Hole In The Wall Gang, which included Sundance and Butch, but they were mainly in Wyoming. There were a few...

Today there are many herds of Buffalo, preserved in South Dakota, Wyoming and here in Colorado. The situation was quite different a hundred years ago. An interesting story has turned up of the last...

I have told the story of the Great Fountain Disaster, and another train wreck or two, but this story has an unusual twist. For those who do not know, a freight train rolled down to Fountain and...

Today I want to share a story taken from a newspaper column written in 1914 and published in Wisconsin! So as you read along, try to remember that! The story of the settlement of the Pike's Peak...

I get asked regularly how the soldiers who worked at the weather station up on Pikes Peak got there. I am also asked how Katharine Lee Bates got to the top. Curiously, about the same way. It also incl...