SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEST “I really don’t know one plane from the other. To me they are all just marginal costs with wings.” -Alfred Kahn, airline economist (1917-2010) Commercial air travel has changed a lot over the years. Since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, fares have dropped and lots more people have been flying. Airlines have merged and morphed and vanished. The rise of hub-and-spoke airline systems means that a major delay at one important airport can ripple across the country for days. What hasn’t changed is the incredible vastness and variety of the country you see out the window. On a recent round trip from southern Colorado to Portland, Oregon (via Phoenix), I saw the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river valley, tract housing as far as the eye could see, and irrigation circles laid out like giant board games in the desert. I saw dormant volcanoes in Oregon and a bird’s eye view of the oil fields of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. Commercial flight is the only way most of us will ever get to see those wide, wide views. Every time I fly, those views remind me of all the thousands of places in the US that I haven’t been to yet. And that takes the sting out of the scores of little annoyances along the way.  Because wow, America. Guide Notes: Read about the history of commercial flight in the US at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s America By Air exhibit.  Read about Alfred Kahn, who headed up the Civil Aeronautics Board that oversaw airline deregulation, in his obituary from The Economist (January 20, 2011). * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEST “I really don’t know one plane from the other. To me they are all just marginal costs with wings.” -Alfred Kahn, airline economist (1917-2010) Commercial air travel has changed a lot over the years. Since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, fares have dropped and lots more people have been flying. Airlines have merged and morphed and vanished. The rise of hub-and-spoke airline systems means that a major delay at one important airport can ripple across the country for days. What hasn’t changed is the incredible vastness and variety of the country you see out the window. On a recent round trip from southern Colorado to Portland, Oregon (via Phoenix), I saw the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river valley, tract housing as far as the eye could see, and irrigation circles laid out like giant board games in the desert. I saw dormant volcanoes in Oregon and a bird’s eye view of the oil fields of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. Commercial flight is the only way most of us will ever get to see those wide, wide views. Every time I fly, those views remind me of all the thousands of places in the US that I haven’t been to yet. And that takes the sting out of the scores of little annoyances along the way.  Because wow, America. Guide Notes: Read about the history of commercial flight in the US at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s America By Air exhibit.  Read about Alfred Kahn, who headed up the Civil Aeronautics Board that oversaw airline deregulation, in his obituary from The Economist (January 20, 2011). * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEST “I really don’t know one plane from the other. To me they are all just marginal costs with wings.” -Alfred Kahn, airline economist (1917-2010) Commercial air travel has changed a lot over the years. Since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, fares have dropped and lots more people have been flying. Airlines have merged and morphed and vanished. The rise of hub-and-spoke airline systems means that a major delay at one important airport can ripple across the country for days. What hasn’t changed is the incredible vastness and variety of the country you see out the window. On a recent round trip from southern Colorado to Portland, Oregon (via Phoenix), I saw the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river valley, tract housing as far as the eye could see, and irrigation circles laid out like giant board games in the desert. I saw dormant volcanoes in Oregon and a bird’s eye view of the oil fields of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. Commercial flight is the only way most of us will ever get to see those wide, wide views. Every time I fly, those views remind me of all the thousands of places in the US that I haven’t been to yet. And that takes the sting out of the scores of little annoyances along the way.  Because wow, America. Guide Notes: Read about the history of commercial flight in the US at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s America By Air exhibit.  Read about Alfred Kahn, who headed up the Civil Aeronautics Board that oversaw airline deregulation, in his obituary from The Economist (January 20, 2011). * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEST “I really don’t know one plane from the other. To me they are all just marginal costs with wings.” -Alfred Kahn, airline economist (1917-2010) Commercial air travel has changed a lot over the years. Since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, fares have dropped and lots more people have been flying. Airlines have merged and morphed and vanished. The rise of hub-and-spoke airline systems means that a major delay at one important airport can ripple across the country for days. What hasn’t changed is the incredible vastness and variety of the country you see out the window. On a recent round trip from southern Colorado to Portland, Oregon (via Phoenix), I saw the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river valley, tract housing as far as the eye could see, and irrigation circles laid out like giant board games in the desert. I saw dormant volcanoes in Oregon and a bird’s eye view of the oil fields of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. Commercial flight is the only way most of us will ever get to see those wide, wide views. Every time I fly, those views remind me of all the thousands of places in the US that I haven’t been to yet. And that takes the sting out of the scores of little annoyances along the way.  Because wow, America. Guide Notes: Read about the history of commercial flight in the US at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s America By Air exhibit.  Read about Alfred Kahn, who headed up the Civil Aeronautics Board that oversaw airline deregulation, in his obituary from The Economist (January 20, 2011). * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEST “I really don’t know one plane from the other. To me they are all just marginal costs with wings.” -Alfred Kahn, airline economist (1917-2010) Commercial air travel has changed a lot over the years. Since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, fares have dropped and lots more people have been flying. Airlines have merged and morphed and vanished. The rise of hub-and-spoke airline systems means that a major delay at one important airport can ripple across the country for days. What hasn’t changed is the incredible vastness and variety of the country you see out the window. On a recent round trip from southern Colorado to Portland, Oregon (via Phoenix), I saw the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river valley, tract housing as far as the eye could see, and irrigation circles laid out like giant board games in the desert. I saw dormant volcanoes in Oregon and a bird’s eye view of the oil fields of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. Commercial flight is the only way most of us will ever get to see those wide, wide views. Every time I fly, those views remind me of all the thousands of places in the US that I haven’t been to yet. And that takes the sting out of the scores of little annoyances along the way.  Because wow, America. Guide Notes: Read about the history of commercial flight in the US at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s America By Air exhibit.  Read about Alfred Kahn, who headed up the Civil Aeronautics Board that oversaw airline deregulation, in his obituary from The Economist (January 20, 2011). * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEST “I really don’t know one plane from the other. To me they are all just marginal costs with wings.” -Alfred Kahn, airline economist (1917-2010) Commercial air travel has changed a lot over the years. Since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, fares have dropped and lots more people have been flying. Airlines have merged and morphed and vanished. The rise of hub-and-spoke airline systems means that a major delay at one important airport can ripple across the country for days. What hasn’t changed is the incredible vastness and variety of the country you see out the window. On a recent round trip from southern Colorado to Portland, Oregon (via Phoenix), I saw the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river valley, tract housing as far as the eye could see, and irrigation circles laid out like giant board games in the desert. I saw dormant volcanoes in Oregon and a bird’s eye view of the oil fields of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. Commercial flight is the only way most of us will ever get to see those wide, wide views. Every time I fly, those views remind me of all the thousands of places in the US that I haven’t been to yet. And that takes the sting out of the scores of little annoyances along the way.  Because wow, America. Guide Notes: Read about the history of commercial flight in the US at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s America By Air exhibit.  Read about Alfred Kahn, who headed up the Civil Aeronautics Board that oversaw airline deregulation, in his obituary from The Economist (January 20, 2011). * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
Zoom Info
SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEST “I really don’t know one plane from the other. To me they are all just marginal costs with wings.” -Alfred Kahn, airline economist (1917-2010) Commercial air travel has changed a lot over the years. Since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, fares have dropped and lots more people have been flying. Airlines have merged and morphed and vanished. The rise of hub-and-spoke airline systems means that a major delay at one important airport can ripple across the country for days. What hasn’t changed is the incredible vastness and variety of the country you see out the window. On a recent round trip from southern Colorado to Portland, Oregon (via Phoenix), I saw the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river valley, tract housing as far as the eye could see, and irrigation circles laid out like giant board games in the desert. I saw dormant volcanoes in Oregon and a bird’s eye view of the oil fields of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. Commercial flight is the only way most of us will ever get to see those wide, wide views. Every time I fly, those views remind me of all the thousands of places in the US that I haven’t been to yet. And that takes the sting out of the scores of little annoyances along the way.  Because wow, America. Guide Notes: Read about the history of commercial flight in the US at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s America By Air exhibit.  Read about Alfred Kahn, who headed up the Civil Aeronautics Board that oversaw airline deregulation, in his obituary from The Economist (January 20, 2011). * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEST “I really don’t know one plane from the other. To me they are all just marginal costs with wings.” -Alfred Kahn, airline economist (1917-2010) Commercial air travel has changed a lot over the years. Since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, fares have dropped and lots more people have been flying. Airlines have merged and morphed and vanished. The rise of hub-and-spoke airline systems means that a major delay at one important airport can ripple across the country for days. What hasn’t changed is the incredible vastness and variety of the country you see out the window. On a recent round trip from southern Colorado to Portland, Oregon (via Phoenix), I saw the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river valley, tract housing as far as the eye could see, and irrigation circles laid out like giant board games in the desert. I saw dormant volcanoes in Oregon and a bird’s eye view of the oil fields of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico. Commercial flight is the only way most of us will ever get to see those wide, wide views. Every time I fly, those views remind me of all the thousands of places in the US that I haven’t been to yet. And that takes the sting out of the scores of little annoyances along the way.  Because wow, America. Guide Notes: Read about the history of commercial flight in the US at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s America By Air exhibit.  Read about Alfred Kahn, who headed up the Civil Aeronautics Board that oversaw airline deregulation, in his obituary from The Economist (January 20, 2011). * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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SOMEWHERE OVER THE WEST

“I really don’t know one plane from the other. To me they are all just marginal costs with wings.”

-Alfred Kahn, airline economist (1917-2010)

Commercial air travel has changed a lot over the years. Since the US airline industry was deregulated in 1978, fares have dropped and lots more people have been flying. Airlines have merged and morphed and vanished. The rise of hub-and-spoke airline systems means that a major delay at one important airport can ripple across the country for days.

What hasn’t changed is the incredible vastness and variety of the country you see out the window. On a recent round trip from southern Colorado to Portland, Oregon (via Phoenix), I saw the Grand Canyon and the Colorado river valley, tract housing as far as the eye could see, and irrigation circles laid out like giant board games in the desert. I saw dormant volcanoes in Oregon and a bird’s eye view of the oil fields of the San Juan Basin in northwest New Mexico.

Commercial flight is the only way most of us will ever get to see those wide, wide views. Every time I fly, those views remind me of all the thousands of places in the US that I haven’t been to yet. And that takes the sting out of the scores of little annoyances along the way. 

Because wow, America.

Guide Notes:

Read about the history of commercial flight in the US at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s America By Air exhibit. 

Read about Alfred Kahn, who headed up the Civil Aeronautics Board that oversaw airline deregulation, in his obituary from The Economist (January 20, 2011).

* * *

Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.

ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
Zoom Info
ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
Zoom Info
ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
Zoom Info
ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
Zoom Info
ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
Zoom Info
ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain.  When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle). Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look. It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this: Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.” The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals. But it is still well worth the trip. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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ANGEL PEAK SCENIC AREA - NEW MEXICO

Angel Peak Scenic Area, south of Bloomfield, NM, is a bit like the Grand Canyon in that it doesn’t look like much until you actually get there.  Angel Peak itself is over 7,000 feet tall, so you can see it from miles away.  But from a distance it just looks like a smallish, rocky mountain. 

When you get close, the plateau falls away and you see the 10,000 acres of spectacular, surreal badlands that make up the scenic area managed by the Bureau of Land Management.  The area has been open to natural gas development for decades.  Drilling and extraction operations are plainly visible, but the landscape is still awe inspiring.  And the energy infrastructure makes the canyon itself very accessible (though driving in calls for GPS, plenty of water, and a high clearance vehicle).

Last summer was the first time I noticed a new kind of development in the area near Angel Peak.  It didn’t stand out much at the time, but it was called a landfarm and seemed to involve lots of bulldozers.  When I visited again in March 2013, I got a much clearer look.

It turns out that a landfarm operation, like this complex managed by Envirotech, is a place where “soil remediation” takes place.  This is where contaminated soil from all over the San Juan Basin oil fields is processed by covering it with other soil.  High Country News described the landfarm like this:

Don’t look for fresh produce: This is where contaminated soils from the energy industry are plowed back into the earth and treated, or, as they say, “farmed.”

The landfarm consists of several hundred fenced acres of bare dirt on the sage plain you cross to get from Highway 550 to Angel Peak on County Road 7175.  There is no going around it.  On a windy day the blowing dust smells strongly of chemicals.

But it is still well worth the trip.

* * *

Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.

THE PINTO BEAN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD In his younger days Zane Grey, writer of western fiction, lived for a time in Dove Creek, and much of his novel Riders of the Purple Sage is said to have been written here. There are several elderly townsfolk who identify themselves with characters in the book. - Colorado, A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Dove Creek, Colorado is the Pinto Bean Capital of the World.  The biggest landmark near the town is an enormous bean elevator that can be seen from miles around. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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THE PINTO BEAN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD In his younger days Zane Grey, writer of western fiction, lived for a time in Dove Creek, and much of his novel Riders of the Purple Sage is said to have been written here. There are several elderly townsfolk who identify themselves with characters in the book. - Colorado, A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Dove Creek, Colorado is the Pinto Bean Capital of the World.  The biggest landmark near the town is an enormous bean elevator that can be seen from miles around. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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THE PINTO BEAN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD In his younger days Zane Grey, writer of western fiction, lived for a time in Dove Creek, and much of his novel Riders of the Purple Sage is said to have been written here. There are several elderly townsfolk who identify themselves with characters in the book. - Colorado, A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Dove Creek, Colorado is the Pinto Bean Capital of the World.  The biggest landmark near the town is an enormous bean elevator that can be seen from miles around. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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THE PINTO BEAN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD In his younger days Zane Grey, writer of western fiction, lived for a time in Dove Creek, and much of his novel Riders of the Purple Sage is said to have been written here. There are several elderly townsfolk who identify themselves with characters in the book. - Colorado, A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Dove Creek, Colorado is the Pinto Bean Capital of the World.  The biggest landmark near the town is an enormous bean elevator that can be seen from miles around. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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THE PINTO BEAN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD In his younger days Zane Grey, writer of western fiction, lived for a time in Dove Creek, and much of his novel Riders of the Purple Sage is said to have been written here. There are several elderly townsfolk who identify themselves with characters in the book. - Colorado, A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Dove Creek, Colorado is the Pinto Bean Capital of the World.  The biggest landmark near the town is an enormous bean elevator that can be seen from miles around. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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THE PINTO BEAN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD In his younger days Zane Grey, writer of western fiction, lived for a time in Dove Creek, and much of his novel Riders of the Purple Sage is said to have been written here. There are several elderly townsfolk who identify themselves with characters in the book. - Colorado, A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Dove Creek, Colorado is the Pinto Bean Capital of the World.  The biggest landmark near the town is an enormous bean elevator that can be seen from miles around. * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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THE PINTO BEAN CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

In his younger days Zane Grey, writer of western fiction, lived for a time in Dove Creek, and much of his novel Riders of the Purple Sage is said to have been written here. There are several elderly townsfolk who identify themselves with characters in the book.

- Colorado, A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941)

Dove Creek, Colorado is the Pinto Bean Capital of the World.  The biggest landmark near the town is an enormous bean elevator that can be seen from miles around.

* * *

Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.

WELCOME TO CORTEZ CORTEZ, 200.5 m.  (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west.  The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period.  Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. (…) The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute. — Colorado: A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Today Cortez is a town of 8,500 people.  It is still the seat of Montezuma County, in the southwest corner of Colorado.  The main industries are tourism, energy, and agriculture, and Saturday nights tend to be quiet.  Most tourists who visit Cortez are headed for Mesa Verde National Park.  And don’t get me wrong, Mesa Verde is great.  Along with the famous cliff dwellings, the park has an old school museum, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, full of dioramas and displays made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers in the 1930s.  There’s also a sweet new visitor center right at the park entrance.  And from the top of the mesa, you can see forever. But if you go to Cortez, spend a day or two at Mesa Verde, and leave, you will have missed out on what makes this area so special.  [Read more over at textless.tumblr.com…] * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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WELCOME TO CORTEZ CORTEZ, 200.5 m.  (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west.  The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period.  Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. (…) The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute. — Colorado: A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Today Cortez is a town of 8,500 people.  It is still the seat of Montezuma County, in the southwest corner of Colorado.  The main industries are tourism, energy, and agriculture, and Saturday nights tend to be quiet.  Most tourists who visit Cortez are headed for Mesa Verde National Park.  And don’t get me wrong, Mesa Verde is great.  Along with the famous cliff dwellings, the park has an old school museum, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, full of dioramas and displays made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers in the 1930s.  There’s also a sweet new visitor center right at the park entrance.  And from the top of the mesa, you can see forever. But if you go to Cortez, spend a day or two at Mesa Verde, and leave, you will have missed out on what makes this area so special.  [Read more over at textless.tumblr.com…] * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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WELCOME TO CORTEZ CORTEZ, 200.5 m.  (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west.  The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period.  Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. (…) The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute. — Colorado: A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Today Cortez is a town of 8,500 people.  It is still the seat of Montezuma County, in the southwest corner of Colorado.  The main industries are tourism, energy, and agriculture, and Saturday nights tend to be quiet.  Most tourists who visit Cortez are headed for Mesa Verde National Park.  And don’t get me wrong, Mesa Verde is great.  Along with the famous cliff dwellings, the park has an old school museum, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, full of dioramas and displays made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers in the 1930s.  There’s also a sweet new visitor center right at the park entrance.  And from the top of the mesa, you can see forever. But if you go to Cortez, spend a day or two at Mesa Verde, and leave, you will have missed out on what makes this area so special.  [Read more over at textless.tumblr.com…] * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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WELCOME TO CORTEZ CORTEZ, 200.5 m.  (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west.  The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period.  Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. (…) The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute. — Colorado: A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Today Cortez is a town of 8,500 people.  It is still the seat of Montezuma County, in the southwest corner of Colorado.  The main industries are tourism, energy, and agriculture, and Saturday nights tend to be quiet.  Most tourists who visit Cortez are headed for Mesa Verde National Park.  And don’t get me wrong, Mesa Verde is great.  Along with the famous cliff dwellings, the park has an old school museum, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, full of dioramas and displays made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers in the 1930s.  There’s also a sweet new visitor center right at the park entrance.  And from the top of the mesa, you can see forever. But if you go to Cortez, spend a day or two at Mesa Verde, and leave, you will have missed out on what makes this area so special.  [Read more over at textless.tumblr.com…] * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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WELCOME TO CORTEZ CORTEZ, 200.5 m.  (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west.  The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period.  Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. (…) The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute. — Colorado: A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Today Cortez is a town of 8,500 people.  It is still the seat of Montezuma County, in the southwest corner of Colorado.  The main industries are tourism, energy, and agriculture, and Saturday nights tend to be quiet.  Most tourists who visit Cortez are headed for Mesa Verde National Park.  And don’t get me wrong, Mesa Verde is great.  Along with the famous cliff dwellings, the park has an old school museum, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, full of dioramas and displays made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers in the 1930s.  There’s also a sweet new visitor center right at the park entrance.  And from the top of the mesa, you can see forever. But if you go to Cortez, spend a day or two at Mesa Verde, and leave, you will have missed out on what makes this area so special.  [Read more over at textless.tumblr.com…] * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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WELCOME TO CORTEZ CORTEZ, 200.5 m.  (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west.  The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period.  Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. (…) The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute. — Colorado: A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Today Cortez is a town of 8,500 people.  It is still the seat of Montezuma County, in the southwest corner of Colorado.  The main industries are tourism, energy, and agriculture, and Saturday nights tend to be quiet.  Most tourists who visit Cortez are headed for Mesa Verde National Park.  And don’t get me wrong, Mesa Verde is great.  Along with the famous cliff dwellings, the park has an old school museum, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, full of dioramas and displays made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers in the 1930s.  There’s also a sweet new visitor center right at the park entrance.  And from the top of the mesa, you can see forever. But if you go to Cortez, spend a day or two at Mesa Verde, and leave, you will have missed out on what makes this area so special.  [Read more over at textless.tumblr.com…] * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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WELCOME TO CORTEZ CORTEZ, 200.5 m.  (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west.  The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period.  Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. (…) The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute. — Colorado: A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Today Cortez is a town of 8,500 people.  It is still the seat of Montezuma County, in the southwest corner of Colorado.  The main industries are tourism, energy, and agriculture, and Saturday nights tend to be quiet.  Most tourists who visit Cortez are headed for Mesa Verde National Park.  And don’t get me wrong, Mesa Verde is great.  Along with the famous cliff dwellings, the park has an old school museum, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, full of dioramas and displays made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers in the 1930s.  There’s also a sweet new visitor center right at the park entrance.  And from the top of the mesa, you can see forever. But if you go to Cortez, spend a day or two at Mesa Verde, and leave, you will have missed out on what makes this area so special.  [Read more over at textless.tumblr.com…] * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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WELCOME TO CORTEZ CORTEZ, 200.5 m.  (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west.  The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period.  Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. (…) The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute. — Colorado: A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941) Today Cortez is a town of 8,500 people.  It is still the seat of Montezuma County, in the southwest corner of Colorado.  The main industries are tourism, energy, and agriculture, and Saturday nights tend to be quiet.  Most tourists who visit Cortez are headed for Mesa Verde National Park.  And don’t get me wrong, Mesa Verde is great.  Along with the famous cliff dwellings, the park has an old school museum, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, full of dioramas and displays made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers in the 1930s.  There’s also a sweet new visitor center right at the park entrance.  And from the top of the mesa, you can see forever. But if you go to Cortez, spend a day or two at Mesa Verde, and leave, you will have missed out on what makes this area so special.  [Read more over at textless.tumblr.com…] * * * Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.
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WELCOME TO CORTEZ

CORTEZ, 200.5 m.  (6,198 alt., 921 pop.), seat of Montezuma County, is a trading center for sheep and cattle raisers who pasture their herds on the sage flats to the west.  The town was founded in 1887 when ranchers first pushed into the Montezuma Valley; many of the tan sandstone buildings were erected during that period.  Cortez is interesting on Saturday nights, when its main street is filled with ranchers, farmers, and Indians; the latter are usually dressed in brilliant velveteens and calicoes, and aglitter with silver and turquoise jewelry. (…) The majority are Ute, although there is a sprinkling of Navaho and Piute.

— Colorado: A Guide To the Highest State (WPA, 1941)

Today Cortez is a town of 8,500 people.  It is still the seat of Montezuma County, in the southwest corner of Colorado.  The main industries are tourism, energy, and agriculture, and Saturday nights tend to be quiet. 

Most tourists who visit Cortez are headed for Mesa Verde National Park.  And don’t get me wrong, Mesa Verde is great.  Along with the famous cliff dwellings, the park has an old school museum, the Chapin Mesa Archaeological Museum, full of dioramas and displays made by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers in the 1930s.  There’s also a sweet new visitor center right at the park entrance.  And from the top of the mesa, you can see forever.

But if you go to Cortez, spend a day or two at Mesa Verde, and leave, you will have missed out on what makes this area so special. 

[Read more over at textless.tumblr.com…]

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Amadee Ricketts is an At-Large Guide to the West. She’s worked as a cemetary groundskeeper, a shoeshine valet, and a bill collector. More recently, she’s been a children’s librarian in five states. She takes a lot of pictures and lives near Durango, CO. You can see her photos at textless.tumblr.com.