High Country News

A Colorado newspaperman fights for his valley's water

Bob Rawlings, publisher of the Pueblo Chieftain, has battled for decades to bring water to southeastern Colorado and, once it's there, to keep it no matter what.

by Matt Jenkins, Mar 26, 2012
Growing up political

Charles Conklin had an unlikely political career, successfully running as a Democrat in a Republican part of Colorado -- for a time.

by Marty Durlin, Nov 25, 2010
My father's political career

A writer remembers her father's unlikely political career, running as a Democrat in a Republican part of Colorado.

by Marty Durlin, Oct 27, 2009
A scrappy community weekly hangs in there

The Silverton Standard & the Miner has held onto life in its tiny Colorado mountain town since 1875, and now it’s become a "public paper."

by Mark Esper, Apr 20, 2010
Western Voices: 125 years of Colorado Writing

Western Voices: 125 Years of Colorado Writing is a diverse collection of fascinating essays, chosen by editors from the Colorado Historical Society

by Staff, Mar 07, 2005
Tales of Colorado's high-elevation tailings

In Leadville: The Struggle to Revive an American Town, Gillian Klucas describes the history and the current environmental and economic struggles of the old mining town of Leadville, Colo.

by Jessica Clement, Jul 25, 2005
A poet’s novel of the San Luis Valley

In Rise, Do Not Be Afraid, poet Aaron Abeyta explores the lives of the people who lived and loved in the long-lost town of Santa Rita in Colorado’s remote San Luis Valley

by Annie Dawid, May 28, 2007
Winter camping can be hazardous to your health

One hundred and thirty-five years ago, Alferd E. Packer survived winter starvation in the Colorado mountains with the help of his friends -- or at least of the meat on their bones.

by Andrew Gulliford, Feb 27, 2009
The West remains a mysterious region

Ed Quillen says that even in this so-called “Year of the West,” presidential candidates and media pundits demonstrate a deplorable ignorance of the region’s history and culture.

by Ed Quillen, Jan 10, 2008
The paradoxical call of the wild

Wolves may be returning to Colorado on their own 70 years after their deliberate extirpation from the state.

by Jonathan Thompson , Feb 09, 2010