Durango is most well known for the train that runs between town and Silverton, which is 45.5 miles North. The train has been around since 1880 and was used as a freight train and personnel train for the miners back then. Now it takes tourists through some great country on a 3-hour tour (one way). You can ride it to Silverton and back or just one way and then drive a car back if you set it up with a friend before hand.
At this time, Durango had about 30,000 people living in or around town. Expansion had to take place to the North or South of town because of the terrain. To the South was open field where a sheep farmer owned all the land, which had been in the family for who knows how long. He had just sold a portion off and it was starting to be developed into a commercial area. To the North was Hermosa Valley, which consisted of horse properties and fruit tree farms.
At the very North end of the valley was Hermosa Mountain and just below that was a new Manufactured Housing Community called Golden West. This is where we were going to live. My folks had already arranged the moving of the house from the springs to here as soon as mom and Julie had finished the packing. It was a pretty nice place and being so new, there were lots of open lots to pick from. Dad had already picked a large corner lot right at the entrance. The community was almost exactly 12 miles from the town limit sign, which was in front of Pizza Hut as you came into town. The main area of Durango or the commercial section where the tourist shops and train station were at was on the South end of town
Besides the community, the only other things out there were a small gas station called Al’s. Guess who owned it?...Al. Al, his wife and son (who was probably 30) were Jewish. Al was 50ish, fat, and had a huge nose that was all pot marked. He always had a cigar hanging and slapped me on the back when I came in. His son was the guy who took care of the mechanic work and pumped gas. Now use your imagination to picture what he looked like. That’s right, A good old farmer boy, overalls, grease, grubby beard, etc. Al’s wife however, looked and played the part of a typical Jewish wife right down to the Tracy Ullman accent and blazing red hair.
This woman wore more gold jewelry than the local jewelry store and talked loud and obnoxious. She was nice though, and didn’t take any guff from Al or the son. She wore the dresses good but we al knew she really wore the pants in the family if you know what I mean.
Other than this, the rest of the valley was wide open. The Animas River ran through the valley and was great for tubing. There were some rough areas but mostly it was calm and great for fishing. The full name of the river is El Rio De Las Animas Perdidas or “River of Lost Souls”. Word is that when the Spaniards came through, it was a bad time of year and the river was flooding. Alot of guys disappeared in the rapids along the way along with supplies and gold. In the years to come, we would see just how much flooding the river could do.
Well, the time had come for everyone else to meet up in Durango and get the house moved and set up in the community. It was probably mid-summer at this time. Dad and I went back to the springs and dad made the final preparations for the move. Everything was going pretty smooth. The first half of the house arrived on time and was put in place on the lot. This half had the living room, the master bedroom, my bedroom and half of Julie’s room. The other half was to arrive the next day. The next day came and went with no sign of the other half. I was a little paranoid since my room was just hanging out in public for all to see. Long story short, the driver of the other half decided that he was going to quit and wanted his money before he delivered the house. The company refused so he basically stole the house and went into hiding somewhere in New Mexico. Police were called, dogs were called out, swat team members were “hut, hut, huttin’, helicopters were hovering, and the president was on standby. After 2 weeks, our other half came rolling in. After another day, we were ready to move back in.
It didn’t take too long to make friends once we were set up. There were a few kids my age that were going to be in my school so the rest of the summer was spent “Networking” the area. I can’t remember all of the kids I meat but I do remember a few.
Carl Smith and his brother Terry Smith were what I consider small town kids. They grew up in Durango and as far as I know, Carl may be there yet today. I say Carl only because during my first year in school, Terry was accidentally killed when he was electrocuted. He was older by a couple of years so I didn’t really know him to well. Carl and I hung around alot though. He was a big guy, about 250lbs, 6 ft. And quiet. We lifted weight alot during lunch hour and any free time that we had. We found that this was a good way to keep away from the older kids so we wouldn’t get “Initiated” as a freshman. In case you don’t know what “Initiated” is, that’s when the older kids, who are no longer in their freshman year, go around and do mean things to the freshman kids. Things like throwing you down and covering you in shaving cream or de-pant you during lunch, or just beat you up. We were lucky and never had any problems.
The school was originally built in 1919. It was in good shape with marble staircases and rails; old wooden room doors, tiles floors, etc and consisted of three different buildings. It was located in the historic section of town up on Third Ave. where the older homes were. The town was in the final process of getting a brand new high school built at this time and word was, my class would be the first sophomore class to be in the new place. That was cool.
During this year, I joined the marching band as part of the percussion section. I played the snare, the chimes, the Tim-Toms, but was really good at the bass drum. I know it sounds stupid but I really liked to get the beat going. I never followed the sheet music and I don’t think the teacher cared too much. Only at certain key places. The rest of the time, I did my thing. The drum had white faces on it, which to me was boring. We were known as the Durango Demons but didn’t have a good mascot or logo.
Well, I just happened to have a white jacket that in good shape so I took the opportunity give my artistic side a chance. OK, so I’m not artistic but I can trace pretty well. I liked to read the comic book “HotStuff” at the time and thought that one of the cover pictures would look pretty cool on the back of the jacket. It was a picture of HotStuff flying with his pitchfork in hand and flames flying around. I traced it on and used some of moms colored fabric pens to paint it. A few weeks later, one of the cheerleaders in my class who was on the school board noticed it. Karen Lee was her name. She thought it would look cool on the bass drum faces so when we marched, everyone would see it. The band teacher thought so to...and there you have it. Just like that, Durango had a new mascot. Of course the one I drew was cool looking. The next page shows a cartoon of Hot Stuff. This is the only picture I could find on the Internet of the guy.
I gave that jacket to Karen later on in school when I was a sophomore, and I never did get any credit for coming up with the school mascot.
Oh well, that year came and went. It was 1975 and I was 15. Needless to say, I rode my bike alot out in the valley. There were lots of places to explore and see. I hung around with Carl a bit but usually stayed by myself. Dad had got to know a hardware store owner that was closing his business down and was in the process of buying all of the plumbing supplies down to the display racks. Dad wanted to start up his own business again so off he went.
I remember helping to load all of the supplies into trucks and bringing it out to a small office that attached to Al’s gas station. Al had been using it for a storage room but let dad rent it out for the business. Dad named it “Hermosa Plumbing & Heating” and it took off like wildfire. The location was perfect. People were moving into the North valley area and here he was. I started working in the office doing estimating and material handling. Mom was once again the office gal...for free. I made $7.00 per hour. Dad also ended up buying two Datsun pickups with the king cab. They were small pickups with four bangers in them and were painted bright lemon yellow. Dad always liked yellow. In fact, one of my jobs was to paint everything in the shop yellow. It was pretty gross.
Near the end of that summer, Eric Hinkle came out for a couple of weeks for a visit. We both knew that this was to be our last “free” summer before we had to get real jobs and grow up. At that time, 16 years old was old enough to get a job almost anywhere.
We ended up making a movie (which I still have somewhere) called “Penelope’s Peril”. I played the villain, Julie was the damsel in distress, and Eric was Dudley Dooright. It was a Cineplex masterpiece. We even played it at a small restaurant that had started up in the valley called “The Wooden Apple”. We charged a quarter admission and had free popcorn and drinks. Lots of people even showed up. By the way, the camera we used was an 8mm with no sound. We added the words with text on cards just like the old movies. It worked pretty well. I have recorded it on to VHS so if you have it, watch it. I haven’t seen Eric since the he left that summer.
School started in the fall and the new High School was open for business. It was a great school. It was located toward the north side of town right across from a Taco John’s place. Taco John’s is like a Taco Bell but better if you want my opinion. Anyway, compared to Smiley Junior High, this place was awesome. It was all one huge building and big. Everything inside was state of the art at that time. It only took a week for the different groups of kids like the stoners or cowboys to find their favorite areas on campus to hang out. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t fit in with either group. I just hung by myself as usual.
I rode the bus to school along with Carl and started making more friends. Carl hung around with Gary Regal. Gary was the perfect picture of a tall skinny backwoods kid. He had to be at least six and a half feet tall. I believe he wore the same clothes over and over but covered them up with a Jean jacket or just got greasier to make the clothes look different. He was trying to grow a beard but it was not working. His diet consisted of only one thing, Red Man or Big Leaf chewing tobacco. This topped off his look with the wonderful yellow black crooked teeth that he had. Gary was a nice guy though.
The bus had a single seat in the very back that stretched across the entire width of the sitting area and could hold up to five people. We were always the first ones on so of course we grabbed it first. I always took a window seat. Gary and Carl were always chewing on the bus so they had to have a place to spit. They ended up using an old Folgers coffee can. During the 45-minute trip to school, they would pull the can out, take off the plastic lid and spit away. Upon arriving at school, they would put the lid on and put the can behind the grill, which was under the seat. Once the can was full, somebody would empty it out. The bus driver never even knew it was there...until one day.
This woman wore more gold jewelry than the local jewelry store and talked loud and obnoxious. She was nice though, and didn’t take any guff from Al or the son. She wore the dresses good but we al knew she really wore the pants in the family if you know what I mean.
Other than this, the rest of the valley was wide open. The Animas River ran through the valley and was great for tubing. There were some rough areas but mostly it was calm and great for fishing. The full name of the river is El Rio De Las Animas Perdidas or “River of Lost Souls”. Word is that when the Spaniards came through, it was a bad time of year and the river was flooding. Alot of guys disappeared in the rapids along the way along with supplies and gold. In the years to come, we would see just how much flooding the river could do.
Well, the time had come for everyone else to meet up in Durango and get the house moved and set up in the community. It was probably mid-summer at this time. Dad and I went back to the springs and dad made the final preparations for the move. Everything was going pretty smooth. The first half of the house arrived on time and was put in place on the lot. This half had the living room, the master bedroom, my bedroom and half of Julie’s room. The other half was to arrive the next day. The next day came and went with no sign of the other half. I was a little paranoid since my room was just hanging out in public for all to see. Long story short, the driver of the other half decided that he was going to quit and wanted his money before he delivered the house. The company refused so he basically stole the house and went into hiding somewhere in New Mexico. Police were called, dogs were called out, swat team members were “hut, hut, huttin’, helicopters were hovering, and the president was on standby. After 2 weeks, our other half came rolling in. After another day, we were ready to move back in.
It didn’t take too long to make friends once we were set up. There were a few kids my age that were going to be in my school so the rest of the summer was spent “Networking” the area. I can’t remember all of the kids I meat but I do remember a few.
Carl Smith and his brother Terry Smith were what I consider small town kids. They grew up in Durango and as far as I know, Carl may be there yet today. I say Carl only because during my first year in school, Terry was accidentally killed when he was electrocuted. He was older by a couple of years so I didn’t really know him to well. Carl and I hung around alot though. He was a big guy, about 250lbs, 6 ft. And quiet. We lifted weight alot during lunch hour and any free time that we had. We found that this was a good way to keep away from the older kids so we wouldn’t get “Initiated” as a freshman. In case you don’t know what “Initiated” is, that’s when the older kids, who are no longer in their freshman year, go around and do mean things to the freshman kids. Things like throwing you down and covering you in shaving cream or de-pant you during lunch, or just beat you up. We were lucky and never had any problems.
The school was originally built in 1919. It was in good shape with marble staircases and rails; old wooden room doors, tiles floors, etc and consisted of three different buildings. It was located in the historic section of town up on Third Ave. where the older homes were. The town was in the final process of getting a brand new high school built at this time and word was, my class would be the first sophomore class to be in the new place. That was cool.
During this year, I joined the marching band as part of the percussion section. I played the snare, the chimes, the Tim-Toms, but was really good at the bass drum. I know it sounds stupid but I really liked to get the beat going. I never followed the sheet music and I don’t think the teacher cared too much. Only at certain key places. The rest of the time, I did my thing. The drum had white faces on it, which to me was boring. We were known as the Durango Demons but didn’t have a good mascot or logo.
Well, I just happened to have a white jacket that in good shape so I took the opportunity give my artistic side a chance. OK, so I’m not artistic but I can trace pretty well. I liked to read the comic book “HotStuff” at the time and thought that one of the cover pictures would look pretty cool on the back of the jacket. It was a picture of HotStuff flying with his pitchfork in hand and flames flying around. I traced it on and used some of moms colored fabric pens to paint it. A few weeks later, one of the cheerleaders in my class who was on the school board noticed it. Karen Lee was her name. She thought it would look cool on the bass drum faces so when we marched, everyone would see it. The band teacher thought so to...and there you have it. Just like that, Durango had a new mascot. Of course the one I drew was cool looking. The next page shows a cartoon of Hot Stuff. This is the only picture I could find on the Internet of the guy.
I gave that jacket to Karen later on in school when I was a sophomore, and I never did get any credit for coming up with the school mascot.
Oh well, that year came and went. It was 1975 and I was 15. Needless to say, I rode my bike alot out in the valley. There were lots of places to explore and see. I hung around with Carl a bit but usually stayed by myself. Dad had got to know a hardware store owner that was closing his business down and was in the process of buying all of the plumbing supplies down to the display racks. Dad wanted to start up his own business again so off he went.
I remember helping to load all of the supplies into trucks and bringing it out to a small office that attached to Al’s gas station. Al had been using it for a storage room but let dad rent it out for the business. Dad named it “Hermosa Plumbing & Heating” and it took off like wildfire. The location was perfect. People were moving into the North valley area and here he was. I started working in the office doing estimating and material handling. Mom was once again the office gal...for free. I made $7.00 per hour. Dad also ended up buying two Datsun pickups with the king cab. They were small pickups with four bangers in them and were painted bright lemon yellow. Dad always liked yellow. In fact, one of my jobs was to paint everything in the shop yellow. It was pretty gross.
Near the end of that summer, Eric Hinkle came out for a couple of weeks for a visit. We both knew that this was to be our last “free” summer before we had to get real jobs and grow up. At that time, 16 years old was old enough to get a job almost anywhere.
We ended up making a movie (which I still have somewhere) called “Penelope’s Peril”. I played the villain, Julie was the damsel in distress, and Eric was Dudley Dooright. It was a Cineplex masterpiece. We even played it at a small restaurant that had started up in the valley called “The Wooden Apple”. We charged a quarter admission and had free popcorn and drinks. Lots of people even showed up. By the way, the camera we used was an 8mm with no sound. We added the words with text on cards just like the old movies. It worked pretty well. I have recorded it on to VHS so if you have it, watch it. I haven’t seen Eric since the he left that summer.
Me (Dasterdly Dan), my sister Julie (Penelope), Eric (Dudly Dooright)
Buffalo Chips Productions
School started in the fall and the new High School was open for business. It was a great school. It was located toward the north side of town right across from a Taco John’s place. Taco John’s is like a Taco Bell but better if you want my opinion. Anyway, compared to Smiley Junior High, this place was awesome. It was all one huge building and big. Everything inside was state of the art at that time. It only took a week for the different groups of kids like the stoners or cowboys to find their favorite areas on campus to hang out. In case you’re wondering, I didn’t fit in with either group. I just hung by myself as usual.
I rode the bus to school along with Carl and started making more friends. Carl hung around with Gary Regal. Gary was the perfect picture of a tall skinny backwoods kid. He had to be at least six and a half feet tall. I believe he wore the same clothes over and over but covered them up with a Jean jacket or just got greasier to make the clothes look different. He was trying to grow a beard but it was not working. His diet consisted of only one thing, Red Man or Big Leaf chewing tobacco. This topped off his look with the wonderful yellow black crooked teeth that he had. Gary was a nice guy though.
The bus had a single seat in the very back that stretched across the entire width of the sitting area and could hold up to five people. We were always the first ones on so of course we grabbed it first. I always took a window seat. Gary and Carl were always chewing on the bus so they had to have a place to spit. They ended up using an old Folgers coffee can. During the 45-minute trip to school, they would pull the can out, take off the plastic lid and spit away. Upon arriving at school, they would put the lid on and put the can behind the grill, which was under the seat. Once the can was full, somebody would empty it out. The bus driver never even knew it was there...until one day.
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