Gulliford's travels https://tj.durangoherald.com/section/gullifords-travels/feed/ Latest local news from The Durango Herald. Fri, 14 Aug 2026 21:01:22 -0600 en-us 30 https://tj.durangoherald.com/the-case-of-the-stolen-stove-doors-couple-gives-mining-history-to-san-juan-historical-society/ Couple give mining history to San Juan Historical Society Tue, 15 Oct 2019 16:59:33 -0600 94F6833B-4DA0-2C8D-E053-0100007FDE4F https://tj.durangoherald.com/through-the-grand-canyon-before-major-powell/ This year we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Major John Wesley Powell’s daring expedition down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. But was he the first? Another story exists with defenders and detractors and links to Silverton and canyons... Sat, 14 Sep 2019 01:15:25 -0600 9279CC22-3D97-16E6-E053-0100007F4C11 https://tj.durangoherald.com/canadian-rockies-by-rail/ History Colorado explores the West, up north Sat, 10 Aug 2019 01:39:22 -0600 8FB2CA29-43F7-2D2D-E053-0100007F7791 https://tj.durangoherald.com/when-a-killer-wore-a-deputys-badge-in-telluride/ When a killer wore a deputy’s badge and a golden smile Mon, 15 Jul 2019 21:55:10 -0600 8DBEB034-B378-3F3A-E053-0100007FB080 https://tj.durangoherald.com/on-the-woolly-trail/ Sheep stories in the West run from the high country into canyons Sat, 08 Jun 2019 05:00:00 -0600 8AFC657E-75BB-6937-E053-0100007F093A https://tj.durangoherald.com/hunters-and-artists-glen-canyon-rock-art-created-by-an-ancient-culture-on-the-move/ As I walk the trail between cliff and river, I search again for the face. It’s 10 inches tall. The eyes and mouth are distinctly pecked, two antenna rise above the head. I almost walk past it, and then, I... Sat, 11 May 2019 05:03:10 -0600 888E6F55-FEEB-0706-E053-0100007FEC6B https://tj.durangoherald.com/roosevelt-in-colorado-stained-glass-honors-president-who-cherished-the-west/ Stained glass honors president who cherished the West Fri, 12 Apr 2019 20:22:41 -0600 8657D085-1CE3-5AA7-E053-0100007F6109 https://tj.durangoherald.com/they-painted-in-the-canyons-archaic-artists-created-compelling-images-5000-years-ago/ Of the thousands of Native American rock-art panels in the Southwest, none are older than the Barrier Canyon pictographs found throughout the Colorado Plateau and concentrated along rivers, especially the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers. From tiny 5-inch... Sat, 09 Mar 2019 06:00:00 -0700 839B1F96-1CF0-4ACF-E053-0100007FA8F9 https://tj.durangoherald.com/a-mesa-verde-plate-new-tags-would-help-support-national-park/ Instead of fake news, how about real news? Instead of political posturing and name calling, how about a project to unite us as a region and a state? How about a Mesa Verde National Park license plate? We learned a... Wed, 13 Feb 2019 22:50:06 -0700 81D0FF63-D879-5DEC-E053-0100007F01BC https://tj.durangoherald.com/trampling-barriers-mancos-artists-bronze-sculpture-honors-fall-of-berlin-wall/ President George H.W. Bush helped reunite East and West Germany when the Berlin Wall fell, and a Mancos artist cast a 7-ton bronze sculpture commemorating the event. For 28 years, Berlin and Germany had been divided by Cold War communism.... Sat, 12 Jan 2019 05:03:11 -0700 7F355CB6-2950-5980-E053-0100007FA6BF https://tj.durangoherald.com/mancos-mapmaker-chronicles-john-wesley-powells-epic-1869-journey/ Mancos mapmaker chronicles John Wesley Powell’s epic 1869 journey Sat, 08 Dec 2018 05:03:10 -0700 7C72277E-0B2B-72FE-E053-0100007FBEE8 https://tj.durangoherald.com/can-we-learn-to-live-with-wolves-again/ In Colorado, we have 12 streams named Wolf Creek, yet officially, we have no wolves in our state. A reprint of a rare book helps to explain the loss of Colorado’s wolves, and the Durango Wolf Symposium at Fort Lewis... Sat, 10 Nov 2018 05:00:00 -0700 7A8F9761-F7CD-2816-E053-0100007F3328 https://tj.durangoherald.com/the-woolly-west-sheepscapes-tell-the-story-of-sheepherding-in-colorado/ Everybody writes about cowboys. Nobody writes about sheepherders. Of the hundreds of books written about cowboys and cowboying in the American West, there are few volumes on sheep and sheepmen. So I set out to write the first full-length history... Sat, 13 Oct 2018 05:00:00 -0600 784F6118-6D03-3C9E-E053-0100007F7D56 https://tj.durangoherald.com/for-15-years-my-dog-finn-was-a-hiking-partner/ By Andrew Gulliford Special to the Herald It has been enough time now that I can finally write this column without choking up. These are some of the hardest words I’ve ever written. Tears have clouded my vision but not... Thu, 13 Sep 2018 18:25:45 -0600 75C33EF3-08DB-6E09-E053-0100007F5E84
Finn was always ready to hike.du1-i-syn Like all good dogs, he listened well. We walked miles and miles together never saying a word, not needing to. He also knew how to collaborate with our cat, Gemmi, to knock food off the kitchen counter onto the floor where it disappeared. My friend, Lynell, remembers him this way: “Finn running through the gate to greet me, or sneaking up on the futon (where he was not supposed to be), poking his nose under my bed covers trying to get me out of bed to feed him in the morning or laying his 40-pound head on my arm while I was trying to drive.” ••• He was the best trail dog I ever had. His outstanding exuberance occasionally smacked into friends along narrow trails or even bent a new hiking stick after he ran into it racing ahead in the South San Juan wilderness. As an older dog, he was a gem. As a puppy, he tried our patience. He ate three pairs of my reading glasses. He chewed 2 inches off the top of one of my cowboy boots. Remodeling the kitchen, we had removed cabinet doors. When we weren’t home, Finn snuck into the pantry and dragged a 5-pound bag of flour all over the house, leaving a distinctive white trail across the carpet. The same night, to prove his loyal love, he found a large dead crow and carefully placed it on our bed between our two pillows. How do you scold a retriever like that?Finn was my shadow and was always with me. Here, we are near an ancestral Puebloan kiva ruin along the San Juan River in Utah.Courtesy of Andrew Gulliford Unlike other dog breeds, Labs never have a bad day. Their disposition makes them a popular breed, and because he was half springer spaniel, Finn had hybrid vigor and the best of both bloodlines. When it came time to go for a walk, he would sit and vibrate with excitement. He flunked puppy kindergarten, never fully learning the essential commands. Friends said he wasn’t the brightest, and he could certainly be bullied by border collies, but put that dog outdoors on a trail and he was having fun, looking for dangers, enjoying every minute. He also had legendary flatulence. On a cross-country ski outing on the coldest of winter days at 10,000 feet, he could fart and make everyone in the vehicle gasp for breath, roll down their windows in record time, stick their heads out and gulp mountain air. ••• My dog had personality. Once camping off Little Buck Road on the west side of the La Platas, we had turned in early just before dusk. As dark descended with no moon, Finn emitted a low growl inside my tent and the hair rose up along his spine. I felt for my pistol then grabbed a flashlight. I turned it on to find the tent’s zipper, accidentally blinding myself while I heard a loud clatter and commotion coming from nearby ponderosas. Finally, I got the tent open to peer around but saw nothing. Finn didn’t sleep that night. He stayed up on guard. When daylight came, I surmised that the noise had been a mother bear and her cub in camp. When Finn growled, the cub scampered up a nearby tree and later came down in darkness. No breakfast for my dog that morning. As soon as he could, he jumped into the truck, sat upright in the passenger seat and made it very clear to me that we should leave. We did. Another time, we hiked with a friend from the parking area near Sharkstooth Pass west 12 miles down to Transfer Campground. The middle of the trail, deep in the Mancos River watershed, is remote. Suddenly, on a narrow stretch of the route, we found ourselves cliffed up with a big, bad, belligerent pack goat blocking our path. Clearly, this goat was a runaway despite his ear tag. He wanted to play billy goats gruff and keep us from proceeding. This was his turf, and we had invaded his privacy. Finn didn’t bark. He didn’t growl. He just flew into overdrive, running around that billy goat as fast as he could. The goat, never having seen a crazy dog like mine, kept jumping around to place his horns in a direct position to butt my dog. Because my dog kept flying past him in tighter and tighter circles, the old goat kept spinning and eventually fell over. My dog stopped. The goat wobbled off, leaving us free to walk on.Courtesy of Andrew Gulliford

Finn was always ready to hike. He often knew where I was headed before I did, and he always stayed about 30 feet in front of me to protect me from anything that might be there.du1-i-syn My wife worried about me solo hiking. I told her I wasn’t alone. I always had Finn with me. She made me promise not to climb any peaks, descend any slot canyons or go anywhere Finn couldn’t go. She didn’t realize he had four-paw drive and could go anywhere. We did, wearing out hiking poles, boots, dog tags. He often knew where I was headed before I did, and he always stayed about 30 feet in front of me to protect me from anything that might be there. If I was on a trail, he never wandered to chase game. If there was no trail, he’d constantly look back at me to check my bearings, to read my mind, to head up the canyon bottom or across the flower-strewn alpine tundra. Summiting a peak, Finn got there first, waited and took in the sunshine, rain or snow. He’d let the wind swirl around his big springador ears. If he got ahead of me, he’d quickly return for the sheer doggy joy of zipping back and forth, testing the air, keeping those sleek Labrador muscles in perpetual motion. When he stopped, he dropped like a stone, dead to the world, sprawling off the couch, deep asleep with the occasional snore or sharp woof as he chased animals in his dreams. ••• I miss him terribly. Our veterinarian, Dr. Becky, wrote me to say, “I feel very honored to have known Finn for so long – what a handsome, smart, sweet, amazing friend he was. He will be missed by so many of us. Thank you for filling his long life with love and adventure ... and for knowing when he was truly ready to cross the Rainbow Bridge peacefully.” Tears are coming. My throat is constricting. My cheeks are wet. John emailed me and said, “Sometimes, we have such wonderful relationships with our dogs. And it’s so hard when they pass on. I’m one of those that believe when I pass on, all my good dogs are going to be there waiting for me. I’m sure that will be the case with Finn.” Yes, Finn has hiked on without me. He has never done that before. Andrew Gulliford is a historian and an award-winning author and editor. Reach him at andy@agulliford.com.]]> https://tj.durangoherald.com/lessons-of-the-416-fire-show-how-our-approach-to-wildfires-has-evolved/ The 416 Fire shows how our approach to wildfires has evolved Sat, 11 Aug 2018 05:00:00 -0600 73E35AD7-8348-3084-E053-0100007FA78C https://tj.durangoherald.com/mancos-mans-father-helped-build-durango-brick-by-brick/ Father’s Day is special for most of us, but for one son, it has a particularly deep meaning. When writers start a story, they never know what threads will weave together. I thought I would be writing about a 19th-century... Mon, 11 Jun 2018 18:25:49 -0600 6E61968E-A900-6C63-E053-0100007FBFCA https://tj.durangoherald.com/in-bluff-the-silver-dollar-bar-becomes-the-bears-ears-education-center/ Downtown Durango thrives because buildings get recycled. Former car dealerships are now brewpubs and office buildings. Our historic electric power plant is the Powerhouse Science Center, and a decades-old tire repair shop has evolved into an upbeat gym and fitness... Sun, 13 May 2018 13:00:00 -0600 6BF08E5C-AE8E-7E48-E053-0100007FEC0A https://tj.durangoherald.com/miera-y-pacheco-was-first-european-to-map-the-four-corners/ In 18th century, Miera y Pacheco was first European to create maps of our region Tue, 17 Apr 2018 11:28:41 -0600 6A0F326C-7B89-3BB5-E053-0100007F1761 https://tj.durangoherald.com/world-war-ii-bombers-once-roared-through-the-grand-canyon/ ‘Visitors on the South Rim craned their necks to see what was coming’ Wed, 17 Jan 2018 11:48:40 -0700 62FCFB8C-6336-33D7-E053-0100007FAAE2
In their wedding photograph, Mildred Jellis stands beside her husband, David Gulliford. They married as soon as he was commissioned as a pilot and an officer. Against her parents’ wishes, she took a long, lonely train ride from Winona, Minnesota, to Corpus Christi, Texas, to be with the man she loved. Against her parents’ wishes, and with no extra money, she bought a one-way train ticket from Winona to Corpus Christi, Texas, to marry a young pilot with no family and no prospects. Mildred Jellis left at night so there’d be fewer questions, fewer friends to see her off. Imagine that long train ride south across the country and worrying if she was doing the right thing. Nibbling at snacks. Eating apples. Not able to afford the dining car. But she was in love. As the war escalated, thousands of young men and women passionately embraced. Her fiancé David Oliver Gulliford had a cocky attitude, a great smile and he shared his dreams. At 6-foot-2, he could dominate a room full of people with his booming voice, close-clipped mustache and deep-set hazel eyes. She fell for him. He was in the Navy and soon to become a Marine pilot. Semper fidelis. Always faithful. Soon to ship out overseas like so many others. ••• Probably the Grand Canyon enters in when he was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Mojave in Mojave, California, in 1943 in what would become VMD-254. I don’t have the particulars, but I do have the story, and a one-of-a-kind 11-by-14-inch photograph made from a black-and-white contact negative the same size. It was the Fairchild K-18 aerial camera that he would use in the Pacific piloting crew No. 11. But before he got to the ocean, he wanted to see the desert, and so he practiced with large-format cameras over the Grand Canyon. Family legend says that my father, who had a sense of humor, chose to fly into the canyon from the east out of the rising sun, which was the preferred Japanese method of aerial attack. As the loud roar of slow-moving B-24 bombers rumbled off canyon walls at dawn, terrified visitors on the South Rim craned their necks to see what was coming. As the four planes neared the exclusive hotel El Tovar, Capt. Gulliford ordered his three other pilots to join him flying sideways through the canyon displaying American symbols on their wings and fuselage. Recently-awakened tourists cheered, applauded, yelled and waved once the planes had been identified as American. Capt. Gulliford probably wasn’t supposed to fly his bombers into a national park, much less perpendicular to the steep canyon walls. These were slow, hard-to-maneuver B-24 Liberators, but he didn’t care. Always a risk-taker, he smiled behind his reflective aviator sunglasses and grinned when he looked eyeball to eyeball at the amazed park visitors. He knew he’d never get the chance again, so they flew in formation through the canyon, below the rim. Later during the flight, he photographed Lake Mead and Hoover Dam, but censors snipped the dam out of the photo as a security precaution. He retired from the U.S. Marine Corps as a major, and with family in tow, by the late 1950s, David Gulliford returned to the Grand Canyon driving a 1956 emerald green Packard Caribbean all the way from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Cameron, Arizona, and then along the rim. I have those photos, too. He loved the canyon and wanted his children to get to know it and to experience the serene sunrises and sunsets of the Southwest. The canyon endures. Rocks remain. Bright sunlight flashes off pine needles in the early minutes of morning, but never again will B-24 bombers, piloted by young Americans ready to defend their country, fly in formation below the rim. Andrew Gulliford is a historian and an award-winning author and editor. Reach him at andy@agulliford.com.]]> https://tj.durangoherald.com/the-soul-of-bluff-visionary-gene-foushee-built-restored-desert-town/ After 60 years of marriage, Gene and Mary Foushee passed on this summer just nine days apart. The couple was 88 years old and had lived a rich, full life. They will be remembered for many things, but their most... Tue, 17 Oct 2017 19:49:57 -0600 5BC70DFC-651A-2EB5-E053-0100007F0713 https://tj.durangoherald.com/inside-the-walls-of-time-in-hermosa-fisher-house-carries-1890s-legacy/ In grocery stores today, we can buy fruit from all over the world. A century ago, farm products were local, and a thriving orchard business had begun in the Animas Valley at Hermosa under stunning red canyon cliffs. Some of... Tue, 12 Sep 2017 15:29:16 -0600 5900A9B8-4AD2-3D15-E053-0100007F377B https://tj.durangoherald.com/the-sublime-yampa-quiet-canoe-miles-on-a-wild-river/ Imagine being on a Colorado river in the heart of the summer and seeing no one else on the water for 32 miles, three days and two nights. I couldn’t believe it, but there we were in June on a... Mon, 14 Aug 2017 21:01:27 -0600 56BCA859-4722-56FF-E053-0100007FE65F https://tj.durangoherald.com/19th-century-fur-trapper-denis-julien-traveled-against-the-current/ The mystery of 19th-century fur trapper Denis Julien Thu, 10 Dec 2015 01:24:17 -0700 8DFE4AC2-CD83-4E6C-9951-EE8D753B890D https://tj.durangoherald.com/a-century-old-dinosaur-national-monument-deserves-additional-protections/ River, canyon country deserves additional protections Thu, 09 Jul 2015 01:12:35 -0600 C4C54387-A990-4F32-B5F4-EE0AA9CB9945 https://tj.durangoherald.com/where-pioneers-are-buried-la-plata-countys-historic-cemeteries/ She was dying as she took her place on the wooden wagon. Wrapped in quilts and an oil cloth against the cold pelting rain, her relatives spoke urgently, encouraging the team of horses. But it was no use. “They got... Mon, 22 Jun 2015 18:27:33 -0600 BCCFA7CC-93A2-4C29-907B-8FDE55D0724E https://tj.durangoherald.com/where-rocks-have-names-running-rapids-on-western-rivers/ A rock is a rock is a rock, unless it is in the middle of a fast flowing river and you are about to smash into it with the front of your boat. In which case, you’re apt to give... Fri, 22 May 2015 06:01:00 -0600 D47E1A46-D92C-460D-878C-BDA4195605B4 https://tj.durangoherald.com/the-murals-at-mama-ds/ In Salida, wall art tells story of railroads and mountain troops Fri, 24 Apr 2015 06:01:00 -0600 22DB0E97-C254-4110-8232-011AE2BFB9E3 https://tj.durangoherald.com/some-like-it-hot-soaking-up-the-history-at-new-mexicos-ojo-caliente-springs/ On frigid winter days with long winter nights, there’s nothing like a soak in a natural hot springs and one of the most historic in the Southwest is at Ojo Caliente, N.M. Pioneering Hispanic settlers called springs ojos, or eyes,... Fri, 20 Feb 2015 07:01:00 -0700 470523A2-0274-4360-AAD5-9559E4F5AD3B https://tj.durangoherald.com/making-ute-history-live-the-enduring-legacy-of-clifford-duncan-2/ Clifford Duncan passed away this winter, and with his passing went centuries of Ute cultural knowledge about land and landscape. A World War II veteran in his 80s living in Neola, Utah, near Fort Duschene, he traveled across the West... Tue, 10 Jun 2014 06:01:00 -0600 91042726-FF4F-4B85-AD0D-87D3A7CCA6E2 https://tj.durangoherald.com/saving-saguache-life-takes-root-in-an-old-town/ Set in the northern San Luis Valley, Saguache served as one of the early gateways to the San Juans and the Western Slope. When Durango was just a twinkle in railroad baron Gen. William Palmer’s eye, Saguache became an established... Tue, 13 May 2014 06:01:00 -0600 AD6F4F86-58F0-4F33-94A9-65FB50792CBD