I decided to see what happened 100 years ago, so I went to the library and perused the microfilm. I was somewhat frustrated when I found the years 1913 and 1914 were not on the microfilm. So I went to Nov. 5, 1915. By consent of Dr. Trotter, the health officer of the town, all regular services will be resumed at the Methodist church next Sunday. John Cox Pastor. (The influenza epidemic was in full swing at that time.)

(Dr. J.R. Trotter came to Mancos in 1903 and served for 50 years as its doctor. He passed away in 1953.)

(John Cox served as pastor of the Methodist Church during the epidemic years of 1914-17.)

The largest single shipment of cattle of the season from the stockyards was made last Friday, when James Frink loaded out 27 railroad cars for the Denver market. Frink should rake in a bunch of money when he turns over this shipment.

(James Alonzo Frink came to Mancos in the late 1870s. His brother, Charlie Frink, was one of the cowboys who settled in the Mancos Valley in 1877. The railroad started passing through the Mancos Valley in 1891.)

W.H. French has bought the output of the E. J. Freeman coal mine for the town of Mancos and vicinity and is in readiness to furnish the public coal from either the Spencer or Freeman mine at $4.50 per ton. Satisfaction guaranteed.

(E. J. Freeman was Emma Jeanette Freeman. She was one of 12 children. She married James Sheek in 1893, and they came to Mancos in 1904. We old-timers remember a few of their 12 children - Mattie Holston, Ada Gibbs, Lee Sheek, Wiley Sheek and Florence Roberts. Emma passed away in 1936.)

We learned from E.D. Smith that the meetings for discussing the prairie dog pest situation and the advisability of organizing pest districts to combat their inroads, are all to be held in Montezuma Valley, the last of which will be in Cortez on Nov. 15.

(I remember watching the poisoning of prairie dogs, also a cartridge would be lit and pushed down a hole, and then dirt was piled on the hole. The prairie dogs would be gassed by the cartridge. Some success came about for farmers and ranchers through those practices.)

At an early hour Sunday morning, Mrs. Ruby Craig, wife of a well-known saw-mill man, died at the Ochsner Hospital in Durango. Mrs. Craig grew from childhood to womanhood in this valley.

The body was brought to Mancos, but owing to the quarantine, only a short service at the grave was held. (Ruby Louisa Craig passed away on Oct. 31, 1915.)

All of this and a long article about archaeological discoveries at Mesa Verde were on the front page.

Darrel Ellis is a longtime historian of the Mancos Valley. Email him at [email protected].