This week in history: Home towed off ledge, suicide leads to hazmat situation, train derails
1 year ago: Silverthorne tow company helps recover modular home from ledge
A modular home slid over a cliffside in the Colorado Rocky Mountains when the semitractor-trailer hauling it up a steep, icy road in Blue River slipped downhill and jackknifed on Nov. 21, 2023. Getting the home back on the truck without damaging it beyond repair proved to be one of the most difficult missions Mountain Recovery, a Silverthorne-based towing company, has ever completed, according to Charlie Stubblefield, the company’s owner.
— From the Nov. 25, 2023, edition of the Summit Daily News
1 year ago: Moose Jaw celebrates 50 years of business on Frisco’s Main Street
In November 1973, Lynda Colety and two partners opened a bar on what was, at the time, a fairly empty gravel road on Main Street in Frisco. On Nov. 17 and 18, 2023, Colety celebrated the 50th anniversary of her well-loved Moose Jaw.
— From the Nov. 19, 2023, edition of the Summit Daily News
5 years ago: Late snowboarding pioneer honored with memorial lap at Copper Mountain
Snowboarders woke up to sad news Nov. 21, 2019, when word spread on social media that Jake Burton Carpenter, the founder of Burton Snowboards, died at age 65. In the wake of the grim news, Woodward Copper organized a memorial lap at Copper Mountain Resort on Nov. 21 to honor the man who was more commonly known as Jake Burton — a man recognized by many as The Godfather of Snowboarding, who brought snowboarding to the masses and was a force in taking the activity from the fringes to a billion-dollar business and a sport at the heart of the Winter Olympics.
— From the Nov. 22, 2019, edition of the Summit Daily News
10 years ago: Emergency crews don hazmat suits to respond to Frisco suicide
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On Nov. 17, 2014, Summit County emergency personnel had to wear protective gear in order to respond to the scene of a suicide in Frisco. A 60-year-old second-home owner had inhaled hydrogen sulfide, a toxic combination of chemicals he mixed in his car, outside his house in the Bill’s Ranch neighborhood. On the outside of his car, the man had posted several signs warning anyone who approached of the danger. Hydrogen sulfide is colorless, highly flammable and explosive, and smells like rotten eggs, though the odor doesn’t always provide enough warning of high concentrations that can be deadly to inhale.
— From the Nov. 20, 2014, edition of the Summit Daily News
15 years ago: Colorado River drops to a record-low flow near Kremmling
Stream flows in Summit County are not too far off seasonal norms, but the Colorado River at Kremmling recently experienced an all-time record low flow for that date, according to local water commissioner Scott Hummer. The Colorado was only flowing at 280 cubic feet per second on Nov. 16, 2009, and flows farther downstream were also well below average, Hummer said. The previous minimum for the date was 330 cfs in 1978.
— From the Nov. 22, 2009, edition of the Summit Daily News
30 years ago: Freight train derails near Tennessee Pass
Crews contained an estimated 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel spilled during a 51-car freight train derailment Nov. 22, 1994, near the headwaters of the Eagle River. The train hauling 54 freight cars derailed just north of Tennessee Pass, spilling fuel into wetlands and beaver ponds near Mitchell Creek, a feeder stream of the Eagle River. One man was injured in the accident, which saw the rail lines littered with a jumbled mess of Southern Pacific freight cars loaded with iron ore pellets bound for Salt Lake City.
— From the Nov. 23, 1994, edition of the Summit Daily News
30 years ago: Jury convicts man for 1st-degree murder of Dillon Valley woman
A 38-year-old man is guilty of first-degree murder. A jury made the decision after a 35-minutes deliberation on Nov. 17, 1994. He faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole. He was tried in the 5th Judicial District Court for the Jan. 30, 1994, stabbing of Sharon Keown, 30. She was found dead in her Dillon Valley apartment after neighbors heard screams from her third-floor apartment and witnessed the suspect fleeing down the stairs with blood on his hands. The man used a Swiss army knife to inflict 33 stab wounds to Keown’s upper chest, neck and face.
— From the Nov. 18, 1994, edition of the Summit Daily News
125 years ago: Railroad shifts business; telephone rates announced
The South Park railroad management has closed up business at the coal yards in the town of Dickey and moved the coaling station to Breckenridge, where a new rail siding is being added. A switch engine and “helper” crew will be stationed in town during the winter season.
The Colorado Telephone Co. has announced the rates for five-minute talks from their office at the Denver Hotel in Breckenridge. Calls to: Dillon, 20 cents; Denver, 85 cents; Leadville, 35 cents.
— From the Nov. 25, 1899, edition of the Summit County Journal
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