BECAUSE YOU ASKED
Q: When is avalanche season?
A: Avalanches in Colorado can happen any time of year, but the danger increases with major snowstorms and periods of thaw. About 2,300 avalanches are reported to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center in an average winter. More than 80 percent happen during or just after large snowstorms. The most avalanche-prone months are, in order, February, March and January.
Source: Colorado Avalanche Information Center (geosurvey.state.co.us/avalanche/Default.aspx?tabid=56)
Q: I saw a funeral notice that said someone was born in Ojo. I’ve never heard of that town; can you tell me where it is?
A: Ojo was on what is now U.S. 160 west of Walsenburg going up to the top of La Veta Pass in Huerfano County. It was first established as a copper-mining town with a post office from 1880 to 1881. Although copper was mined off and on, coal mining became the more dominant industry. The town again had a post office from 1913 to 1928.
In the later years, the mine flooded. Some thought that a mine nearby undermined it because water flowed from one to the other. Dick Coal Co. bought the mine in 1928 but gave it up because of flooding.
By the 1940s, the former town had become a summer resort because of the area’s springs.
Today, near where the town was, there is a bottling plant, Ojo Bottling Works, utilizing the springs.
Source: Carolyn Newman, Huerfano County Historical Society; “Coal Was King,” by Nancy Christofferson; Grand County Historical Association
– Compiled by Bonnie Gilbert
Have you ever wondered how to register your child for school? What a political caucus is and how to get information about one? How many “fourteeners” Colorado has? If you’d like information about something in the state, send questions to becauseyouasked@denverpost.com or Because You Asked, The Denver Post, 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 600, Denver, CO 80202. Include your name, city of residence and phone number.
