Author Archives

Nicholas Bernhard

From My Corner Of Hangman’s Hollow: Memories Of The Dark Horse And Other Haunts

April 10, 2024 2 0 Nicholas Bernhard

The Dark Horse Saloon that I know is probably not the one you know. I cannot tell you about frenzied Saturday nights, or the roaring crowds during a Buffs game. My Dark Horse is one found on weekday afternoons. No,…

Letter to the Editor

So Much For Good Guys With Guns

February 15, 2024 Like 0 Nicholas Bernhard

The latest violence from Kansas City reminded me of the words from Wayne LaPierre, former CEO of the NRA, that the solution to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The bloodied sidewalks of…

Uncategorized

Wishful Thinking at the Waffle House

January 9, 2024 Like 0 Nicholas Bernhard

They say eating at a Waffle House is trench warfare. I told a friend that, to the contrary, every time I’ve gone to Waffle House at 2 AM I’ve been treated with nothing but respect. My friend smirked. “That’s because…

Short Stories

When Heroes Fade

July 6, 2023 2 0 Nicholas Bernhard

It was 2002, and I was the youngest person at the book signing. That’s probably why, out of the large crowd gathered at the Tattered Cover that day, Scott Adams picked the eleven-year-old with his hand raised. “What is the…

Magazine

Tales of the Northern Coal Field: The Snowstorm of 1913

January 27, 2019 Like 0 Nicholas Bernhard

In Colorado, it – IT – remains the standard for judging other snowstorms. If it happened today, the results would be catastrophic. This December marked the 105th anniversary of Colorado’s worst snowstorm. Over four days in December 1913, Lafayette received 48…

Magazine

This Month in Coalfield History: The Spanish Flu Epidemic

November 29, 2018 Like 0 Nicholas Bernhard

In Lafayette’s coal mining days, diseases rushed through towns like a flash flood. Extended families lived in small cottages, using chamber pots and outhouses instead of indoor sewer systems. Vaccinations were uncommon, and while the existence of germs was…

Magazine

Tales of the Northern Coal Field

August 27, 2018 Like 0 Nicholas Bernhard

Lafayette was the first city in the region to have electric lights, provided by the abundant coal from the Simpson Mine. Houses with electricity had a single light bulb in the ceiling. The lightbulb operated from 5 AM to sunrise,…

Magazine

Tales of the Northern Coal Field: Tools of the Trade

June 20, 2018 Like 0 Nicholas Bernhard

These artifacts recall another way of life. Back then, a quill pen (and later a fountain pen) would last your whole life. Now, pens come in bags of a hundred, each one intended to last a week at most.

Magazine

Tales of the Northern Coal Field: When Mrs. Nixon Came To Town

March 26, 2018 Like 0 Nicholas Bernhard

Tales of the Northern Coal Field: When Mrs. Nixon Came To Town On March 4, 1970, at 2:20 PM, secret service agents swarmed around Lafayette Elementary. The front parking lot was packed with two hundred onlookers, news reporters, and law enforcement.…

Magazine

Tales of the Northern Coal Field: Lafayette’s “Hidden Jewel”

March 16, 2018 Like 0 Nicholas Bernhard

The area we now call Waneka Lake was first purchased in February, 1895 by Henry Waneka. Henry was the second son of Adolph Waneka, one of the very first men to homestead in this region. The land contained a spring,…