Left Hand Valley Courier - All Local, All The Time

The Homestead Act of 1862 turned the American West into a promised land for religiously and socially repressed Swedish Lutherans, who were coming off three years of crop failure. Around 1.3 million...

It has been a source of immense frustration to me for many years that I can't be a hunter-gatherer. And it all began with a degree in cultural anthropology. Wading back through the annals of our...

Vicki Maurer's approach to life and volunteering is probably best put in her own words: "We do what we have to do and get it done." Maurer has been involved with many community organizations over the...

In 1859, gold drew 100,000 people into the Pike's Peak Region in pursuit of their fortune. Thirty-nine-year-old Alonzo N. Allen was among them, and he was quick to realize that prospecting was a hard...

When a Channel 7 News crew showed up on Second Avenue on Saturday, January 28th, Kathy Koehler was ready to give them a tour of the Fire House Museum and an overview of Niwot's history. Little did...

When Hygiene-area local Hunter Lovins took the stage on a recent snowy evening in Boulder, it was clear this wasn't her first rodeo. She is a gifted orator with a very strong message: climate change...

Ryan Harris, an offensive tackle for the Denver Broncos Superbowl 50 Champion, retired from professional football in 2017. Since then, he has become a radio and stage presence, and on Thursday,...

The first meeting of the season for the newly revived Niwot Garden Club was held at Botanical Interests seed packet company. It was led by Judy Seaborn, one of the company's owners. "I kind of joke...

Morse Coffin. William Dickens. Porter M. Hinman, William Gould. Marcus Emery. Abel Cushman. Neva. Niwot. Do you recognize any of these names? The names of people connected to the Sand Creek Massacre...

It's ditch burning season in Boulder County. And that means Seth McKinney and Nick Stremel are starting to gear up. McKinney is a Fire Management Officer for the Boulder County Sheriff's office....

In a field dominated by men, two women make up Boulder County's entire urban forestry team--Cathy Thiltgen and Mary Tiernan. "We take a lot of pride in that," said Thiltgen. If you have walked the...

Meg Heitlinger moved here from Minneapolis in 2006 for the same reason many people come to Colorado--"the idea of living from snow to sunshine." Twelve years later, Heitlinger became the much beloved...

If you were walking the Niwot Loop Trail last Tuesday afternoon, you likely bumped into Kodi and his owner Jayne Zmijewski. Kodi may have looked like any other yellow lab, but he wasn't out for...

Readers of last week's Courier won't be surprised to learn that FEMA will soon be implementing new floodplain maps for Boulder County. But what does that actually mean for the average homeowner? Some...

Prairie dogs are a contentious issue in Boulder County, so it is no surprise that Jan. 7, Boulder County's Annual Public Meeting on Prairie Dog Management ran overtime. In fact, it was difficult to...

Last Thursday, Jan. 9, Niwot High alumni Oskar Wells and Sophia Jones stepped up to cut the ribbon. After months of construction, Niwot High School hosted a grand re-opening to show off its latest ren...

"We talk about turning the world into a garden. What if as we walked through neighborhoods and communities, everywhere you looked there were vegetables growing, fruits growing, mushroom logs,...

In the fall of 2013, Sarah Echsner lost her younger brother to suicide. "No matter how much time goes by, it doesn't really change how deeply wounded I feel," said Echsner. "It's something that I...

Colorado state minimum wage is $11.10 an hour. But by various exemptions provided by law, many agricultural workers make only $7.25 per hour. That might be enough during the long days of summer, but...

Nothing came of last week's bomb threat at Niwot High School, except the arrest of a student believed to be responsible. Nothing, but rattled nerves and the question, when will this fear of school-bas...

Julea and Maedee Trank-Greene are twins and seniors at Niwot High School. They also have had a lifelong interest in helping the homeless. "It makes me very sad to see people living on the street,"...

Marcus McCauley is the owner of a 40 acre diversified organic farm in Longmont. If you take a farm tour, McCauley will start by asking you an important question: what modern food crops are native to...

One hundred and fifty years ago, we weren't the only place named Niwot. Chief Niwot--or Left Hand--was an Arapaho chief. He was a skilled linguist, a visionary, and a constant advocate of peace. He...

Thanks to the Niwot Historical Society archives, we get a glimpse into Niwot's bygone Thanksgiving celebrations. On Nov. 22, 1957 "The Niwot Tribune" reported an evening church service at the EUB...

There is probably only one place in Longmont you can shoot arrows at a dinosaur. High Altitude Archery. And though this archery school allows you to choose between many three dimensional...

In 1870, armed with a pad of census schedules, steel nib pens, and ink, P. D. McClanahan set out to single-handedly count Boulder County's citizens. He was not overly concerned about accuracy, but it...