At the extreme eastern end of Arapahoe County, seventy miles from city of Denver, the air is clear and only sounds are the wheat blowing through wheat fields and the cawing of chicken hawks after a meal of field mice. Fine tuning of the ear, however, brings the sound of two men carving a living with tractors and plows. Most farmers here are not come-lately. Their parents were farmers as were their parents before them. The Monnahan family homesteaded here. They came from Broken Bow, Nebraska in 1909 with everything they owned, believing that they could make it outside the little farm town of Deer Trail, Colorado. John Monnahan was 16 then. "It took us about a week to cut and lay the sod for the house and the barn," he recollected. "It was another month or so to finish the inside of the house." In 1912, Walter Monnahan was born in the soddy, the eighth of nine children and the fifth of six boys. The years passed and most of the children moved away to Deer Trail or Brush, even as far as Seattle, leaving the four-room soddy on the rolling Colorado plains nearly empty. July 3, 1957, their mother died. John and Walter were left with the house, the farming tools, and the responsibility of keeping the small family farm going. The work of farming was always there for them. "There's always something to do around here," Walter said. "and never enough time to get it all done." Paced by the sun. they are up at sunrise and into the day's chores. There are chickens to feed, breakfast to cook and a half-mile trip tot he well for water. The soddy has no modern plumbing. "The well is 37 feet down and we'd have to drill down to 2,000 feet at the house for water. Someone just plain forgot to put enough water out here," Walter quipped. Water is life itself to all farmers. The Monnahans lost last winter's wheat crop for lack of moisture. It was plowed under and barley planted in its place. Now the barley is maturing to slowly for a lack of water. John and Walter have survived the Great Depression, recessions, drought and flood. The barley may or may not make it. They will. There are time consuming jobs that keep the brothers too busy to think of failure: checking on the cows, mending fences, getting the mail, cleaning the barn, feeding the cows in winter. Other places farming is done on a large scale with shiny new tractors with insulated, air-conditioned cabs, many farm hands, thousands of acres planted with a variety of crops. If one crop fails, others make up for the loss. It's big business. "I think we're closer to the land," Walter said proudly. "We might loose it all in one hail storm." Sunday, July 4, 1976. There was still nearly three hours of plowing left. Holiday or not John, 82, got on the tractor and finished the job. For John and Walter Monnahan, Independence Day was more like an unspoken declaration of dependence - on each other and the land that gives them both their lives and freedom.

A homeless man was discovered in Cherry Creek by a passerby. Medical, fire and law enforcement responded to the scene. It took several days for the man to be identified and there was no family to claim the body. He was determined to have been a military veteran so he was given a small funeral and buried in a common grave at Ft. Logan cemetery. No one attended the funeral except for the military group. It was the "day no one cried."

One-hundred-fifteen children, most of them age 7, attended their first High Mass and Communion at All Souls Catholic Church, 4950 S. Logan St. Their First Communion, April 17, 1977 was celebrated with parents and family members. The children prepared for this event beginning in January of 1977 by attending hour-long, twice weekly classes at the church school. Officiating the Mass was Fr. Frances Kappes, the church priest.

Margaret Glassey celebrated her 100th birthday in southeast Denver, April 1, 1976 with parties, flowers from Denver Mayor William McNichols, and a letter from President Gerald Ford. Sixty family members and friends came to her sister's home for an informal celebration then her church, Bonnie Brae Baptist, honored her with a reception. Mrs. Glassey was born Margaret Stadler in St. Louis and worked as a milliner and dressmaker before she married George Glassey in 1910. They moved to Colorado in 1916 and homesteaded near Ft.Morgan where they lived until 1942. They raised four children, enjoyed twelve grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Asked what was the secret to her longevity? A Bible phrase she said: "Honor thy father and mother so thy days be long."

Dr. Gilbert I. Lininger, Denver dentist and land entrepreneur. He was a non-conformist from the curl on top of his head to the house he built on top of his mountain near Genesee Park by hand—room by room, floor on top of floor, year after year. In 1936 The United States Geological Service named the peak Leninger Mountain. He began his dental practice at the corner of South Broadway and Alameda above a pharmacy. He worked in that location until he was 90

Coleman Broom Works made straw brooms by hand inside a dilapidated building in Englewood for over 50 years. The owner, Frank Coleman, inherited the business from his father who began the business in the early 1920's.

The Green Mercantile Store, located in Buffalo Creek, Colorado, is a two-story building constructed of native granite in 1898 by John W. Green, Sr. The building is also home for the Buffalo Creek post office.

Native American members of the Denver chapter of White Buffalo Council held a pow-wow at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

The Second Annual Adams County Bluegrass Festival, August 23-25, 1974. Performers included Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys • Ralph Stanley • Lester Flatt • James Monroe • Bluegrass Alliance • Country Gazette • Bobby Smith • Monroe Doctrine • The McLain Family Band • Clyde Moody • Haystack Mountain Boys • Denver Grass • City Limits • Possumtrotters • Colorado Sage • Dudley Murphy • Ray & Ina Patterson • Williams Family • Minnie Moore. The festival continued at this venue through 1987. After that it was held in Loveland, Colorado for four years before relocating again to Lyons, Colorado in 1992 where the event has been held for the past 25 years.

Description/Caption: Dorothy Hamill practices at the Colorado Ice Arena in Denver, Colorado in 1975 prior to the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria where she won the gold medal in women's figure skating. Her coach Carlo Fassi was at the practice session.

Sandy (Branham) Kneeland Ann Silversmith were two of the first female hot air balloon pilots in the United States. I was a passenger on a flights with them near Longmont, Colorado in 1974. Sandy is one of the founding members of the Colorado Balloon Club. She got her pilot's license in March 1973. She remarried and changed her last name to Kneeland. Ann received her license in 1975.

Funeral for fallen Denver Police officer Donald DeBruno., December, 1975. He was 30. More than 1500 people, mostly law enforcement officers. attended the Mass of Christian Burial at St. Jude Church in Lakewood, CO. Roy Allen Embry shot and killed Denver Police officer Donald DeBruno, December 10, 1975.

The Denver Wilderness Kids, formed April 10, 1976 as a part of the Colorado Mountain Club, hiked with their parents to the summit of Mt. Elbert, 14,433', the highest peak in Colorado, August 1, 1976. The group was part of the Great Colorado Centennial Fourteener Climb that had climbing parties ascend all of the state's 52 peaks over 14,000'.

The 1974 March of Dimes benefit horse ride in Jefferson County, CO was hit with high winds and dust during the event.

A wedding ceremony at Bethel Lutheran Church in Aurora, CO (1975) followed by the couple taking a horse and carriage ride from the church to the reception. The carriage was drive east on E. Colfax Ave and restricted traffic until an Arapahoe County sheriff interceded and allowed the procession to continue after the traffic jam was cleared.

Richard P. Koeppe, Ph.D., Superintendent of the Cherry Creek School District, made a regular practice of engaging students on a personal level. In 1975, he spent a day in a third grade class at Cherry Creek Elementary School to the delight and admiration of the students.

Students at Pomona High School participated in a 50's Day event. The school in the Jefferson County School District in the Denver metropolitan area opened in 1974. This event took place in 1976.

Carleton Smith, a nine-year-old boy with Cerebral Palsy, is mainstreamed into his 4th grade class at Sun Valley Elementary School in Lakewood, CO. His classmates were supportive and accepting of him and elected him as their class president. Carleton was one of the first CP victims to be treated with “neuromodulation” by Florida neurosurgeon, Dr. Ross Davis in 1976.

The Colorado State Home and Training School, also known as Ridge Home was also known as the Home for Mental Defectives. Located In Arvada, CO. the institution housed mentally ill adults and children. In 1974 a Christmas party for some of the kids was held. Each one received a few pieces of fresh fruit. Ridge Home closed in 1992 and the buildings were torn down.

Pearle Rae was a singer-songwriter in the Denver area for many years. She often worked with composer and musical producer Max DiJulio, shown in a practice session in 1974.

Karen Karsh is a Denver area blind singer, songwriter, and pianist, performing professionally since she was 15. She was photographed in concert at a club in 1974.

Denver city maintenance workers cleaning sand and gravel from drainage gutters on E. 46th Ave. underneath I-70 near Colorado Blvd. 1974.

Tinytown, located west of Denver on Highway 285, is the miniature western-themed park with steam-powered trains. The park has been a boom and bust operation since it's inception in 1915 and celebrated its centennial in 2015.

Wilbur Plaugher, rodeo clown, performing at the National Western Stock Show, January 1976 in Denver, CO. Regarded as the best all-time clown in rodeo history.

Bighorn Sheep herd in Waterton Canyon along the South Platte River near Denver, CO. December, 1976.

Ronnie Rice, a deaf evangelist, speaks to an audience of hearing impaired people at the South Sheridan Baptist Church, February 9, 1972.

Rex Williams, the elephant trainer for Circus Vargas, works with the animal to hoist the main tent before a performance in Englewood, CO. 1975

Rally in the University of Colorado quad for Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Edmund Muskie. He was campaigning with Presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey against the Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew Republican ticket. Thursday, October 3, 1968

With Nixon embroiled in the growing Watergate scandal, Vice President Gerald Ford traveled the country speaking on behalf of the administration’s policies. One of his appearances was at Englewood High School, April 5, 1975.

The League of Women Voters in Arapahoe County began programs to assist people with alcohol and drug use problems by setting up rehabilitation centers as a single non-medical, detoxification facilities in Adams County then into other communities in the Denver area. With initial funding derived from the Colorado Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division the programs have been in place for over 40 years providing innovative and effective treatment including residential, outpatient, detoxification and DUI services. These images are from the Washington House in Commerce City, CO. 1975

Victor DePinto, an Adams County vegetable farmer working his fields growing mostly radishes and cucumbers. Mr. DePinto was an Italian immigrant who came through Ellis Island as a boy. He owned his farm near 67th and York Sts. until the land was sold for the construction of I-270 between I-76 and I-25. Photographed in Spring 1974.

Verna Archuleta works in a barber shop in Westminster, CO in 1977. Once a man's world, barbershops changed as more women entered the workforce. Ms. Archuleta received her degree from the Colorado Barber College in Denver, 1976. Eventually she went on to get a B.A. in Business Management from Colorado State University and now works as an online marketing consultant in Golden, CO.

Jerry DeBell was an independent fruit and vegetable seller in the Denver area. He operated his business out of his pickup truck loaded with locally produce he bought from distributors at the Denargo Market each morning. His customers were mainly in the South Denver neighborhoods.