How to say ’powder ski’ in Spanish and how printing newspapers evolved in Eagle County: Kids Corner for the week of 2/22/21

Entertainment Entertainment | Feb 22, 2021

Casey Russell

Editor’s note: The Vail Daily’s weekly kids section is chock full of activities and fun to keep the young and the young at heart entertained during the pandemic. If you have an idea for the section or would like to get involved, email Entertainment Editor Casey Russell at crussell@vaildaily.com.

Word of the Week

Learn new words in English and Spanish each week.

to powder ski / para esquiar en polvo

Outside Scoop: Snow Moon

This Friday evening and early Saturday morning is your next chance to view a full moon. It will peak above in the sky at 1:19 a.m. MST Saturday.

This month’s moon is aptly named the snow moon because February is typically the snowiest month of the year in the United States. However, here in the Vail Valley, that isn’t actually correct. March usually has more snow than February. Regardless, this is cause for celestial celebration.

The moon references snow on the ground and the throws of winter. As winter wanes on, some native American tribes would call this moon the hunger moon, as spring was on the horizon and food storages from winter are at their smallest. In the Vail Valley, it makes sense why other communities called this moon the storm moon. We all know what wallops of storms the next month can bring.

And, with February being the shortest month of the year, it occasionally happens where there is no full moon at all during the month and this scenario is called a Black Moon. In 2018, there was no full moon in February, instead, both March and January had two full moons that year.

What are other names for the full moon in February used by native communities?

Bald Eagle Moon or Eagle Moon
Bear Moon or Black Bear Moon
Raccoon Moon
Groundhog Moon
Goose Moon

Outside Scoop is submitted by freelance journalist Julie Bielenberg. Contact her at jbielenberg@mac.com.

Time Travel

Learn about Eagle County history each week.

Newspapers arrived in Eagle County in the early 1880s, at the same time that silver miners swarmed Battle Mountain. Every community depended on a newspaper, usually printed once a week, to bring them the news of the mines and neighboring communities.

**Marilla McCain, editor of the Eagle Valley Enterprise newspaper, sets type using a Linotype circa 1940s.**
*Courtesy ECHS/EVLD*

Probably the most important piece of equipment in the newspaper office was the Linotype, which inventor Thomas Edison called the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

Invented in 1884, this complex machine revolutionized the print industry. Prior to the linotype, printers set type one letter at a time, a slow, painstaking task that limited the size of most newspapers to eight pages.

The Linotype was a type-casting machine that utilized melted lead, tiny brass molds, a 90-character keyboard, and scores of moving parts to literally create “lines-of-type” in a process known as “hot metal” typesetting. With the Linotype, the process of printing a newspaper became much more efficient, allowing newspapers to grow bigger.

The machine was fascinating to watch. Sometimes, the lead popped, causing small burns on the skin and clothing of the machine operator.

The linotype quickly became the industry standard for the printing of newspapers, including the Eagle County Blade newspaper in Red Cliff and the Eagle Valley Enterprise in Eagle. The linotype was an integral part of newspaper production from 1901 to the 1960s, when computers revolutionized the printing process and type-casting machines were rendered obsolete.

These days, the only places you will find a linotype in Eagle County are the lobby of the Colorado Mountain News Media building in Gypsum, and at the Eagle County Historical Museum in Eagle.

Time Travel is researched and written by Kathy Heicher, president of the Eagle County Historical Society. Learn more about ECHS at eaglecountyhistoricalsociety.com.