HARTVILLE—Our fondest times and favorite stories often lie in the memories of our childhood and years spent growing up. The slightest mention of a particular song or a special phrase that our parents used can trigger recollections of the days of our youth.
And so it was that last Friday evening, Vic Soto, now a resident of Guernsey who grew up in the little mining town of Sunrise, shared his memories of his younger years through stories and song with a packed Hartville town hall in a program sponsored by SHAPPS, the Sunrise Historic and Prehistoric Preservation Society.
Soto’s father worked in the Sunrise Iron Ore Mine and the family lived in the adjacent town which was home to approximately 500 people during the busiest years of the mining operation. With peak production in 1941, the mine was the primary source for the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company’s Pueblo, Colorado steel mill from 1899 to 1980. 

Although the town was never incorporated, it was a typical “company town” in that it had its own homes, stores, hospital, school and a YMCA with a bowling alley and gymnasium.
Soto came from a musical family and his brother Larry was one of the original guitarists of well-known rock group The Drivin’ Dynamics formed in 1961 in the Scottsbluff area. Randy Meisner, who later went on to play with the Eagles, was also an original member and penned some of the Eagle’s hits. They played regularly at the Little Moon Lake dancehall near Henry, NE and later on, Soto’s younger brother Bobby joined the band as their drummer after several members left to serve in the military.
Soto recalled the group touring the area, recalling that their music was broadcast on Oklahoma City’s 50,000-watt radio station KOMA. The band continued to play well into the 60s and were inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame, honored as the longest-running rock act in state history.
Soto, who plays guitar and sponsors a weekly karaoke night in Guernsey called “Soto Street”, treated the SHAPPS audience to a few songs the Dynamics played as well as a recorded song penned by his brother Larry that featured Larry’s love for his hometown of Sunrise.
Soto and his wife Teresa, lived in Louisville, Colorado, but came back to the area following his retirement from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. Soto said although there was some discussion about where they would spend their retirement years, when it came down to it, there was just one obvious answer. “I gave Teresa some options, but she said we just needed to go home…and we are so glad we did.”