Showing 1 - 19 of 19 , query time: 0.04s
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Reuben A. Pitts talks about wars between cattle and sheep ranchers, about rural school life in Plateau Valley, Colorado, and about the Big Creek Reservoir flood. He also discusses his job as a typesetter for his father’s newspaper, The Plateau Valley Voice, in Collbran. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society....
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
W.J. Pray discusses the history of Collbran and Plateau Valley, Colorado, including ranching and roads. He also talks about box lunches and how they worked as a social and dating vehicle for men and women. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Craig Aupperle talks about Grand Junction, Colorado’s first cemeteries, funeral houses, and mortuaries. He also gives an account of pioneer funeral rites and ceremonies, including burials led by horse-drawn buggies. He then discusses the locations of early roads, including the Rhone Creek Toll Road from Mesa County to Glenwood Springs, and the Hogback Road to Plateau Valley. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a...
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Grace Kistler talks about her childhood in rural Missouri and Pueblo, Colorado. She also describes life in De Beque, Colorado in the 1920’s and 30’s, and her husband’s role in the construction of the road through De Beque Canyon. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
In an interview recorded November 8, 1977, Fred Ames and his wife Emma Lillian (Stocks) Ames discuss the history of Sinbad Valley and its settlement by his family and others. In second and third interviews recorded on November 15 and December 3, 1977 (transcript only*), Fred Ames talks about the McCarty Gang, their stomping grounds in Sinbad Valley and nearby Eastern Utah, and about meeting Tom McCarty as a child. He discusses homesteading and...
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Rufus Hirons describes his memories of Grand Junction, Colorado in the early Twentieth century, and talks about his work in the ranching and livestock industries. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society. *Photograph from 1923 Grand Junction High School yearbook.
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Wilbur Downey talks about his family settling in Loma, Colorado, where his father bought a pool hall in 1919. He describes the agricultural character of Loma at that time. He and Mildred speak about running the Loma Store, a general store, and about other businesses in Loma. They talk about the settlement of Loma by people escaping the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s. They discuss Loma’s train depot, passenger train service to Loma, freight trains that...
Cover Image
Format:
Compound
In a panel discussion sponsored by the Mesa County Historical Society, Bud Bradbury, Bill Benson, and Howard Brouse talk about the history of roads and trails in Mesa County, Colorado and on the Western Slope. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Joseph Egger talks about life in the Grand Valley when he arrived in 1891. He describes the lack of a bridge over the Colorado River between Grand Junction and De Beque, and the ferry that crossed the river in Palisade. He discusses soil quality and the history of agriculture in different parts of the valley, and traces early agriculture in the eastern end of the valley to coal miners. He also talks about the Taylor Grazing Act, trying to sell butter...
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Lowell “Pete” Laycock talks about the history of the Laycock Motor Company in Delta and Grand Junction, Colorado. He describes building frames to haul cars by truck from Lansing, Michigan to Grand Junction and driving the trucks with his father’s company, one of the first in the country transport cars in this way. He describes the build of Chrysler engines and other makes of automobile, and also talks about small airplane engines. He and interviewer...
Cover Image
Format:
Compound
Lebrado Serna discusses his family life and his multiple jobs working as a Master plumber in Durango, Colorado and elsewhere. He also touches on the social scene in the old red light district of Silverton, and on the Plumber’s Union. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Emma (Berg) Nagel discusses life in early Fruita as a student turned school teacher, and talks about the farm life of her family (her parents were immigrants from Sweden who settled in Western Colorado), with an extended description of her mother’s homemaking tasks. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
James Brouse discusses moving and going to school in Glade Park, Colorado as a young boy in 1915. He tells tales of cowpunching in the canyons near Westwater, homesteading, the difficulties of dry farming, and the methods and difficulties of transportation into town from up on Glade Park. He also talks about local murders, sheep and cattlemen wars, and the history of different schools in the area. His wife Ellen (Morse) Brouse, longtime Mesa County...
Cover Image
Format:
Compound
Ann Stokes talks about homesteading on East Orchard Mesa after her family moved to Mesa County, Colorado in 1904. She remembers her father working on the “fancy” masonry for the Grand Junction train station. She recalls living in a one-room log cabin and sharing that cabin with a horse for an evening. She speaks about the development of irrigation on East Orchard Mesa and her father’s peach orchard. She describes walking with her siblings four...
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
William Ela talks about his family’s arrival in the Little Dolores River area of Mesa County in 1881 and their establishment of the 2-V Ranch. He tells stories about his grandfather, the pioneer rancher and Grand Junction town mayor William Phillips Ela. He remembers his grandfather’s horse Looney and his escapades. He speaks about the dangers of travel to and from Glade Park in the early days. He recalls stories passed down about his ancestors’...
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Harry Gardner discusses his life in Mesa County as a road construction worker for 50 years, working on projects throughout the county and helping to build many roads. He also talks about his love of horse racing. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Cover Image
Format:
Compound
Ann Stokes talks about her father-in-law Walter Stokes and his involvement in Nineteenth century labor strife as a union coal miner in Colorado. She describes his establishment of the Stokes Mine after he moved to Mesa County and describes the mine’s operations. She speaks about early phone service in Palisade. She discusses her mom’s job as a nurse in rural areas, which included tasks like housecleaning, cooking, and sewing baby clothes for new...
Cover Image
Format:
Voice Recording
Anna Foster talks about teaching at the Mesa School, beginning in 1908. She remembers some of the teachers and students at the school, and going sledding with them for fun. She speaks about the role of the Mesa’s Methodist church in providing community for people of all Christian faiths. She describes stagecoaches that delivered between towns, traveling the old Hogback Road from Palisade, and the building of the Plateau Canyon Road. She recalls...
Cover Image
Format:
Compound
Marjorie Thomas describes her childhood on a homestead in the New Liberty area of Mesa County, Colorado. She talks about the difficulty of getting across the Big Salt Wash near Fruita when it flooded. She discusses Sunday school and religious services that existed in the community for twenty-one years, until the lack of leadership caused people to drive to Loma for church. She speaks about the history of the New Liberty School and about social clubs...