Grand Junction (Colo.) -- History
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Mabel Hart Johnson talks about life in Meeker, Colorado in the early 1900’s, Teddy Roosevelt’s mountain lion hunting trip in the area, and what the life of a woman was like in Meeker. She also discusses her battle with the illness St. Vitus’s Dance, using scrip during the Great Depression, homesteading near the White River, raising a family in Grand Junction, and bowling. Her husband Murl Hazen Johnson talks about working as a truck driver for...
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Voice Recording
Mary Colosimo talks about the life of her Italian immigrant family on a truck farm in the Pomona area of Mesa County, Colorado. She also discusses her marriage to railroad man Charles Colosimo, his career with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, including his stints as a call-boy and an engineer, railroad disciplinary measures, and train accidents. Lorene Roice talks about what brought her to Grand Junction at the end of World War II, her husband’s...
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Compound
Lorene Roice talks about her childhood growing up on a farm in Kansas, childhood chores, music, dances, dating, holiday celebrations, and her involvement in 4-H. She also discusses her life in Grand Junction, Colorado, her husband Joe Roice, and their cofounding of the Roice-Hurst Humane Society, Grand Junction’s first animal shelter. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and...
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Voice Recording
Veda McBeth talks about people and places of Mack, Colorado, where her family owned and operated the general store in the early Twentieth century. She describes in detail the colorful hobos that she encountered along the railroad, the thousands of sheep in the Mack stockyards, and large sheep drives to Grand Junction. She also speaks about catching the Denver Rio Grande train from Mack to Grand Junction, the Uintah Railway, and the loneliness of homestead...
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Voice Recording
Mary Rait explains how Grand Junction Junior College was created (later to become Colorado Mesa University), and her role there as teacher, administrator, and lastly, as vice president. She mentions the various deans and their accomplishments. She tells about the growth of the school as it became Mesa College and its eventual change into a four-year school. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa...
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Voice Recording
Grand Junction, Colorado newspaper columnist, amateur historian, geologist and paleontologist Al Look discusses the Soup Eaters organization that he helped found during the Great Depression, Dalton Trumbo, American Indian archaeology and digs on the Western Slope, and his contacts with the Navajo. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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Voice Recording
Mary talks about her early childhood in Kansas as one of nine children and her family's move to Colorado upon the death of her father. Mary details the train and its passengers during the move, including Russian immigrants coming to work the beet fields, and her mother's outreach. She mentions her mothers career training riding horses as a way to support the family. She talks about her relationships, children, and the struggle she faced trying to...
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Voice Recording
Mary Plaisted talks about growing up in the Milldale area around the sugar beet factory in Grand Junction, Colorado, and about the brothels and red-light district nearby. She describes having to beg and take odd cleaning and sewing jobs to support she and her children, and the kind strangers that helped her. She mentions the many places she lived in Grand Junction, the floods common in the Riverside neighborhood, and living in a close-knit Italian...
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Compound
Marie Treece describes running Grand Junction, Colorado’s community concert series and the many famous musicians who visited Grand Junction during the early to mid-1900’s. She recalls the difficulty that African-American musicians, such as Roland Hayes, had in finding a place to stay. She talks about her experiences teaching and travelling with a Mesa College choral troop. She discusses directing a choir in one of the area’s CCC camps, hosting...
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Voice Recording
Raymond Myers gives an eyewitness account of the Grand Junction train depot fire of June 27, 1943. Myers talks about repairing a hotbox (overheated axle) on the westbound Denver and Rio Grande ammunition train prior to the fire, about the fire itself, and the munitions that exploded over Grand Junction as a result of the fire. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums...
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Voice Recording
Al Look describes the history of Faquawah, a group of Mesa County, Colorado businessmen who enjoyed camping and carousing in Southeastern Utah. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
*A recording of the Faquawah meeting itself was not put online, but can be requested at the Museums of Western Colorado.
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Voice Recording
Dr. Addie (Russell) Maynard tells stories of her life as an osteopathic doctor in Mesa County, Colorado, including a time when she helped a woman give birth on a train with barely any supplies. She also touches on the social life in Grand Junction when she was a child, changes throughout the years in the practice of medicine, and the various medical resources available to early Mesa County residents. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County...
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Voice Recording
Early Mesa County resident Joseph John Egger describes his travels to the Grand Valley area, the Colorado National Monument, the differences he perceived between Utes and Navajos, and information about Chief Ouray and Chipeta. 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.
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Compound
Mary Cox talks about her education at the Bryant School and elsewhere in Grand Junction, about corsets and other aspects of school fashion, the history of the Riverside Neighborhood, attending community dances and Glenwood Springs’ Strawberry Days, and boys swimming in the Colorado River. She also discusses old downtown businesses, going to movies at the Majestic Theater, a brothel that advertised at the Mesa County Fairgrounds during a baseball...
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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...
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Compound
Anna E. Craig discusses her upbringing in Mesa, Colorado, including her social experiences, her father’s life as one of the few doctors in the area, the Mesa County Fair, her holiday rituals, methods of preserving food, and what it was like to own a hotel in Mesa. She also talks about an instance in the 1890’s when hundreds of sheep were driven over a cliff by cattle ranchers on the Grand Mesa, and other strife between cattle and sheep ranchers....
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Voice Recording
Dr. Everett Munro discusses his service in the U.S. Army’s medical reserves during World War I, early vaccination campaigns in Grand Junction, life as a rural doctor doing house calls, and other aspects of early Mesa County history. 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.
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Voice Recording
Dr. “E.H.” Munro talks about the history of the Grand Junction Lions Club and its members, hunting mountain lions in Utah, his fishing trip with President Herbert Hoover during Hoover’s speaking trip in Western Colorado, and shooting mishaps while hunting deer. 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.
Format:
Voice Recording
Dr. Everett Munro discusses his career as the City Health Officer for Grand Junction, beginning in 1922, the vaccination and sanitation campaign against smallpox and diphtheria, and both his research on silicosis and advocacy for uranium workers. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Format:
Voice Recording
Frieda Miller talks about her pioneer ranching family’s arrival in Palisade, Colorado, and about the exploits of her colorful father, Eben “Mac” Miller. She speaks about her school days in Palisade and Grand Junction, and about childhood games she played (such as Duck on a Rock). She discusses her later life and marriage with farmer and carpenter George Weaver, and her long period as a vegetarian. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County...
