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Charles Moore discusses his career in the U.S. Grazing Service, ranching, and tension between sheep and cattle ranchers on Colorado's Western Slope. 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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Charles Burg tells stories from his father about his interactions with the Ute during a US Army deployment near Montrose, Colorado. He talks about settlers and ranchers of the De Beque area, including Dave Knight, a Cherokee from Oklahoma who utilized native plants in a traditional way. He describes a “garter” brand on a horse, horse breaking techniques for wild horses, the origins of the wild horse population in the Bookcliffs, stray cattle gone...
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George Knowles talks about the history of his father’s carpentry and construction business in Fruita, about fighting as a soldier in World War I, and aspects of early Mesa County life. Esther Knowles discusses her family and early Twentieth century life in Plateau Valley. 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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James Franklin discusses his life as a cowboy in Mesa County, Garfield County, and elsewhere on Colorado’s Western Slope. Franklin touches on cooking over the campfire, means of travel, cures for ailments, training horses, the first rodeo in which he participated, a large flood that destroyed his mother’s farm, and dealing with inclement weather on the range. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
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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...
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Morgan Goss discusses his time as a cowboy in Mesa County during the early 1900’s. 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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Al Look details the murder of Maggie Herrick by Henry Herrick in 1883, committed shortly after the founding of Mesa County, Colorado. 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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To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. The plays’ authors used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Harold Bryant: Western...
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To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. Authors of the plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Overheard at the Cattle...
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To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. Authors of the plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Roundups. This...
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To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. Authors of the plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play The Sheep War, about...
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Anna (Weckel) Peck discusses the history of her family in early Fruita, Colorado, and social life and customs of the time. 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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Charles Smelzer talks about his work in a variety of jobs during his teens and twenties. He also discusses his arrival in Gunnison, Colorado and his work as a cowboy for a cattle ranch, including an incident in which he confronted members of the Ku Klux Klan who were trying to disrupt cattle operations and intimidate cowboys and ranchers. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries...
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Cleaola Ernst talks about moving to Colorado from Kansas on a narrow-gauge train in 1897, when she was five years old. She speaks about her nursing education and working as a nurse. She remembers her family’s life in Hotchkiss, Colorado, and the general store that her parents ran. She tells the story of an eagle that purportedly picked up a small girl near Norwood, and how her family came to be in possession of the eagle after it was shot. She remembers...
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Eben Massey talks about growing up on a ranch in Gateway, Colorado. He remembers riding horseback and playing with his cousins. He recalls encounters with rattlesnakes, bull snakes, pack rats, rabbits, and deer. He tells stories of deer hunts he was involved with. He remembers being a “flanker” who helped to brand cattle, working as a cowboy and ranch hand as a boy, riding horses, and calf roping. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County...
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Harry and Nettie Knight discuss cowboys, ranching, and the history of their pioneering families in Mesa County. 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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Herb Johnston discusses sheep and cattle ranching in the Cisco, Utah area in the early Twentieth century. He also gives an in-depth portrait of African-American cowboy Charlie Glass, whom Mr. Johnston counted as a friend. 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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Joe Fox talks about his early life as a cowboy after running away from home at the age of twelve, and about serving in the US Army's Second Division during World War I. He then discusses ranching in Rio Blanco County, Colorado. 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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Louis Roybal discusses his childhood in Taos, New Mexico and on a homestead in the Oklahoma panhandle, working as a cowboy, and the history of his Hispanic family in New Mexico and Southern Colorado. He then talks in detail about his twenty years in the US Navy, with a description of his service as a fireman on naval vessels during World War I, and their engagement with German vessels. He also mentions his service on the USS Langley, the first US...
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Louis Pavetti and Virgil Van Dyke talk about the origins of the Mesa County Sheriff Posse, its mission, and about search and rescue missions in which they assisted local authorities. They also talk about the Posse’s rodeo riding and roping programs for youth, “cowboy polo”, the Colorado Stampede (a professional rodeo put on by the Posse), and about trail riding and wild horses. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project,...