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Eva Wood Leslie discusses her family’s farm life on Pinon Mesa, Colorado, sheep farming, chores done around the home, and school teaching in Mesa County. 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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Dorothy Green talks about growing up as the child of a Congregational minister and a kindergarten teacher in Wisconsin, about her own teaching career, and about life as the wife of a Congregational minister. She also talks about working as a substitute teacher and tutor for Mesa County Valley School District 51, and about her husband’s career as a principal and teacher for Mesa County schools. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral...
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Dr. Andrew Gulliford, head of The Country School Legacy Project (a survey of rural schools over eight states, funded by the National Endowment of the Humanities) presents information from the project in a lecture at the Museum of Western Colorado. The lecture includes reflections from rural school teachers in Colorado, including teaching techniques, discipline problems, infectious diseases, and issues with poorly constructed buildings. Teachers also...
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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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In an interview from May 14, 1981 (audio only, no transcript), Basil T. Knight talks about his youth in Michigan, meeting his wife’s family in Palisade, Colorado and ultimately moving there, operating a fruit farm, and becoming a lifelong teacher and school administrator. He explains the mechanisms that originally funded the many smaller school districts on the Western Slope, including taxes on railroads, and the reasons for the consolidation that...
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Gertrude Rader discusses her time spent teaching in Loma, Colorado in the early 1900s. She talks about the role of the sugar beet company as landowner and employer in the area. She includes details about the schools, businesses, and churches that existed in Loma, her involvement starting Mesa County’s first hot school lunch program, and her experiences attending an annual fish fry in Horsethief Canyon. Gertrude also shares memories about the many...
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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.
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William Raber talks about his family’s ranch in the Kannah Creek area of Mesa County, Colorado, and about the development of reservoirs and water projects, beginning with the city of Grand Junction’s diversion of water from Kannah Creek around 1910. He also talks about traveling by train with cattle that he intended to sell in Los Angeles, and about discrimination that he experienced during World War I as the son of German immigrant. The interview...
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Ralph Galyean talks about early Twentieth century life in De Beque, Colorado, about cowboys such as Dave Knight and Charlie Glass, and about the Carlyle Ranch. He also discusses baseball teams in Mesa County and oil shale development. 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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Frances Felicia Mendicelli describes her immigration to the United States from Italy, settling in Grand Junction, Colorado, her early education in both Italy and Mesa County, and learning English. She also talks about Christmas, food and tradition in her Italian American family, and about her father’s job as a railroad section foreman and life in a railroad family. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
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Sara Kruh talks about growing up near Collbran and in Grand Junction, Colorado, and about her schooling. She also discusses teaching in the Molina School on the Grand Mesa and her teaching career, her role in the origins of the Mesa County Teachers Federal Credit Union, and high button shoes. 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...
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Gertrude Rader talks about the New Deal and its effect on her farm in Loma, Colorado. She then describes at length the migration of Ute tribal members from the Ouray/Silverton area to Eastern Utah every fall in the early Twentieth century, their camping near Rader's childhood home in Kannah Creek, and her observations of the Ute people. She also discusses her family's pioneer history in the Whitewater/Kannah Creek area, her time teaching in rural...
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Karl and Nellie Linn discuss the history of their pioneer family in Plateau Valley, cattle ranching in the area, and local people. 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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Lola Jennings talks about growing up in Lewis, Colorado, her family, and picking mayflowers. She remembers childhood chores on the farm and her schooling. She recalls an ice skating accident in which she was severely injured and had a lengthy hospital stay at the Oshmer Hospital in Durango. She speaks about breaking wild horses, wildlife in Montezuma County, ice houses, and raising and butchering hogs. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County...
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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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John J. Collier talks about his career as a teacher servicing Mesa County country schools in the 1930's and 1940's. He talks about his education at Mesa College, his hobbies as a teacher, the pranks his students would pull, all-night dances at the schoolhouse, as well as programs and plays that were open to all. The interview was conducted by the Mesa county Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of 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 First School, about...
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Marguerite Beede talks about moving with her husband and children to Loma, Colorado as part of a resettlement program during the Dust Bowl. She reminisces about teaching at the Loma School for over 20 years. She describes the establishment of the Loma Community Hall and its vital place in the community. She remembers some of the town’s locals. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries...
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Vesta Fitzpatrick talks about growing up in Buena Vista, New Castle, and De Beque, Colorado. She remembers the family’s homestead and life in De Beque, and her role as a homemaker from an early age due to her mother’s illness. She speaks about country school life. She details the dances that took place, including costume, masquerade, and “hard time” dances. She recalls living in Uravan during World War II, where her grandchildren played in...
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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 Wayne Aspinall: Scholar,...