Mesa County Oral History Project
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Voice Recording
Chuck Lundy and interviewer Al Look talk about a Fremont Indian excavation in No Thoroughfare Canyon, about the archaeologist Hannah Marie Wormington and her work at the Turner-Look Site in Utah, and about Native American fossil finds on Glade Park, Colorado. They also speak about Colorado National Monument founder John Otto, about dinosaur fossils discovered by “Dinosaur Jim,” the paleontologist James Jensen, and about dinosaur bones found by...
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Voice Recording
During 1980’s annual meeting of the Last Squad Club, an organization of World War I veterans, Al Look reads the memorial service and former U.S. Representative Wayne Aspinall gives the keynote address. The club remembers deceased members and friends of the club. 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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Voice Recording
Wyatt Wood and Al Look discuss their involvement in the construction of Rim Rock Drive on the Colorado National Monument, early scenic photography of Mesa County, early Mesa County bands and parades, and Wood’s time spent working for the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce. 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...
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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.
Format:
Compound
Conner Shepherd, Assistant Professor of Recreation at Mesa College (now Colorado Mesa University) talks about John Otto and the Colorado National Monument in a lecture titled “John Otto: Monument Maker.” The lecture was given before a meeting of the Mesa County Historical Society. Al Look also adds his insights about John Otto. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa...
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Voice Recording
In the third of nine recordings, John Goulet, a former advertising salesman with the Daily Sentinel newspaper, relates his experiences and travels in Grand Junction and Western Colorado in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He talks about traveling to Black Canyon with his friend Al Look. He remembers many of the merchants that he met as an advertising salesman. He describes Grand Junction’s Diamond Jubilee celebration of its 75th anniversary as a city....
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Voice Recording
On the occasion of the Mesa County Historical Society annual picnic (circa 1980), Julia Harris, an early Grand Mesa resident, lectures about the history of the area, with information about a 1910 earthquake in the Cameo area, the construction of the Plateau Canyon Road, De Beque in the 1880’s, the captivity of Josephine Meeker on the Grand Mesa after the Meeker Massacre, an old Native American cemetery near De Beque, and Republican Party happenings....
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Voice Recording
Rex Howell, founder of Grand Junction’s first radio and television stations, speaks to the Grand Junction Lions Club at a gathering in which the past presidents of the club are present. Howell talks about the history of the Grand Junction Lions, and about the ethics of volunteer service and broadcasting. During the first half of the recording, Al Look presides over a meeting of the club. This recording is made available via signed release by the...
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Voice Recording
In the first of nine recordings, John Goulet, a former advertising salesman with the Daily Sentinel newspaper, relates his experiences and travels in Grand Junction and Western Colorado in the 1950’s. He talks about his arrival in Grand Junction from Boston, meeting H. Blake Manuel of Manuel’s Department Store, and his friendship with Al Look of the Sentinel. He describes trips that he and his wife took with Look and his wife around the Western...
Format:
Voice Recording
In the second of nine recordings, John Goulet, a former advertising salesman with the Daily Sentinel newspaper, relates his experiences and travels in Grand Junction and Western Colorado in the 1950’s and 1960’s. He talks about playing the piano and touring the Western Slope with the Star Lighters, an orchestra from Grand Junction. He plays the piano piece, “Back in Your Own Backyard” and speaks about arranging music for other performers....
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Voice Recording
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 CCC in Mesa County.
This...
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Voice Recording
Frank Simonetti Sr. talks about his arrival in the United States from southern Italy in 1914 and his eventual arrival in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1918, where he began a long career with the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. He remembers a fire that burnt down the D&RG icehouse, the railroad shop strike in 1922, and working a seven-day work week for thirty years. He recalls different kinds of locomotives. Angela Simonetti recalls growing up in the...
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Voice Recording
Frank Simonetti Jr. talks about the arrival of his Italian immigrant parents in Grand Junction, Colorado, about his school days at the Whitman and St. Joseph’s School, and about the history of the downtown area. He speaks about working for the Citizens Finance Company for many years and about Melvin “Pappy” Due, a founding member and longtime president of the company. He describes what it was like to work for a financing and insurance company...
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Voice Recording
Clarence Prinster talks about his father’s meat market and grocery store in La Junta, and about the Prinster brothers moving to Grand Junction in the 1920’s to start a grocery store at their father’s urging. He talks about the founding of the first City Market grocery store at 400 Main Street in 1922, the Prinster’s purchase of the store in 1924, and renovations made. He speaks about the lard rendering business housed first in a shed behind...
Format:
Voice Recording
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 Rimrock Road: A Memorial,...
Format:
Compound
In a two-part interview carried out over two days, Howard Shults talks about his experiences as a rancher and auctioneer on Colorado’s Western Slope. In part one, he talks about the arrival of his parents in Mesa County in 1903, their teaching careers at Pear Park and in Fruita, and his father’s move to a career as an auctioneer. He speaks about his childhood in Grand Junction and Collbran, his graduation from Grand Junction High School in 1923,...
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Voice Recording
William Hartman talks about his early life in South Dakota and Nebraska, and about his higher education. He speaks about his career in journalism, working at the Sterling Advocate in Sterling, Colorado, and about teaching journalism at Mesa College. He remembers working with students on the Criterion, the student newspaper. He recalls the staff and faculty members of early Mesa College, and the college’s first building, which was located downtown....
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Voice Recording
David Sundal discusses in great detail the life of famous author Dalton Trumbo of Grand Junction, Colorado, based in large part on Sundal’s conversations with the author. Sundal describes the local community’s relationships with Trumbo, reactions to Trumbo’s book Eclipse, portrayals of prominent businessman William Moyer and Daily Sentinel editor Walter Walker in the book, and Trumbo’s life and career after leaving Mesa County. He talks about...
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Voice Recording
Nancy (Renwick) Saxton and her daughter, Nancy Margaret "Peggy" Saxton, discuss Nancy's career as a female letter carrier in the Grand Valley, and the farming history of their family in both Appleton and the Hunter District. 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
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...
