Fruit growers
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Edith Strain talks about her childhood in Iowa and about coming to Clifton, Colorado with her family to farm in 1909. She recounts Clifton’s agricultural past and the history of its town center, especially in regard to schools, churches, and businesses. She speaks about her husband Robert Strain and his work as a farmer, mechanic, and service station owner. She remembers owning a restaurant next door to his service station in Clifton. She talks...
Format:
Voice Recording
Edithe Pryor discusses her upbringing on a farm in Palisade, Colorado in the early Twentieth century as the daughter of a Welsh immigrant father, and the agricultural history of Palisade, Clifton and the east end of the Grand Valley. She also talks about irrigating land, her mother’s homemaking and recipes for apple deserts, using an old wood-fired cook stove, and getting drinking water from an irrigation ditch. The interview was conducted by the...
Format:
Compound
Thomas Campbell of Clifton talks about the roads, towns, farms, ranches and geography of places throughout Mesa County, Colorado. He speaks about the Molina flour mill in the town of Molina and about the history of local agriculture. He talks about the history of Clifton, its settlement, and churches. He describes early agriculture and methods of clearing the land for crops. He remembers aspects of peach, pear and apple growing, including pests and...
Format:
Compound
Thelma Moore talks about her youth on a fruit farm in Pear Park, life in early Grand Junction, her involvement in 4-H clubs, the Locust Ranch fruit growing operation in Clifton, and the other members of the Kettle family to settle in that area. She discusses her career as a seamstress and work making drapes, county extension work with quilters, craft competitions at the Mesa County Fair, and chautauquas and variety shows. She also goes into her life...
Format:
Voice Recording
Edith Patton talks about her life in Clifton, Colorado, including her job as a “traveling secretary” for School District 51, working in her mother’s restaurant, baking pies, making and delivering food to farm laborers, and packing fruit. She also discusses her father’s role as one of the original members of the Mesa County Planning Department, and his Mobile gas station on F Road. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History...
Format:
Voice Recording
Harold Zimmerman describes packing fruit during harvest time in the Clifton area, spraying for codling moths, the end of early apple farming in the valley, the train of wagons used to haul fruit on the Midland Trail at harvest time and about a flash flood that devastated Cross Orchards and destroyed 31 Road. He also talks about his career in bookkeeping for Mesa County Valley School District 51 and other organizations, the run on local banks during...
Format:
Compound
Oscar Jaynes discusses childhood memories of Clifton, Colorado, including life on his family’s homestead, a time he climbed inside a giant tire and rolled down a desert hill, and a boxing match at school with future Colorado Supreme Court justice Jim Groves. He then relates tales of traveling the country on freight cars trying to find work during the Great Depression. Oscar also talks a great deal about the fruit business, specifically the peach...
Format:
Voice Recording
C.H. Buttolph describes his time working in Cross Orchards and the process of caring for a large orchard of pear trees. C.H. also describes his journey from Michigan to Colorado, and the frustration felt by fruit growers trying to exterminate the codling moth. 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
Madge Davis discusses her teenage years in the 1910’s working on the Cross Ranch in Mesa County, thinning peaches and packing peaches with her mom and dad. She describes fruit growing operations on the farm. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of the Mesa County Public Library and the Museum of Western Colorado.
