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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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Helen and Marion Bowman describe the early days of Mesa County: including school life and the rivalry between Grand Junction and Fruita High Schools, the social scene, and the D&RG Railroad. 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, Mike and Ida Peep discuss their family’s Italian heritage, the history of their pioneer family in Fruita, and life as young people in Western Colorado. 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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Members of Fruita Union High School’s graduating class of 1927 reminisce about their school days, lives and careers upon the occasion of their fiftieth class reunion. 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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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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Mesa County resident Vernon McCoy discusses moving to the Fruita, Colorado area from Iowa in 1911, working for the Uintah Railroad and the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, his stint overseas in the Army during World War I, and his three children. 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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Rufus Hirons talks about his education in Grand Junction schools, and about teachers and school district employees (including his father, Walter Hirons). He also touches on the Fruita to Grand Junction Interurban line, sheep ranching with his grandfather, and local Italian Americans. 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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Emma Nagel discusses her family’s dairy business in rural Mesa County, Colorado, the butter making process, storing and selling butter, and changes brought to the home-butter business after the establishment of a local creamery. She also talks about participating in Mesa County Fairs, family activities, homemaking with her mother, an icehouse her father constructed, home luncheon visits, Fruita events, people and history, and her father’s job...
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Lester Starr talks about going to swim in the Colorado River without adult supervision at five years old, about frequent fist fights with a fellow student on the way to school, and about other aspects of his early childhood near Fruita, Colorado. He also discusses raising apples for cider, about the role the Interurban played as transportation for both produce and people in the Grand Valley, and about the warming of winters over the course of his...
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Bertha Schlegel discusses growing up in Loma, Colorado and helping her family raise beets for Holly Sugar, and making sauerkraut, pickled apples, pickled watermelon and other ethnic food with her mother, who was a German immigrant from Russia. She also remembers her education and school activities throughout her childhood, including field days at the Fruita Central School and Grand Junction High School. She talks about obtaining a teaching degree,...
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Marjorie Thomas describes her childhood on a homestead in the New Liberty area of Mesa County, Colorado. She talks about the difficulty of getting across the Big Salt Wash near Fruita when it flooded. She discusses Sunday school and religious services that existed in the community for twenty-one years, until the lack of leadership caused people to drive to Loma for church. She speaks about the history of the New Liberty School and about social clubs...
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Lou Guccini describes growing up in Loma, Colorado, his father’s sheepranching business, speaking Italian in the home, and learning English in school. He remembers loving baseball and playing on town baseball teams with his brothers against the town teams of Hotchkiss, Rhone, Fruita, Appleton, and other locales. He describes how he became a sugar beet farmer with the help of his father-in-law, Thomas Wayne Beede. He recalls German prisoners of war...
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Cordelia Files talks about the history of her family as early homesteaders in Mesa County, Colorado. She remembers life in Fruita in the early Twentieth century. She recalls working on a ranch near De Beque for her first job at the age of fifteen. She speaks about her life as a teacher instructing all eight grades in a one-room school house, about different episodes from her career in education (including the time a cat came to school), and about...
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Sisters Dorothy (Raber) Beard and Marjorie (Raber) Likes talk about the history of their family in Fruita, Colorado. They speak about Will Minor, the goat herder and self-educated photographer, author, and amateur lepidopterist who discovered the butterfly Papilio Indra Minori on the Colorado National Monument. They discuss homesteads that the Beard family owned in the canyons that comprise the current day McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area....
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In this recording, Alta Nolan reads the memoirs of Cordelia Files. Files talks about the history of her parents and maternal grandparents who homesteaded in the Fruita, Colorado area in the 1890’s. She describes the fruit growing operation on the homestead. She recounts seeing the Ute people and Chipeta when they came in the fall to dry fruit from the orchard. She remembers early Fruita, with its dirt streets and plank sidewalks. She speaks about...
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Richard Williams talks about his family’s arrival in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1908. He speaks about his father’s purchase of the Independent Abstract Company and about his own involvement with several abstract and title companies in town. He discusses the formation of the Grand Junction Lions Club, the Grand Junction Lions Club Carnival, and the club’s fundraising for Grand Junction Junior College and other local causes. He speaks about his...
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Bill Rump talks about his father Charlie Rump and his roll in developing the Redlands in Mesa County, Colorado as a member of the Redlands Company and the Redlands Water and Power Company. He recounts the efforts of those companies in creating orchards and other agricultural enterprises on the Redlands. He speaks about the Redlands School, roads, sports, youth activities, and other aspects of life on the Redlands and in Grand Junction. He remembers...
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Anna Underwood talks about her childhood in rural Las Animas County, Colorado, including her participation in a literary society to which she belonged. She also talks about ranching sheep with her husband between New Castle and Glenwood Springs. 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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Pearl Porter discusses the history of her father’s optometry practice in Grand Junction, her grade school education, and other aspects of her upbringing in early Twentieth century 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.