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Margaret Snook describes the voyage to the United States from her native Scotland in 1910, and life in the Van Houten mining camp near Raton, Colorado. She and her daughter Ida May (Snook) Waggoner talk about William T. and Clara P. Snook, and their establishment of a homestead in what became known as Snooks Bottom. Margaret Snook discusses life in Craig and Axel, Colorado, where she and her husband Guy Snook worked supplying homesteaders with various...
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Edward Schultz talks about his childhood in a German settlement in Russia and the family’s subsequent flight from the country in the face of persecution against Germans. He remembers immigrant and family life in a German community in Kansas, where they settled after immigrating to the United States. He discusses his brief career as a machinist for the railroad in Kansas. He recalls leaving home at sixteen and meeting his future wife in Mack, Colorado,...
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Elsie Cockrell talks about her life in the mining town of Idaho Springs, about her career as a beautician and later a teacher, and about the life of her parents as the children of German immigrants and farmers. 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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In a three-part interview conducted over three days, Luisa Landini describes her childhood in Montale, Italy and her life after immigrating to the United States. In part one, she talks about life in Italy, working on a farm and in the fields, and her immigration to the United States via ship at the age of twenty-two. She talks about coming to America to marry Pete Landini and her homesickness for Italy when she arrived. She speaks about the family’s...
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Harold Kissell talks about being born in a coal camp near New Castle, Colorado, his career working as a coal miner and foreman in Cameo, and his father’s career as a coal miner for the Colorado Fuel and Iron company. He tells the story of the Vulcan Mine and the mine explosions that killed many men. He recounts the superstition that women inside a mine brought bad luck. He speaks of the diverse workforce in local coal mines, including African-Americans...
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In an event at the Museums of Western Colorado, Sylvia Ruland lectures about the Ludlow Massacre: the killing of striking mine workers and their families, including women and children, by the Colorado National Guard and hired strike breakers on April 20, 1914. She describes the poor working conditions for coal miners and the mistreatment of immigrants that led to a coal strike in Colorado in 1913-14. She talks about the men who owned mining interests...
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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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Earl Land talks about the arrival of his German parents in the United States, their lives in Russia prior to relocating, and their lives in the United States after immigrating. He recalls his early life in Colorado and the West and his education as a mining engineer. He remembers his service as a 2nd Lieutenant in an aviation engineer battalion in the US Army during World War II. He speaks in general about the history of Germans from Russia in the...
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Adrienne Kaga talks about her childhood growing up in Chicago and her early career as a principal in a private equity fund. She discusses the family histories of her mother, who was Chinese-American, and her father, who was Japanese-American, and their lives in the Pacific Northwest. She also talks in detail about the internment of her father’s family in a Japanese relocation center during World War II, about life, school and work at the camp, the...
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Artist Cecilia Cardman talks about her struggles with the English language and her experience in public schools as a young immigrant from Italy, and about her higher education in both Italy and in Boulder at the University of Colorado. She speaks about teaching art at early Mesa College and what the college was like at that time. She describes the “topnotch” teachers she had at Grand Junction High School. She discusses leaving her teaching career...
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Emma Nagel talks in detail about Christmas programs held at the Highpoint School near Fruita, Colorado and about Christmas traditions at home when she was a child. She also discusses her busy life as a homemaker, with information on butchering animals, grinding wheat and making bread, sewing and caring for clothes, caring for chickens and milking the cow. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa...
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Harriet “Muzz” Northrop Webster Johnson recalls growing up in Grand Junction, Colorado and discusses the schools she attended, her father’s job at the Holly Sugar Company, her jobs after high school, her marriages, and the history of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church. She also talks about starting over as a 58-year-old widower, when she lived and worked as a house mother at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind. The interview was conducted...
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Weston and Nellie Massey discuss their family’s involvement in the earliest days of Gateway, Colorado. The couple also touch on the presence of Indians in the Mesa County area, the system of delivering mail, social activities, cattle herding and cattle thieving, Uranium mining and mining equipment in the Gateway area, and methods of travel via trails and mapped out routes. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
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This interview features Joe Peep, an early Fruita farmer, homesteader, and horse enthusiast. He also worked as a cowboy on Albert Turner’s ranch, and won the horse riding competition at Fruita’s Cowpuncher’s 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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Marie Young talks about discrimination that her German American family faced during World Wars I and II. She also talks about her many tasks as a homemaker on a ranch, about helping with the cattle, and doing other ranch work. 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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Fritz Becker, a former officer in the Grand Junction Police Department, discusses crime in Grand Junction, including: murders, the clean-up of prostitution and vice on Colorado Avenue, gambling houses and bootlegging. 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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Susie Mendicelli talks about the life of her Italian-American family in Grand Junction, Colorado, the Mendicelli Bakery, canning and preserving at home, and making sausage and head cheese. She also discusses other Italian-American people and businesses, the history of Grand Junction and the changes she saw in town, and the history of Pitkin Avenue. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
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Siblings Ella O'Brien and Earl Foster talk about the history of their pioneer family in the Paradox Valley area of Montrose County, Colorado, about living near and working in the mines, about their father John "Peg-leg" Foster and his involvement with labor issues in Telluride's mines, and the murder of Henry "Indian Henry" Huff by their stepfather John Keski. They also discuss the discrimination that Utes and other Native Americans faced from whites...
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Walter Flasche talks about his birth in Nebraska and moving to De Beque, Colorado with his parents via covered wagon around 1908. He remembers life in the Roan Creek area, severe drought and heavy snows. He recalls battles between cattle ranchers and sheep ranchers in the area. He speaks about his work as a logger and his work in the nascent oil shale industry. He describes how hard the life of a rancher and oil shale worker was, and how his wife...
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Nevada Burford discusses the history of her pioneering parents, who came to Grand Junction in 1882 and homesteaded in Kannah Creek. She also talks about the Handy Chapel and Grand Junction’s early African-American community. 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. *Transcript for Tape 2 of 4 only.