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Showing 1 - 7 of 7 , query time: 0.02s
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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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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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Carl Swanson talks about his early life and school days near Loma, Colorado, where his family settled and farmed. He recalls working for the Mesa County Road Department for 36 years, beginning in 1941, and becoming a foreman in 1953. He remembers road damage caused by mudslides on Douglas Pass that took two weeks to repair. He recalls the gilsonite mining boom and local coal mining. He speaks about clearing irrigation ditches and serving on the board...
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Ann Stokes talks about her parents' arrival in the United States and her childhood in Palisade, Colorado. She recalls her education in the Palisade School. She describes smudging to help prevent frost damage in her family’s peach orchards on East Orchard Mesa. She speaks about working in the Stokes Coal Mine with her husband, about his bouts with pneumonia, and the effects from an accident when he was hit by a bus. The interview was conducted by...
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Ann Stokes talks about homesteading on East Orchard Mesa after her family moved to Mesa County, Colorado in 1904. She remembers her father working on the “fancy” masonry for the Grand Junction train station. She recalls living in a one-room log cabin and sharing that cabin with a horse for an evening. She speaks about the development of irrigation on East Orchard Mesa and her father’s peach orchard. She describes walking with her siblings four...
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Ann Stokes talks about her father-in-law Walter Stokes and his involvement in Nineteenth century labor strife as a union coal miner in Colorado. She describes his establishment of the Stokes Mine after he moved to Mesa County and describes the mine’s operations. She speaks about early phone service in Palisade. She discusses her mom’s job as a nurse in rural areas, which included tasks like housecleaning, cooking, and sewing baby clothes for new...