Grand Junction, Mesa County, Colorado
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Dudley Mitchell discusses aspects of early Mesa County life, with an emphasis on the variety of jobs he worked for the railroad. He also discusses the change from locomotive steam engines to diesel engines, how trains were built, the way railroads advertised, and the changes railroads went through over the years. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado...
Format:
Voice Recording
Dudley Mitchell discusses politicians involved in the early days of the railroad, the development of railroad labor laws, railroad wages, and the Ku Klux Klan in Grand Junction and Colorado. 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
Warren Kiefer talks about his career as a fireman and engineer on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, and working the line between Grand Junction, Colorado and Salt Lake City. He gives specifics about the technical aspects of the fireman position on a steam locomotive. He speaks about the relationship between the fireman and the engineer, and tells stories about comical and contentious interactions between different workers. He explains the purpose...
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Voice Recording
J.W. Latham describes his career of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad near Grand Junction, Colorado, including the run from Grand Junction to Minturn, his work as fireman, and different steam engines used. He also talks about the pack of grey wolves that lived in the Bookcliffs near De Beque in the early 1920’s, and touches on the sheep and cattlemen wars. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa...
Format:
Compound
Harry Sylvester Godby discusses his time spent working for and traveling with the Robinson Brothers Circus before moving to Grand Junction, Colorado. Harry also talks about his itinerant childhood moving from place to place, and the wide variety of jobs he worked throughout his life, including construction, mining, blacksmithing and potato farming, and how he was affected by the Great Depression. He shares his discovery of a large pile of boxes with...
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Voice Recording
Vesta Fitzpatrick speaks about a railroad accident that occurred west of the town of New Castle, Colorado around 1900. She talks about her father, a Union Civil War veteran. She discusses poetry and short stories that she wrote about her youth. She remembers working in a rooming house in Uravan for workers from Oakridge, Tennessee during secretive mining for the first atomic bomb, and receiving a letter of appreciation for her work after the first...
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Article
Carl Ramunno recounts his life and discusses coaching wrestling for Steamboat Springs High School.
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Voice Recording
Alfred Alvine “Al” Look tells about his childhood growing up in Kansas. He talks about the theater productions his school put on and his role in those. He describes his education in journalism at the University of Nebraska, publishing a magazine called Ah Go On, and working in a store to help pay his tuition. He also talks about his contributions to the Mesa College library (now Colorado Mesa University). The interview was conducted by the Mesa...
Format:
Compound
During a panel discussion of the Mesa County Historical Society, Kenneth Baird discusses the settlement and incorporation of Grand Junction, the creation of the Grand Junction Town Company, early city government, town building, and early municipal ordinances. Professor Don Mackendrick talks about James W. Bucklin’s draft of a new city charter in 1910, which established a commission form of government. He mentions progressive reforms that put the...
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...
