Mesa County Oral History Project
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Voice Recording
Helen and Marion Bowman discuss Marion Bowman’s father, George Bowman, founder of Palisade National Bank, United Fruit Growers Association, and the inventor of the Bowman picking sack. They also discuss the history of fruit growing in Palisade, 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
Al Look discusses his days spent in the Durango, Colorado area, including his time as a homesteader near Dove Creek, his exploration of Mesa Verde’s Anasazi ruins, and his job as an advertising agent for the Durango Herald newspaper. He also talks about his knowledge of the Durango Silverton Railroad. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums...
Format:
Voice Recording
Gertrude Rader talks about the New Deal and its effect on her farm in Loma, Colorado. She then describes at length the migration of Ute tribal members from the Ouray/Silverton area to Eastern Utah every fall in the early Twentieth century, their camping near Rader's childhood home in Kannah Creek, and her observations of the Ute people. She also discusses her family's pioneer history in the Whitewater/Kannah Creek area, her time teaching in rural...
Format:
Voice Recording
Mary Plaisted talks about growing up in the Milldale area around the sugar beet factory in Grand Junction, Colorado, and about the brothels and red-light district nearby. She describes having to beg and take odd cleaning and sewing jobs to support she and her children, and the kind strangers that helped her. She mentions the many places she lived in Grand Junction, the floods common in the Riverside neighborhood, and living in a close-knit Italian...
Format:
Compound
Charles “Frank” Moore discusses his participation in U.S. Government surveys in Western Utah, his interactions with Navajo Indians, and his career in the U.S. Grazing Service. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Format:
Voice Recording
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.
Format:
Voice Recording
Bernice Carney tells the story of her German immigrant parents and their homesteading life in Kansas and Collbran, Colorado. She also discusses her life growing up on a ranch, teaching in Glade Park, and her nurse’s training. 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
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.
Format:
Voice Recording
Elizabeth Angus talks about teaching in Atchee, Colorado, now a ghost town, in the early 1920’s. She remembers the life and history of the company towns that served the Uintah Railway, a gilsonite mining enterprise. She speaks about the Ute people who would visit the general store in Mack, Colorado. She describes certain employees of the Uintah. She talks about Baxter Pass and the environment of the Bookcliffs. The interview was conducted by the...
Format:
Compound
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...
Format:
Compound
Laura Foster discusses John “Peg-leg” Foster and his involvement in Telluride mining strikes, and her life as a pioneer woman in the Paradox Valley. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Format:
Compound
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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Compound
Rose and Morgan Goss discuss the early settlement of Grand Junction and Fruita, Colorado, and agricultural life in the Appleton area. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Format:
Voice Recording
Gertrude Rader discusses her time spent teaching in Loma, Colorado in the early 1900s. She talks about the role of the sugar beet company as landowner and employer in the area. She includes details about the schools, businesses, and churches that existed in Loma, her involvement starting Mesa County’s first hot school lunch program, and her experiences attending an annual fish fry in Horsethief Canyon. Gertrude also shares memories about the many...
Format:
Voice Recording
Lucille Mahannah, an early education and civic leader in Mesa County, describes her early life on the Hunter Ranch, a ranch established by her family in what later became the Hunter District. She also talks about her career in education as a teacher and as the Mesa County Superintendent of Schools. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Note:...
Format:
Voice Recording
Six radio plays written by Wilson Rockwell, based in part on short histories he wrote for his book Sunset Slope, and broadcast in the Grand Junction area on KREX in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. The programs include: Episode 17 – The Double Cross (0:00), Episode 18 – The Black Mesa Gunfight (13:49), Episode 19 – The Monument Creek Killings (27:49), Episode 20 – The White River Canyon Indian Fight (40:49), Episode 21 – The Beaver Creek...
Format:
Voice Recording
Kenneth Thompson describes his life growing up on a farm on Glade Park, Colorado during the early 1900s. Kenneth also discusses the working conditions while employed for the National Park Service during the early days of the Colorado National Monument, the slow pace of life and the social aspects of living on Glade Park, hunting and killing a bear, and stories of the Indians who lived in Mesa County. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County...
Format:
Compound
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...
Format:
Compound
In a three part interview with Mesa County Oral History Project folklorist Elain Thatcher, George Watts talks about his life and shares poetry, songs and stories. In part one, he talks about his childhood in Hayden, Colorado, the early death of his father, and growing up on a 200 acre farm. He shares several poems and stories, including some tall tales. He remembers the people of Hayden.
In part two, he speaks about the importance of song during...
Format:
Voice Recording
During a speech to the Fruitvale Lions Club of Mesa County, Colorado, Al Look discourses on all manner of subjects related to Colorado History, including the geologic history of the Grand Mesa and Grand Valley, the lack of rat species native to Western Colorado and Eastern Utah, Ute and American Indian History, and dinosaurs. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County...
