Mesa County Libraries
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Voice Recording
Dudley Mitchell talks about his jobs as car distributor, bill clerk and chief clerk for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. He also discusses Grand Junction’s local mines and mining-related railroads. 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
Bill Wallace talks about his family's pioneer ranching history in Cisco, Utah, about taking cattle by train to Kansas City, and about different ranches and people of Grand County, Utah. He also discusses petrified turtles that were discovered in the building of I-70, and Native American artifacts and sites such as the Owl Rock near the old Turner Ranch. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County...
Format:
Voice Recording
Ervin Ormsbee talks about the history of cherry growing in the Grand Valley. Dick Williams speaks about the history of fruit growing, canneries, and agribusiness in 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.
Format:
Voice Recording
Vern Wood discusses his life as an early Mesa County resident, homesteader in Pinon Mesa, and cattle rancher on Glade Park. Wood and his wife Bernice also discuss the building of the Serpent’s Trail on the Colorado National Monument, life at local schools, country dances on Glade Park, transportation methods, and murder scandals that occurred around Glade Park. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
Format:
Voice Recording
Abandoned buildings, mine camps, and towns, oh my! Librarian Ike shares the secret past of Mesa County Ghost Towns. Librarian Noel discusses the re-initiation of the Oral History Project, a partnership with the Museums of Western Colorado, and the rich local history available at Mesa County Libraries!
Format:
Voice Recording
Joseph John Egger discusses his family’s history in Mesa County, and Mesa County agriculture in the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries. 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
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...
Format:
Compound
Wayne Aspinall describes his boyhood in Palisade, Colorado, his education at Mt. Lincoln School and the University of Denver, and his career as a schoolteacher, fruit farmer, lawyer, and U.S. Congressman. 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
Dick Lloyd talks about cattle ranching in Western Colorado both before and after the Taylor Grazing Act, about moving cattle around to different grazing areas in Colorado, and about shipping them to Denver by rail via the De Beque Stockyard. He speaks about training horses and using horses to herd cattle. Bertha Lloyd discusses her courtship with Dick, their chivaree and their marriage. The two of them describe homesteading in a log cabin on the Grand...
Format:
Voice Recording
Frosty Tilton describes his career as a banker in Palisade and Grand Junction, Colorado. He talks about bank closures and runs on banks during the Great Depression, the economic impact of the peach industry, and the history of local fruit grower cooperatives. 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.
*Photo...
Format:
Voice Recording
Sisters Anna McGinley and Mae (McGinley) Plunkett discuss the pioneering history of their families in Fruita during the late Nineteenth century and early Twentieth century. 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
Louis Pavetti and Virgil Van Dyke talk about the origins of the Mesa County Sheriff Posse, its mission, and about search and rescue missions in which they assisted local authorities. They also talk about the Posse’s rodeo riding and roping programs for youth, “cowboy polo”, the Colorado Stampede (a professional rodeo put on by the Posse), and about trail riding and wild horses. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project,...
Format:
Compound
Dorothy Tindall talks about the early days of Whitewater, Colorado as a rail center for cattle and stock. She speaks about the administrative organization of schools prior to the consolidation of Mesa County School District 51, her development of Mesa County’s first school hot lunch program at the Star School, games kids played at recess, about her work educating the children of migrant laborers who lived in La Colonia, and her role in the development...
Format:
Compound
Glenn McFall talks about his various jobs around Mesa County and about witnessing the unveiling of Christo’s Valley Curtain installation in Rifle Gap. He also discusses fishing and battling snow storms on the Grand Mesa, the deer population around Mesa County, his experiences during childhood growing up in Clifton, the old Midland Trail automobile route, drinking and making bootleg whiskey, Italian-Americans making bootleg wine, the Book Cliff Railway,...
Format:
Voice Recording
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...
Format:
Voice Recording
Eva Wood Leslie discusses her family’s farm life on Pinon Mesa, Colorado, sheep farming, chores done around the home, and school teaching in Mesa County. 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:
Compound
Mary Cox talks about her education at the Bryant School and elsewhere in Grand Junction, about corsets and other aspects of school fashion, the history of the Riverside Neighborhood, attending community dances and Glenwood Springs’ Strawberry Days, and boys swimming in the Colorado River. She also discusses old downtown businesses, going to movies at the Majestic Theater, a brothel that advertised at the Mesa County Fairgrounds during a baseball...
Format:
Voice Recording
Edithe Pryor discusses her upbringing on a farm in Palisade, Colorado in the early Twentieth century as the daughter of a Welsh immigrant father, and the agricultural history of Palisade, Clifton and the east end of the Grand Valley. She also talks about irrigating land, her mother’s homemaking and recipes for apple deserts, using an old wood-fired cook stove, and getting drinking water from an irrigation ditch. The interview was conducted by the...
Format:
Voice Recording
Eugene Perry talks about his childhood in Grand Junction’s Riverside neighborhood. He speaks about working for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad from the time he was thirteen years old, his career building track as a section foreman, and the history of D&RG in Grand Junction. He discusses landmarks such as Bowman’s slaughterhouse, the Pest House, and the town’s ice houses. He reminisces about a youth curfew that was in place in Grand Junction...
Format:
Voice Recording
In an interview recorded November 8, 1977, Fred Ames and his wife Emma Lillian (Stocks) Ames discuss the history of Sinbad Valley and its settlement by his family and others.
In second and third interviews recorded on November 15 and December 3, 1977 (transcript only*), Fred Ames talks about the McCarty Gang, their stomping grounds in Sinbad Valley and nearby Eastern Utah, and about meeting Tom McCarty as a child. He discusses homesteading and...
