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Helen Young discusses the early history of Collbran and 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.
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Lawrence Ryan talks about the history of livery service in Plateau Valley, with an emphasis on the dairy and mail delivery services conducted by his father using horse-drawn carriages. The interview was conducted by the Collbran Historical Society in conjunction with the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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Dr. Henry “H.H.” Zeigel and Eleanor Harris describe their experiences founding and operating the Plateau Valley Hospital in Collbran, Colorado. 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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Loudene Humeston talks about her teaching career in the Collbran School, and about the fire that took the top floor off of the original building. She also discusses town dances, teaching Sunday school at the Collbran Congregational Church, the history of town buildings, and aspects of Plateau Valley history. This 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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In a presentation of the Mesa County Historical Society, residents of Plateau Valley speak about the history of Collbran and the surrounding area. Helen Young talks about early settlers, Julia Harris and Harriet Walck talk about early schools, and Helen Spence talks about the early cattle industry. The program closes with a musical performance by the Crystal Crackers. This recording is provided by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
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W.J. Pray discusses the history of Collbran and Plateau Valley, Colorado, including ranching and roads. He also talks about box lunches and how they worked as a social and dating vehicle for men and women. 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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Dorothy Evans discusses growing up in Collbran, Colorado and receiving her business degree from the Hoel-Ross Business College in Grand Junction. She describes the social life in Grand Junction in and around Main Street, and recalls details about the prominent members of Mesa County, railroad workers, local business owners, and characters who lived and worked in the area. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
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Sara Kruh talks about growing up near Collbran and in Grand Junction, Colorado, and about her schooling. She also discusses teaching in the Molina School on the Grand Mesa and her teaching career, her role in the origins of the Mesa County Teachers Federal Credit Union, and high button shoes. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western...
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Ina Dyer discusses life as a schoolteacher in Mesa, Collbran, Fruitvale, and Grand Junction, Colorado, including methods of punishing students, teacher’s pay, and her relationships with fellow teachers in the area. 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. *Photograph from 1943 Grand Junction High School...
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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.
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Reuben A. Pitts talks about wars between cattle and sheep ranchers, about rural school life in Plateau Valley, Colorado, and about the Big Creek Reservoir flood. He also discusses his job as a typesetter for his father’s newspaper, The Plateau Valley Voice, in Collbran. 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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Don Mackendrick, Professor Emeritus of history from Colorado Mesa University, talks about the history of the Teller Institute, or Indian School, of Grand Junction, Colorado during a presentation to the Plateau Valley Historical Society in Collbran, Colorado. He talks about abuses against Indian students, about the school’s philosophy and directives, and about ways in which the school was largely a failed educational venture. This recording is made...
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During episodes of the radio show Pioneer Reviews, which aired on KFXJ in the 1960’s (now KREX), Mesa County farm agent and host Dick Woodfin speaks with several Western Slope residents about pioneer history. Interviewees include farmer Arthur Lewis of Cedaredge, farmer Herbert Ray Milholland of Molina, ranch hand Fred Wallace of Collbran, Grady Pruett of Collbran, farmer Ray Griffith of Palisade, Fred and Ruth Carlson of Montrose, George Foy of...
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Howard Shults talks about life growing up in Collbran, Colorado in the early Twentieth century, including farming, local schools and his father’s teaching career in “trouble” schools, local people, and his juvenile hijinks. He also discusses breaking horses, “leaded horses” exposed to the pesticide lead arsenic, wild horses, raising and driving hogs from Collbran to De Beque, and winning the Ft. Logan Military Training School boxing championship....
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A Lions Club, based in the Orchard Mesa area of Mesa County, which has served the population of Orchard Mesa and the county since its incorporation in 1971. Founding members include Mesa County Oral History interviewee Dale Luke. In order to fund their charities, they worked the concession stand at the Mesa County Fairgrounds (then Uranium Downs) with the Fruitvale and Redlands Lions (collectively known as the Tri-Lions) during the 1980’s. They...
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Jessie Brisbin talks about her early life in Kansas, living in a sod house, working on the farm, attending school, dancing, and making clothes from flour sacks. She speaks about country life and community there. She describes her marriage at the age of eighteen, moving to Nebraska in 1907, and moving again to Colorado by covered wagon in 1913. She recalls her life in Collbran and her husband’s job in a coal mine. She remembers living on various...
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She was born in Park City, Utah and came to Mesa County, Colorado in 1906, when she was one. The family lived for a time on a ranch on Salt Creek twenty miles from Collbran, then moved to Grand Junction, Colorado around the time Mary turned six. She graduated from Grand Junction High School in 1923. During her first marriage, she lived in Death Valley with her husband, who was engaged in gold mining there. She later married Edwin A. Cox and together...
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Vesta Fitzpatrick talks about her mother’s skill as a seemstress and how she made the family’s clothes. She remembers family life and entertainment during her youth, her parents reciting poems, and her father’s storytelling abilities. She recalls taking care of the family from a young age after her mother became ill. She speaks about seeing Buffalo Bill’s wild West show in Lincoln Park and going to chautauquas in Collbran. She remembers the...
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In a two-part interview carried out over two days, Howard Shults talks about his experiences as a rancher and auctioneer on Colorado’s Western Slope. In part one, he talks about the arrival of his parents in Mesa County in 1903, their teaching careers at Pear Park and in Fruita, and his father’s move to a career as an auctioneer. He speaks about his childhood in Grand Junction and Collbran, his graduation from Grand Junction High School in 1923,...
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In a letter read aloud to his niece, Marion Echternach talks about the history of his immigrant family in the United States, including their settlement in Oklahoma in 1880. He speaks about his boyhood in Peckham, Oklahoma. He discusses the “land boom” in Palisade, Colorado at the beginning of the Twentieth century and his family’s role in settling the area. He remembers visiting his brother Bill, an employee at the Liberty Bell Mine near Telluride....