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Anna Foster describes the history of her family, her life as a school teacher, and the history of the town of Mesa, 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.
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Charles H. Buttolph discusses the early fruit growing industry in Mesa County, and the challenges it faced. 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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Gladys Gross, who grew up on an apple farm at the intersection of North Avenue and 12th Street, talks about her father’s residential development of their farm land. She discusses old businesses in town, including the icehouses utilized by the railroad near Third Street and how they burned down. She also talks about the desperation and hunger of people during the Great Depression, her work with New Deal programs, the route of the Little Book Cliff...
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Helen and Marion Bowman discuss Marion Bowman’s father, George Bowman, founder of the Palisades National Bank, United Fruit Growers Association, and the inventor of the Fruit Gathering Bag (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...
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Madge Davis discusses her teenage years in the 1910’s working on the Cross Ranch in Mesa County, thinning peaches and packing peaches with her mom and dad. She describes fruit growing operations on the farm. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of the Mesa County Public Library and the Museum of Western Colorado.
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Marie (Becker) Young talks about her experience living in Germany for a year, and the early days of fruit farming in Mesa County, Colorado. Marie also discusses the early history of Orchard Mesa, her social and work life as a teenager, the business of cattle driving and roundups with her husband in Utah, and her life as a homemaker. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the...
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Marie Nowlan discusses the history of her family in Grand Junction, including her father’s employment as a conductor for the Interurban route, her brother Joey’s involvement as a player for and manager of the Grand Junction Baseball Team, and her memories of the Mesa County Fair. 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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Richard Williams talks about his family’s arrival in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1908. He speaks about his father’s purchase of the Independent Abstract Company and about his own involvement with several abstract and title companies in town. He discusses the formation of the Grand Junction Lions Club, the Grand Junction Lions Club Carnival, and the club’s fundraising for Grand Junction Junior College and other local causes. He speaks about his...
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Virgil Hickman and his wife discuss their lives growing up around Mesa County. Virgil’s grandfather began as a miner in Palisade and Cameo, Colorado, and his family turned to fruit farming. Hickman describes planting the first fruit orchard on East Orchard Mesa, the labor involved with peach growing, and the development of the area. He touches on the businesses, social scene, and Christmas celebrations in Palisade during the early 1900s. The interview...
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Bill Rump talks about his father Charlie Rump and his roll in developing the Redlands in Mesa County, Colorado as a member of the Redlands Company and the Redlands Water and Power Company. He recounts the efforts of those companies in creating orchards and other agricultural enterprises on the Redlands. He speaks about the Redlands School, roads, sports, youth activities, and other aspects of life on the Redlands and in Grand Junction. He remembers...
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To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. Authors of the plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Living History in...
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To mark the centennial celebration of the town of Grand Junction, Colorado in 1981, the Mesa County Oral History Project wrote and recorded several radio plays about local history. Beginning on September 26, 1981, local radio stations KSTR, KREX-AM, KREX-FM, and KMSA broadcast the plays. Authors of the plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Fruit, Bugs and Mother...
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Albert Rood describes the life and community involvements of his step-father William Weiser (nephew of William Moyer), his childhood in the Third Fruitridge area and the people who lived there, and stealing watermelons and floating them in the Grand Valley Canal. He also talks about his education at Mesa Junior College, and his work in the field for a Bureau of Entomology laboratory dedicated to eradicating a sugar beet pest. The interview was conducted...
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Anna (Weckel) Peck discusses the history of her family in early Fruita, Colorado, and social life and customs of the time. 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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Dorothy (Nichols) Kittle discusses life on her family’s fruit farm on Orchard Avenue in what later became Grand Junction, where Native American boys from the Teller Institute would help with work in the orchard. She also details the achievements of her father and first husband, and discusses other aspects of early Twentieth century life in Mesa County. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County...
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Edith Patton talks about her life in Clifton, Colorado, including her job as a “traveling secretary” for School District 51, working in her mother’s restaurant, baking pies, making and delivering food to farm laborers, and packing fruit. She also discusses her father’s role as one of the original members of the Mesa County Planning Department, and his Mobile gas station on F Road. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History...
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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...
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Eileen O’Toole discusses life growing up on her family’s farm, one of the first on the Redlands. 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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Fred Powell talks about his life as a fruit farmer in Delta County, Colorado, and about overseeing fruit production as the manager of the Paonia Fruit Growers Association and the United Fruit Growers Association. 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 courtesy of the Palisade Historical Society....
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Early Mesa County resident Fred Hulburt discusses his job as a postman, the difficulties of starting a fruit farming business, his views on the treatment of the Utes in the area, building tunnels for the Highline Canal above Cameo, methods used to prevent the codling moth from ruining fruit orchards, and how to properly break wild horses and mules. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...