Colorado -- Social life and customs
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May Denton describes her early life in Missouri, farm life as a homemaker in Fruita, Colorado, raising potatoes with her husband Ed Denton, and the dances that were held at her family’s packing and storage house. 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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Voice Recording
Morgan Goss describes his days as a cowboy, including daily tasks on a ranch, driving cattle long distances and bull riding. He also talks about his dating and social life, Fruita’s Cowpuncher’s Reunion, riding the Interurban, and farming during the Depression Era. 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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Voice Recording
Charlotte Barnes talks about her early life on a farm in Hays, Kansas, about farming with her husband in the Fruita area, and about dancing and other aspects of social life in early Twentieth century Western 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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Voice Recording
Willis Blevins and his wife Lotus discuss their life as farmers in the Redlands, the history of the Redlands Community Center and the Redlands Women’s Club, and Willis’s career as a lumberyard worker and owner. 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
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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Voice Recording
Gertrude Rader talks about the profession and lives of teachers, who were primarily women, in Western Colorado during the early Twentieth century. She discusses how, in small communities, women were expected to be much more than teachers including: Doctors’ assistants in a pinch, de facto members of the families that they boarded with in cases of illness or maternity, and moral pillars of the community. She includes many anecdotes from her own teaching...
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Voice Recording
Kate Elizabeth (Phillips) Wills talks about her childhood living in What Cheer, Iowa, and her family’s move to Colorado in 1909. She talks about her family’s orchard, her education, the activities she took part in as a young person, and how she met her husband. She describes her career as a farm wife and homemaker working on peach orchards and cleaning homes in the Grand Valley, the history of churches in Palisade, and migrant workers that worked...
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Voice Recording
Jo (O’Quinn) Ferguson talks about making meals for ranch hands and other aspects of ranching with her husband George Gibson Ferguson in Garfield County. She speaks about churches, clubs, and the social and community life of the area. She describes her education in Louisiana and Colorado and her long teaching career, with an emphasis on her work with Central High School students at the end of her career. She talks about the history of the Roan Creek...
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Voice Recording
An interview with Howard Shults, a longtime resident of Mesa County who worked as an auctioneer, farmer, and member of the state land commission. He discusses the business of corralling horses, horse trading, racing horses for money, the Cross Ranch, and social events such as rodeos, fairs, and dances. He also talks about hauling coal in a horse-drawn wagon and the history of coal mines in the valley, about the history of the old fairgrounds at Lincoln...
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Voice Recording
Ruth Echternach talks about her arrival in Palisade, Colorado in 1917 and her graduation from the Palisade School. She discusses the history of early Palisade and its people. She speaks about her marriage to local farmer Marion Echternach, life on a fruit farm, and raising children. 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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Voice Recording
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 Christmas Memories,...
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Voice Recording
Gladys Earnest talks about her job as a home demonstration agent in Garfield County and Mesa County, Colorado, helping rural people with soap-making, canning, and other personal, social, and economic development issues during the Great Depression. She also talks about the history of Glenwood Springs, her husband’s construction career, horseback trips to Trapper’s Lake and other excursions. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History...
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Voice Recording
Veda McBeth talks about people and places of Mack, Colorado, where her family owned and operated the general store in the early Twentieth century. She describes in detail the colorful hobos that she encountered along the railroad, the thousands of sheep in the Mack stockyards, and large sheep drives to Grand Junction. She also speaks about catching the Denver Rio Grande train from Mack to Grand Junction, the Uintah Railway, and the loneliness of homestead...
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Voice Recording
Al Look presents a February 18, 1971 meeting of the surviving members of the Last Squad Club, an association of World War I servicemen founded during the Great Depression. 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 Colorado.
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Voice Recording
Gertrude Rader talks at length about the Tabequache band of the Ute and her frequent contact with them when they camped in Kannah Creek during their annual return migration from the mountains of Colorado to the Uintah Reservation in Utah in the early Twentieth century. She discusses her memories of Chipeta and describes Ute customs she observed. She talks about her pioneering grandfather, and about a serious sheep and cattleman conflict that occurred...
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Voice Recording
In an interview from May 14, 1981 (audio only, no transcript), Basil T. Knight talks about his youth in Michigan, meeting his wife’s family in Palisade, Colorado and ultimately moving there, operating a fruit farm, and becoming a lifelong teacher and school administrator. He explains the mechanisms that originally funded the many smaller school districts on the Western Slope, including taxes on railroads, and the reasons for the consolidation that...
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Voice Recording
Al Look describes the history of Faquawah, a group of Mesa County, Colorado businessmen who enjoyed camping and carousing in Southeastern Utah. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
*A recording of the Faquawah meeting itself was not put online, but can be requested at the Museums of Western Colorado.
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Voice Recording
Frieda Miller talks about her pioneer ranching family’s arrival in Palisade, Colorado, and about the exploits of her colorful father, Eben “Mac” Miller. She speaks about her school days in Palisade and Grand Junction, and about childhood games she played (such as Duck on a Rock). She discusses her later life and marriage with farmer and carpenter George Weaver, and her long period as a vegetarian. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County...
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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...
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Voice Recording
Margaret Stump talks about her childhood on a fruit farm in Fruitvale, Colorado, growing up without electricity or plumbing. She also discusses her lifelong involvement in local churches, and her education at the Ross Business College and subsequent job as a bookkeeper. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
