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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
Al Look talks about driving a team of mules for a laundry wagon, playing hooky from school and stealing watermelons in Stockton, Kansas. He discusses duck hunting and teaching his son gun safety. He speaks about working and then selling his homestead in Dove Creek, and about his experiences in the Four Corners area. He talks about playing high school football on a championship team, and attending the University of Nebraska. He relates working as an...
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Compound
In a panel discussion at the Museum of Western Colorado, Esther (Anderson) Campbell talks about her experience as a teacher in country and town schools in Moffat County. Randall Deewer, former principal of the Hawthorne School in Grand Junction, Emma Louise McCreanor and others also describe their experiences in country schools. This recording was provided by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums...
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Compound
Eda Musser talks about life in Delta, Colorado after moving there in 1908, when she was thirteen. She discusses landmarks such as the LeVeta Park School, the Anna-Dora Opera House, and the Delta House Hotel. She describes her involvement in the Spoon Club and other aspects of social life. She speaks about her family’s move west from Illinois using an immigrant car. She talks about meeting and marrying rancher Kelso Musser and their move to Cedar...
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Compound
Siblings Ella O'Brien and Earl Foster talk about the demise of their family friend Henry "Indian Henry" Huff at the hands of their stepfather, and the events that followed. They discuss their living situation in Bull Canyon, mentioning the work their parents did for the mine, their chores, education, livestock, and farming. They speak of their move to Utah and their experiences there, including meeting Chipeta. They transition to talking about their...
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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 Early Day Schools...
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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
Essie Aspinall talks about her arrival in Palisade in 1910, her childhood there, and life in town. She speaks about growing up on a fruit farm and attending school at Mt. Lincoln, where she met her future husbands Frank Best and Wayne Aspinall. She describes teaching in a one-room school house in Sedgewick, Colorado. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western...
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Compound
Cordelia Files talks about the history of her family as early homesteaders in Mesa County, Colorado. She remembers life in Fruita in the early Twentieth century. She recalls working on a ranch near De Beque for her first job at the age of fifteen. She speaks about her life as a teacher instructing all eight grades in a one-room school house, about different episodes from her career in education (including the time a cat came to school), and about...
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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...
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Voice Recording
Dwain Jackson talks about his family history and their arrival in Delta County in the 1880’s. He remembers taking the Grand Junction streetcar line and automobile rides in the 1920’s and 30’s. He speaks about living north of Cedaredge as a child and time spent fishing on the Grand Mesa. He talks about the reluctance of Delta County residents to adhere to new fish and game management laws in the early 1900’s, and tells the story of William...
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Voice Recording
Vesta Fitzpatrick talks about growing up in Buena Vista, New Castle, and De Beque, Colorado. She remembers the family’s homestead and life in De Beque, and her role as a homemaker from an early age due to her mother’s illness. She speaks about country school life. She details the dances that took place, including costume, masquerade, and “hard time” dances. She recalls living in Uravan during World War II, where her grandchildren played in...
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Voice Recording
Lois Long describes the homestead she grew up on near Loma. She remembers living in a tent and then a pre-cut house, and drinking ditch water. She recalls her father and uncle moving the Valley View School to north of the Colorado River in the 1920’s, and the school bus that was sometimes a horse-drawn cart. Leland Buniger talks about his childhood in Grand Junction, Fruita and Loma. He describes farming potatoes, beans and hay. He speaks about...
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Voice Recording
Ruth Goss talks about her early days in Fruita and Loma, Colorado, and about life on a farm. She remembers teaching at the Valley View School and Loma School for several years. She speaks about her husband’s job as a ditch rider on the Grand Valley Canal and the Independent Ranchman’s Ditch. She talks about dances that took place at the Loma Community Hall. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of...
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Compound
Will Watts talks about coming to Colorado in a covered wagon in the 1890’s, growing up in Delta and Telluride, and running away from home at the age of thirteen to work various labor jobs in the Olathe area. Edith Watts speaks about growing up on a homestead north of Olathe, encounters with Ute Indians, her schooling at the Number 8 School on Ash Mesa, and her work caring for children, sewing, and tailoring. She and Will remember life in Telluride,...
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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...
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Voice Recording
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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Compound
In one interview captured in five recordings, Kenneth Thompson talks about his life in Mesa County, Colorado. In part one, he remembers moving to Clifton, Colorado, where the family farmed fruit. He recalls homesteading on Glade Park in a log cabin built by his fifteen-year-old brother. He discusses his time as a sheepherder and sheepherding practices, especially those for protecting sheep from various predators. He speaks about trapping predators...
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Compound
Marjorie Thomas describes her childhood on a homestead in the New Liberty area of Mesa County, Colorado. She talks about the difficulty of getting across the Big Salt Wash near Fruita when it flooded. She discusses Sunday school and religious services that existed in the community for twenty-one years, until the lack of leadership caused people to drive to Loma for church. She speaks about the history of the New Liberty School and about social clubs...