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Archive Search Results


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Thumbnail for 'First Interview with Morgan Goss'
Format:
Voice Recording
Morgan Goss discusses his time as a cowboy in Mesa County during the early 1900’s. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Zelma (Jones) Parkes'
Format:
Voice Recording
Zelma Parkes discusses her early life in Grand Junction, Colorado. She also talks about ranch life with her husband on Clear Creek, near De Beque. 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.
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Darwin Burford'
Format:
Compound
Darwin Burford discusses growing up in Whitewater, Colorado in the early Twentieth century, and going to school in Mesa County, Colorado. Darwin talks about the early narrow gauge railroad that serviced Mesa County, about the Barnum and Bailey Circus, daily childhood chores, playing cribbage as a family, and his argument with John Otto. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries,...
Thumbnail for 'Plateau Valley Beginnings: A panel discussion of the Mesa County Historical Society'
Format:
Compound
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...
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Walter Vern
Format:
Voice Recording
Walt Simineo talks about growing up on a ranch in Whitewater, Colorado, his father’s homestead there, and describes the town in the early Twentieth century. He speaks about working as a coal miner in Whitewater and about mining operations there. He discusses the evolution of soil amendments used in farming and the changes in area ranching practices. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County...
Thumbnail for 'First Interview with Charles Edward Burg'
Format:
Voice Recording
Charles Burg tells stories from his father about his interactions with the Ute during a US Army deployment near Montrose, Colorado. He talks about settlers and ranchers of the De Beque area, including Dave Knight, a Cherokee from Oklahoma who utilized native plants in a traditional way. He describes a “garter” brand on a horse, horse breaking techniques for wild horses, the origins of the wild horse population in the Bookcliffs, stray cattle gone...
Thumbnail for 'Grand Junction Centennial Celebration Radio History Theater: Cattle and Sheep Wars'
Format:
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 radio plays used interviews recorded by the Mesa County Oral History Project as inspiration. This archival recording contains the play Cattle and Sheep...
Thumbnail for 'Grand Junction Centennial Celebration Radio History Theater: The Sheep War'
Format:
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 The Sheep War, about...
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Orville and Helen Altenbern'
Format:
Voice Recording
Orville and Helen Altenbern discuss their early lives in both De Beque and the nearby Roan Creek area of Garfield County. They also talk about life and work on a sheep and cattle ranch. 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.
Thumbnail for 'Third Interview with Andrew E. Riddle'
Format:
Compound
Andrew E. Riddle describes life in the Paradox Valley area of Montrose County, Colorado. He focuses on the violent history of the valley, and describes several murders that occurred there. In the second recording, Riddle talks about religion in Paradox, Colorado, including the building of the non-denominational Red Church in the 1940’s, which once had a shooting range in the basement. Riddle also touches on bootlegging days, burial procedures of...
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Mary Corcoran'
Format:
Compound
Mary Corcoran talks about her parents and grandparents, pioneers in Mesa County and Eastern Utah. She also talks about her early life in Grand Junction, Colorado, and about ranch life above De Beque on the Grand Mesa. 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.
Thumbnail for 'First Interview with Frieda (Miller) Weaver'
Format:
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...
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Eben
Format:
Voice Recording
Eben Massey talks about growing up on a ranch in Gateway, Colorado. He remembers riding horseback and playing with his cousins. He recalls encounters with rattlesnakes, bull snakes, pack rats, rabbits, and deer. He tells stories of deer hunts he was involved with. He remembers being a “flanker” who helped to brand cattle, working as a cowboy and ranch hand as a boy, riding horses, and calf roping. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County...
Thumbnail for 'Grand Junction Centennial Celebration Radio History Theater: Roundups'
Format:
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 Roundups. This...
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Weston Massey and Nellie (Foy) Massey'
Format:
Compound
Weston and Nellie Massey discuss their family’s involvement in the earliest days of Gateway, Colorado. The couple also touch on the presence of Indians in the Mesa County area, the system of delivering mail, social activities, cattle herding and cattle thieving, Uranium mining and mining equipment in the Gateway area, and methods of travel via trails and mapped out routes. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Theodore Charles Simineo'
Format:
Voice Recording
Theodore Simineo talks about the history of violence between sheep and cattle ranchers near Whitewater, Colorado. He remembers helping to drive cattle over the Grand Mesa at the age of six, other aspects of cattle drives, and his life as a cowboy. He describes community dances that took place in Kannah Creek schools or community halls. He speaks about the transportation of cattle by rail from Gunnison and Whitewater. He talks about working as a coal...
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Donald Melvin
Format:
Voice Recording
In a recording made for his son, Don Rogers talks about his family’s cattle ranch on Pinon Mesa in the 1910’s, about getting lost in the wilderness at the age of six, about an expert tracker named Avery Burford who led the search party, and about being found the next morning after he spent the night alone on a sandbar of East Creek. He recalls a gunfight between cowboys Louis Stewart and Blue, a shooting by a man named Pete Lapham, and tensions...
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Walter Richard
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...
Thumbnail for 'Third Interview with John Jay Collier'
Format:
Voice Recording
John Collier talks about his upbringing on a farm in Grand Junction, Colorado, on ranchland and farmland in the Redlands, and on a homestead in Pinon Mesa. He speaks about the history of the Sleeper and Ela family’s ranching operations on Pinon Mesa. He describes his Uncle Joe Collier, who served as the Mesa County Sheriff during Prohibition, and a bootlegger’s attempt to blackmail him. He discusses what he perceives as the effect of uranium prospecting...
Thumbnail for 'Interview with Ethel Jane (Hutton) Keleher'
Format:
Voice Recording
Ethel Keleher talks about growing up in Kansas, moving to a ranch near Trinidad when she was nineteen, and her family. She remembers her husband, children, and how cancer affected their lives. She speaks about living on a homestead in Fowler, where they raised poultry, and sold eggs and milk. She recalls arriving in Mesa County in 1923, shopping and riding the streetcar in Grand Junction, and businesses in Fruita. She speaks about working with fruit...