Mesa County (Colo.) -- History
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Julia Harris discusses hearing about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, when she was hosting a Republican Party event for a special congressional election at her home on the Grand Mesa. She describes finding out about the bombing from the radio and from a local telephone operator who called people in the region to inform them. She talks about younger relatives of hers who joined the Navy after Pearl Harbor, about the general absence...
Format:
Voice Recording
Mary talks about her early childhood in Kansas as one of nine children and her family's move to Colorado upon the death of her father. Mary details the train and its passengers during the move, including Russian immigrants coming to work the beet fields, and her mother's outreach. She mentions her mothers career training riding horses as a way to support the family. She talks about her relationships, children, and the struggle she faced trying to...
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Compound
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....
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Voice Recording
Al Look talks about his reaction to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. He speaks about his son’s service in the Navy during World War II. He reminisces about his own service in the US Navy as a gunner’s mate during World War I and about the mobilization of resources for the war effort in the United States. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums...
Format:
Video
Evelyn Kyle, the first coordinator of the Mesa County Oral History Project, discusses her role in expanding the program shortly after its inception in 1976, and describes colorful personalities that she met through the project. She also talks about her life in the performing arts, establishing and acting in community theaters around Western Colorado, about her experiences during the Dust Bowl and World War II, and about her marriage to Jim Kyle and...
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Voice Recording
Dave Hinkle talks about coming to Western Colorado in the 1920’s, riding the rails in search of work, dealing with the railyard “bulls,” working the peach harvests in Palisade, and working for the railroad in ice cars packed with peaches. He recalls other jobs he held, including the Star mail route from Dragon Mountain to Somerset, ranch work for the D.R.C. Brown Ranch on Muddy Creek, and herding sheep on the Uncompahgre. He speaks about the...
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Voice Recording
Rosemary Kitson talks about the death of her older brother during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the devastation it caused her family. She talks about her journey to Hawaii to memorialize her brother during his reburial in a veterans cemetery. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
*Photograph from the 1950 Colorado...
Format:
Voice Recording
Vesta Fitzpatrick speaks about a railroad accident that occurred west of the town of New Castle, Colorado around 1900. She talks about her father, a Union Civil War veteran. She discusses poetry and short stories that she wrote about her youth. She remembers working in a rooming house in Uravan for workers from Oakridge, Tennessee during secretive mining for the first atomic bomb, and receiving a letter of appreciation for her work after the first...
Format:
Compound
Helen Johnson talks about helping teach a WPA-funded dance class during the Great Depression. She speaks about other government programs, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, and how they helped the people of Mesa County, Colorado during the Great Depression. She describes working for Douglas Aircraft in Los Angeles to manufacture airplanes during World War II, where she became the lead in her section. She talks about her brief career teaching...
Format:
Voice Recording
Mrs. Rose Perry relates her son’s experience on the U.S.S. Helena, a Brooklyn-class light cruiser used by the U.S. Navy in the Pacific theater of World War II. The Helena was one of the cruisers attacked in Pearl Harbor, and was directly torpedoed by the Japanese. The Helena survived the attack and was assigned to assist in the Guadalcanal campaign. It helped to destroy several Japanese aircraft and battleships and contributed to American victories...
