Delta County (Colo.) -- History
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An interview with Carl Smith, who grew up just south of Delta and moved to Grand Junction later in life. He learned to play several instruments at an early age, and later played music in circus bands and in a military band during World War I. 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
Irene (Strimple) Gramlich talks about her early life in Cedaredge and Delta, Colorado. She also touches on the economic downturn that effected fruit growers and employment prospects in Cedaredge in 1913, and discusses her teaching career. 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
Helen Johnson talks about moving to Denver, Colorado from Cleveland, Ohio at a young age and growing up in different places in Colorado. She talks about the fraudulent land sale that first brought her family to Delta County, Colorado in 1910, and that took her father’s life savings. She discusses living in a rented log cabin in Hotchkiss, her mother working as a hired washerwoman and housekeeper, and her father’s difficulty finding gainful employment...
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Voice Recording
Helen Johnson talks about gardening, methods of preserving food, and other aspects of rural life in Hotchkiss, Colorado in the early Twentieth century. She talks about her mother, Emily (Scatliff) Young, and the jobs she took to support the family after the loss of their life savings due to her father’s bad investment. She discusses the family’s religious observances and the history of churches in Hotchkiss. She talks about her abusive father-in-law...
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Voice Recording
Sarah Jane Livesay, who was born during the Civil War, talks about growing up in frontier towns in Kansas, about her father’s hickory nut orchards, and encounters with American Indians. She also describes her train journey to Delta, Colorado in 1897, the stage coach ride to Hotchkiss, and their life as pioneers in the North Fork area of Delta County. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration...
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Voice Recording
Helen Johnson talks about the Hotchkiss family and their history in and around the town of Hotchkiss, Colorado. She compares the towns of Hotchkiss and Paonia in their early days. She speaks about moving to Grand Junction with her husband in 1923, living downtown, and her impressions of the town. A Rebekah and the wife of an Odd Fellow, she talks about the history of both organizations, recalls details of Rebekah and Odd Fellows membership, and remembers...
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Voice Recording
Four radio programs written by Wilson Rockwell, based in part on short histories he wrote for his book Sunset Slope, and broadcast in the Grand Junction area on KREX in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. The programs include: Episode 25 – The Price of Hay (0:00), Episode 26 – Friends Fall Out (13:20), Episode 27 - The Diamond Peak Story (27:47), Episode 28 – A Race for Justice (37:50). These broadcasts are made available via signed release...
Format:
Voice Recording
Four radio programs written by Wilson Rockwell, based in part on short histories he wrote for his book Sunset Slope, and broadcast in the Grand Junction area on KREX in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. The programs include: Episode 33 – Ute Indian Scares (0:00), Episode 34 – The North Fork Hermits (14:40), Episode 35 – The North Fork Hermits II (29:46), Episode 36 – Escalante’s Journey (43:23). These broadcasts are made available via...
Format:
Voice Recording
Four radio plays written by Wilson Rockwell, based in part on short histories he wrote for his book Sunset Slope, and broadcast in the Grand Junction area on KREX during the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. The programs include: Episode 5 – The McCarty’s Last Holdup (0:00), Episode 6 – The Stockton-Eskridge Gang of Durango (12:52), Episode 7 – The Betrayal (27:36) (the story of Isaac “Ike” Stockton’s death), Episode 8 – The Grand Mesa...
Format:
Voice Recording
Six radio plays written by Wilson Rockwell, based in part on short histories he wrote for his book Sunset Slope, and broadcast in the Grand Junction area on KREX in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. The programs include: Episode 17 – The Double Cross (0:00), Episode 18 – The Black Mesa Gunfight (13:49), Episode 19 – The Monument Creek Killings (27:49), Episode 20 – The White River Canyon Indian Fight (40:49), Episode 21 – The Beaver Creek...
Format:
Voice Recording
Four radio programs written by Wilson Rockwell, based in part on short histories he wrote for his book Sunset Slope, and broadcast in the Grand Junction area on KREX in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. The programs include: Episode 9 – The Maneater (0:00), Episode 10 – The Maneater (14:00), Episode 11 – The Hog Pen Murder (29:16), Episode 12 – The Manhunt (42:43). These broadcasts are made available via signed release by the Mesa County...
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Voice Recording
Eda Musser talks about settling in Delta, Colorado in the early 1900’s, about her father’s race horses, and horse races in which he competed in Grand Junction’s Lincoln Park and elsewhere. She discusses her courtship with husband Kel Musser, and his family’s pioneering history in Escalante Canyon. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and...
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Voice Recording
During episodes of the radio show Pioneer Reviews, which aired on KFXJ in the 1960’s (now KREX), Mesa County farm agent and host Dick Woodfin speaks with several Western Slope residents about pioneer history. Interviewees include farmer Arthur Lewis of Cedaredge, farmer Herbert Ray Milholland of Molina, ranch hand Fred Wallace of Collbran, Grady Pruett of Collbran, farmer Ray Griffith of Palisade, Fred and Ruth Carlson of Montrose, George Foy of...
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Voice Recording
Mary Plaisted talks about growing up in the Milldale area around the sugar beet factory in Grand Junction, Colorado, and about the brothels and red-light district nearby. She describes having to beg and take odd cleaning and sewing jobs to support she and her children, and the kind strangers that helped her. She mentions the many places she lived in Grand Junction, the floods common in the Riverside neighborhood, and living in a close-knit Italian...
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Voice Recording
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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Voice Recording
Bill Raber, a longtime rancher, discusses the history of ranching in Delta and Mesa Counties and the relationship between cattle and sheep ranchers. He also talks about the history of Grand Junction and its growth, and about water development and rights disputes 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...
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Voice Recording
Bert Kearl talks about patrolling the US—Mexico border as part of the US Cavalry after Pancho Villa staged his daring raid into New Mexico. He then discusses his retraining as a gunner, fighting in Europe during World War I as part of the 155th Artillery, and time spent in France. Finally, he elaborates on the many jobs he held over the years, including his ownership of the Western Real Estate company in Delta, Colorado. The interview was conducted...
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Voice Recording
Chuck Thomas recalls growing up in Cedaredge, where he hunted rabbits from horseback as a kid, and where he learned his future trade as a tightrope walker by walking on top of barbed wire fences on his way to and from Cedaredge High School. He also talks about his high wire act for the Happy Day Rides carnival, doing Houdini’s straight jacket stunt on a Ferris Wheel, being a vaudeville actor and musician in traveling tent shows, and hypnotizing...
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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
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...
