2 10 81 https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/528b641f18412144b98046eab3ac32aa.pdf dbeecf70bf3189c78cd587ae03d34e48 PDF Text Text SARAH MAE "SALLY" (WICKLIFF) CAPELL Can on Ohio girl find happiness in Colorado? "Sally" didn't think so in 1938 when her husband Arthur decided he wanted to move to Ignacio. Arthur Capell had wanted to live in the mountains for many years. In 1930 he and Sally visited Montana looking for a job, but shied away from starting a new life there when they learned it sometimes is 40 degrees below zero. Then in 1938 Arthur discovered a man in Ignacio wanted to trade mail routes with someone in Ohio. Arthur reasoned that Ignacio would have a mountain climate more to his liking since its latitude is the same as that of Virginia. Sally agreed to move, wanting whatever would make Arthur happy, but she admits the move was a traumatic one accompanied by tears and more tears at the thought of leaving all her relatives and friends acquired over a lifetime. The Capell's only son Kenneth was already married and had started his life in Columbus, Ohio, where he and his wife still live. In one way the move to Ignacio was a disappointment to Arthur. Accustomed as he was to the well graveled roads in Ohio, the unimproved La Plata County Roads of 1938 were a frustrating obstacle to a rural postman. Despite her original reluctance about moving, Sally learned to love her new life in Colorado even more than Arthur did. Now that Arthur is deceased, Sally has been urged by her friends and relatives in Ohio to be "sensible" and move back home. However, Sally says "Ignacio has the friendliest, finest people and a beautiful climate. I'll never leave." Sarah Mae "Sally" Wickliff was born in her parents 3 story brick home on 39 acres near Pataskala, Ohio, in 1889. Though her father's farm was small, he worked it efficiently, rotating crops of corn and wheat and putting up hay and taking good care of his cattle. Sally remembers the beauty of the green Ohio countryside with its scattered woods and clear flowing creeks. The covered bridges in the area were useful in the summer as well as winter. Teamsters and horsemen would hurry to them during rain showers. After graduating from high school, Sally and her sister passed the state test to become teachers. They taught in country schools one mile apart for four years. Teaching was a pleasant 8 month per year job for Sally. She says she never had much trouble getting along with the students. "After the first couple of paddlings, they found out who was boss!" Sally liked square dancing, but recalls being nervous about it during the years she was teaching, since many parents of that time would criticize a teacher for disporting herself in such a manner. During this lime Sally was being courted by Arthur Capell, who had been a childhood friend since age 12. One of Arthu~s first jobs as a young man was driving a Huckster's wagon. This was a covered wagon which served as a traveling general store. He sold cloth, hardware, pots, patent medicine and groceries to farm residents who seldom traveled to town. Since many farmers had little cash, they would pay for their supplies with butter, eggs, cream and produce. Later Arthur drove a produce wagon before he accepted a job as a U.S. Postman. 24 �Sally smiles when she talks about Arthur's fast horses. Before they were married, Arthur bought a sleek black horse which he named Diamond Denmark. Sally smiles even bigger when she recalls that the purchase of Diamond Denmark. "required" the purchase of a new buggy! During the long Ohio summer evenings Sally would sit in a lawn chair listening for the hoof beats of the black horse which she could hear long before it came into view over the crest of the hill. On Sunday afternoons Sally and Arthur would hitch Diamond to the new buggy for a ride on the "Pike" near Pataskala. Arthur would travel at moderate speed until some other young blade and his gal would try to come around them. No one, she recalls was ever able to pass Diamond Denmark. When the Capells came here in 1938, Ignacio and the whole country was coming out of the Great Depression. Ignacio had the train then and Sally wishes it were still here. One Thanksgiving she rode the train back to Ohio to visit her family. Returning a few days before Christmas she remembers changing from the wide gauge to the narrow gauge train at Alamosa. The narrow gauge coaches were carpeted and very comfortable. Sally says the magnificent snowy peaks and canyons through which the train traveled in the region of Cumbres Pass was an unforgettable sight. ) ) ) J J _) _) _) ..) _) J J J J J ...J ...J ...J ...J J In 1945 Arthur got horse fever again in the form of a fine mare named Queen-of-Hearts. He built a stable and corral just across the street from his home on Browning. In 1948 "Queenie" gave birth to a little filly which was to become Arthur and Sally's pride and joy. Miss Jody Reed won races in Denver and was a source of pleasure to Arthur for many years. Perhaps the only "Colt Shower" ever held in Ignacio was held in honor of Jody's birth. Some of those who brought presents to this tongue-in-cheek affair were Paul Ritter, Lawrence Wiseman and Okla Lunsford. Miss Jody Reed, now a Regal 25 years old is in retirement on the Emmet Hott farm. When Sally Capell goes out to visit Miss Jody Reed, we'll excuse her if she sees more than an aging mare. It may be she will recapture the image of quiet rides in the Pine River Valley of a summer evening or the excited roar of the crowd at Centenial Downs and Ruidosa and Raton. It may be the apprehension at facing a new life in a new land far from familiar things and the discovery that neighborliness and generosity and friendship can take root wherever they're planted. We'll excuse Sally if she hears the singing of buggy wheels and the drumming of hooves on the Pataskala Pike, or if for just a moment she hears distant hoof beats growing clearer and more distinct until a rider on a tall black horse rises into view at the crest of a green Ohio hill. We'll excuse her because all of us have links with the past which evoke memories and reveries of great value. Today Sally Capell is a hospitable, gracious lady and a good citizen, and a good friend. We wish her many more happy years. November, 1973 -- Shelby Smith 25 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sarah Mae (Wickliff) Capell Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-11 Subject The topic of the resource Capell, Sarah Mae (Wickliff) Description An account of the resource Biography of Sarah Mae "Sally" (Wickliff) Capell based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the November, 1973 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Capell, Sarah Mae (Wickliff) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/9ecc764170eaccfdef3f8f1717b5f4ca.pdf 4f57b02d3ca91e834ecd3742e9a1f9c7 PDF Text Text WALTER AND ANNA (Liese) CARLSON Many Europeans who later became Americans were a surprise to their relatives. John Erricson Carlson's mother lived all her life 45 miles from Stockholm, Sweden, without ever having visited that city. Despite her example of staying put, John became a traveler to distant places. Being subject to the Swedish Army, John could not leave until he was 21. Then he crossed the ocean and came to Kansas where he stayed until he learned English by reading Swedish and English Bibles. Once he felt competent to use English, he moved on to Denver where he worked at a number of jobs. First he worked for the city digging sewer trenches, narrowly avoiding tragedy, when a wall of earth collapsed on him. Next he worked in the machine shop of the D. & R.G.W. railroad. Workers were expected to be on time. The gate was locked at 8:00 and latecomers were not allowed to enter for an hour. Pay was $1.50 per day. Later John was hired as a machinist's helper at the Tramway Co., one of the streetcar companies in Denver where he worked at least 8 years. Labor unions were just gaining some influence in those days. One union John told his children about was the Industrial Workers of the World, the I.W.W. which opponents claimed meant "I won't work." The Carlson's son John Walter was born in Denver March 5, 1896. "The terrace (apartment) where I was born is probably gone now," Walter says, "but it was located about where the Valley Highway (Interstate 25) crosses South Santa Fe in Denver. This was close to the Platte River across from a glass factory. We used to cross the river on a foot bridge." "When I was 5 or 6 Dad decided he wanted to farm. He bought a place on the Divide between Denver and Colorado Springs about 45 miles southeast of Denver near Elizabeth, Colorado. I started to school there, but we didn't stay long. We moved back to Denver, settling out west near Sheridan and Alameda. At that time there was a lot of open country around Denver, orchards, grain fields and dairies. For a while I herded cows for 50 cents a week. I went to Barnum school till 4th grade. Even then Denver had nice public parks and Elitch Gardens was open. It was fun to go ice skating and to ride the streetcars." In 1906 when young John was 10, his father heard about land opening for settlement in southwest Colorado. He bought a place near Tiffany and Vallejo (later called Allison) and moved the family. The trip took 4 days by train. The family loaded their possessions in 5 boxcars. This included 2 dogs, 2 horses, 2 cows and some chickens plus a rake and a mowing machine. Walter's mother later said, "We packed everything but the milk stool and it came a week later." "It was pretty hard," Walter recalls. "There wasn't a bridge, a fence or a house in sight except a house for the railroad section foreman. Otherwise it was just sagebrush. We lived under a pinon tree, not even in a tent, just under a tree until we built one room. In the fall Dad built a 12x12' house. The Shanks were already here. Mrs. Newcombe had a small store built of cedar posts. I can still remember the candy in fruit jars. Later Mr. Thomas built a store and blacksmith shop. Allison was named Vallejo by the railroad 26 �') 'I 'I 'I 'I 'I ' ' i ) ' ) i i ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J ..) ..) ..) ..) J J J ..J J J J J J .J ..J until a surveyor named Allison Stauffer came through promoting a new irrigation system. Then the residents decided to change the name." "In the fall the men around Tiffany decided to build a school because the place was growing fast. P.M. Engler, Parris Engler, Sylvia Pargin, Una and John Rencher and Inez Rowse were some of my classmates . " "There was some rivalry between the two towns. There was a Tiffany gang and an Allison Gang. It wasn't a serious thing, but it was noticeable." "Once we went to chivaree a young couple who had just been married. He wouldn't come out of the house so we smoked him out. We stuffed gunny sacks in the chimney until he had to come out. It was the custom for the person being chivareed to treat the crowd. We took him to the store where we each got candy or some small item. The whole treat cost him 55 cents." A new family bought a farm adjacent to the Carlsons in 1916. The Liesa's had a daughter named Anna and it wasn't long before Walter noticed her. Anna Gesine Liese was born July 30,1895 at Sioux city, Iowa. Her parents were Hermann J. Liese born in Hamburg, Germany and Ottilie Therese Johanna Glander, born in Straulandsen, Germany in 1866. Hermann came to America in 1877. Ottilie didn't arrive until 1885 when she was 19. For a while she worked as a housemaid in New York City for 50 cents a week. After they were married the Liesa's lived in many places across the country. After Anna was born in Iowa, they lived in Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and finally arrived in Farmington, N.M. "What a dusty place," my father thought. A realtor there told him he might like Durango better." Hermann bought a farm in the Animas valley north of town. Anna got a job as waitress and maid at the Southern Hotel across the street from the depot. To get to work, Anna walked to Animas City, then caught the street car to the depot. A few months later Hermann decided he would like the Tiffany area better so he traded farms with a family there. Shortly after the Lieses arrived one of the neighbors played cupid by inviting both Walter and Anna to supper one evening. After supper Walter boldly said, "Are you ready to go home, Miss Liese?" Six months later Walter and Anna were married. Walter's father had a new Model T Ford, which they drove to Ignacio. Unable to find a minister in Ignacio, they went on to Bayfield where they were married on July 25, 1917. The Model T's were hard to crank, but good in the mud. Tires didn't last long on the country roads. When Walter went to Pagosa on business once it required 5 hours to go and 5 to return. He went through Bayfield, since there was no road up the Piedra Valley. Along some stretches of the road the dust was 10" deep because of the constant pounding from the lumber wagons. Walter was drafted in 1918, sent to Ft. Logan, then to Nogales, Arizona, and San Antonio. He was scheduled to be shipped to France when the armistice was signed. His total time in the army was 9 months. 27 �') 'I 'I 'I 'I 'I ' ' i ) ' ) i i ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J ..) ..) ..) ..) J J J ..J J J J J J .J ..J until a surveyor named Allison Stauffer came through promoting a new irrigation system. Then the residents decided to change the name." "In the fall the men around Tiffany decided to build a school because the place was growing fast. P.M. Engler, Parris Engler, Sylvia Pargin, Una and John Rencher and Inez Rowse were some of my classmates . " "There was some rivalry between the two towns. There was a Tiffany gang and an Allison Gang. It wasn't a serious thing, but it was noticeable." "Once we went to chivaree a young couple who had just been married. He wouldn't come out of the house so we smoked him out. We stuffed gunny sacks in the chimney until he had to come out. It was the custom for the person being chivareed to treat the crowd. We took him to the store where we each got candy or some small item. The whole treat cost him 55 cents." A new family bought a farm adjacent to the Carlsons in 1916. The Liesa's had a daughter named Anna and it wasn't long before Walter noticed her. Anna Gesine Liese was born July 30,1895 at Sioux city, Iowa. Her parents were Hermann J. Liese born in Hamburg, Germany and Ottilie Therese Johanna Glander, born in Straulandsen, Germany in 1866. Hermann came to America in 1877. Ottilie didn't arrive until 1885 when she was 19. For a while she worked as a housemaid in New York City for 50 cents a week. After they were married the Liesa's lived in many places across the country. After Anna was born in Iowa, they lived in Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and finally arrived in Farmington, N.M. "What a dusty place," my father thought. A realtor there told him he might like Durango better." Hermann bought a farm in the Animas valley north of town. Anna got a job as waitress and maid at the Southern Hotel across the street from the depot. To get to work, Anna walked to Animas City, then caught the street car to the depot. A few months later Hermann decided he would like the Tiffany area better so he traded farms with a family there. Shortly after the Lieses arrived one of the neighbors played cupid by inviting both Walter and Anna to supper one evening. After supper Walter boldly said, "Are you ready to go home, Miss Liese?" Six months later Walter and Anna were married. Walter's father had a new Model T Ford, which they drove to Ignacio. Unable to find a minister in Ignacio, they went on to Bayfield where they were married on July 25, 1917. The Model T's were hard to crank, but good in the mud. Tires didn't last long on the country roads. When Walter went to Pagosa on business once it required 5 hours to go and 5 to return. He went through Bayfield, since there was no road up the Piedra Valley. Along some stretches of the road the dust was 10" deep because of the constant pounding from the lumber wagons. Walter was drafted in 1918, sent to Ft. Logan, then to Nogales, Arizona, and San Antonio. He was scheduled to be shipped to France when the armistice was signed. His total time in the army was 9 months. 27 �Walter was a farmer, but worked away from home a lot, too. He was a ditch rider, had 2 thrashing machines for contract thrashing and operated a grain cleaning machine which could also grind the feed. This machine was powered by a tractor until REA brought in electricity. Walter was foreman on a road crew, helped sign up people for REA and secured right-of-way for the lines. When Walter became ill in 1924 the Doctors at the Veterans hospital ordered him to quit working. He didn't obey, but he did quit farming, moved to Ignacio and started a business. He operated Ignacio Motors, handling Massey-Farmington farm equipment until 1969. The Carlson 's had five children. Irene Augusta died in the flu epidemic at the age of 6 months in 1918. Emanuel farms the home place at Tiffany. John lives in Albuquerque. Anna May Carden lives in Ignacio and Emma Shock lives near Tiffany. "In the old days," the Carlsons say, "People had to depend on one another and help one another to survive. In the summer people would stagger the butchering and pass around the meat they could not use before it would spoil. People traded fruit and vegetables with their neighbors who had different varieties. No one had to harvest alone. People always helped one another. In winter the men cut ice together until all the ice houses were full. Anna was a midwife for years. She delivered babies of all ethnic groups. Walter served as undertaker when necessary. That's the way it was. We had to depend on one another and take care of one another. On July 25, 1977, the Carlson's will have been married 60 years. We wish to congratulate them on this anniversary and thank them for the part they contributed in building this community. July, 1977 -- SHELBY SMITH 28 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Walter Carlson and Anna (Liese) Carlson Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-07 Subject The topic of the resource Carlson, Walter; Carlson, Anna (Liese) Description An account of the resource Biography of Walter Carlson and Anna (Liese) Carlson based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith in July, 1977. Included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Carlson, Walter; Carlson, Anna (Liese) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 4 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/1835b22321114a1211abf5b9df18a57f.pdf 24a6042b21e7286109ae1a4dd55473ad PDF Text Text -, -, 'l -, 'l ,' , l ) ) J ) J ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) MARIA BENEDITA (Lucero) CASIAS In 1898 when Leandro and Candelaria Lucero were farming near Cuba, N.M., their first child was born. Maria Benedita was the first of six children and the only girl. Two years later Benedita's father heard of good land and new opportunities across the line in Colorado, so he moved his family to a farm near La Boca. They stayed there for a year, then rented the Joe Velasquez ranch 7 miles south of Ignacio near Martin Hayes place, the first son born in the family was Manual, then Julian, Eustavio, Genino and Alfredo. Leandro had goats, chickens, pigs and sheep as well as horses for work and transportation. As the boys grew up they gave plenty of help with the irrigating and harvesting on the farm. Benedita and her mother took care of the garden and the cooking, weaving and sewing. Candelaria raised her own chili and other produce. "She dried everything," Benedita recalls, "and without refrigeration or freezers that was the best and cheapest way to preserve food. After a few years Dad bought the farm from Joe. We had an adobe house with two front rooms , two bedrooms and a kitchen. We carried water from the river until Dad dug a well near the house." To earn extra money, Leandro worked part time for Arthur Jones who lived over near Spring Creek. "I remember when I learned to make tortillas. I was so small I had to stand on a bench to reach the table top. I also remember the good smells of food at Christmas. That was a happy time in the old days, even though we never had store bought toys. My father would carve dolls and baby chairs and wooden dishes. Winter was nice because of the sled. It was so much fun, so smooth and quiet to ride on the sled. That was the best way to travel in those days." ) ) ) J ) J J J J __, .J .J ...) __, ...) ...) J J J J .J Benedita went to first grade at the agency, but thereafter she went to school at the Arroyo, (over the hill and below the present locker plant slaughter house). Fabian Martinez had built a tavern, dance hall, cafe, rooming house, etc. along the railroad tracks one mile west of Ignacio. Benedita liked the Arroyo school better because the teacher could explain things in Spanish, if necessary. In 1910 the Luceros moved to a place on the hill west of Ignacio, then they bought a place in Ignacio in 1911 {the same house where the La Febres now live). That was the year of the flood. Everyone who was at least 5 years old in 1911 remembers the flood . It rained for a week. All the people in the valley got flooded out. "We had to go through deep water in a wagon to get my grandmother out of her house. Many people spent 2-3 days in their attics. Others were lost, especially down along the San Juan." "Chrestino and his parents were our neighbors south of Ignacio for a long time. He was a nice boy. I had known him for a long time and always liked him. In those days there was a dance in Ignacio every Saturday. That was about our only entertainment. We often went to the dances together and knew one another well when we got married. For a year we lived with my parents, then got our own place west of Ignacio near the Pine River Switch (not far from Joe Chavez). We raised a garden, wheat, corn and hay. Most of our shopping was done in Bayfield because prices were cheaper than in Ignacio. 29 �A lime of great sadness came to the Lucero family in 1918. Benedita's mother was one of the thousands in this nation who died of the swine flu that year. Two years later Leandro married Marie Chavez. They had one daughter, Elisa, (now Mrs. Bennie Herrera). Chrestino and Bennedito had 5 children: Ray, Ophelia (Mestas), Helen (Cruz), Lloyd and Chrestino, Jr. In 1925 Chrestino went to Utah for 2 years to work in the mines. He earned good money, saved it, and in 1927 had enough to buy his first car, a new Chevrolet. The Casias bought a place on the hill west of Ignacio soon afterwards. "We bought the land from Arthur Smith, who at that time lived over near Jerry Young's place. We enjoyed our life here. Our kids were good kids. I guess about the only lime we overworked them, at least some of them think so, was in carrying water. For a long time the kids had to bring water from the spring down the hill. Some of them used to say they were going to become hunch-backed from all that carrying, but they didn't." Chrestino died February 16, 1974. For years he had played the guitar and violin well and was frequently asked to play for parties and dances. He will be remembered a long lime for this ability. Benedita still lives at home. Occasionally, she visits her children in Utah and California, but mostly she stays home and spends a little time each day remembering both the good and the bad times of the days long ago. Best wishes to her for many more years of happiness and good memories. April, 1976 -- Shelby Smith 30 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Maria Benedita (Lucero) Casias Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-04 Subject The topic of the resource Casias, Maria Benedita (Lucero); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Maria Benedita (Lucero) Casias based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the April, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Casias, Maria Benedita (Lucero) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/0938f1966092e7db8c38682b6766738d.pdf 90e4e91104c0351ecc6771c79bc27179 PDF Text Text -, ") ") ', ', JUAN RAMON AND CLEO (Vallejo) CHAVEZ } J l i ) J ) ) -, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ..J ..) Many Canyons drain the east face of the Sambritas Range into the Piedra River. Most of them are narrow and steep, running torrents of water in the spring thaw, then gradually slackening off and drying up by mid summer. One exception is Ignacio Canyon. Partly because of a good spring, water runs in it all year. In 1904 Liberate Chavez and his wife Frances, traveled up the Piedra look.ing for a homestead site. When Liberate saw the flow of water out of Ignacio Canyon, he explored it and found a suitable place for a ranch operation. The house he built beside the creek was made of logs planted vertically in the ground like a stockade. The roof was supported by logs, crossed by poles and willows and sealed with mud. The walls were plastered with mud and the result was a small, but warm and suitable cabin. Distinct bands of blue, yellow and white clay were exposed in the walls of the canyon. The Chavez family and many of their neighbors in the river valley dissolved the clay into a thin calcimine paint and used it to finish the interior walls of their adobe homes. Liberate raised grains and hay and herded up to 250 sheep and 70 goats in the hills around the homestead and up in Brushy Basin which drains into the canyon. Frances devoted much of her time to a large garden which produced most of the family's needs. In sp1te of all his efforts to provide for their needs on the ranch, he found it necessary to work cutting timber, shearing sheep or laboring in the farms in the Piedra Valley for extra income. In the spring of 191 1 Liberate and his brother were working across the river and it began to rain. Spring rains are not unusual in Colorado, but this one wouldn't stop. The rain came in blowing torrents. Liberate and his brother stayed under cover for a day or so and still the rain came. As it continued, Liberate grew afraid. He could picture Frances and his children in the cabin beside Ignacio Creek which was already swollen with the spring thaw. He could imagine it rising higher now. Finally, Liberate could wait no longer. Since there was no chance of fording the river, he went to the D. & R. G. W. Railway bridge and his heart sank when he saw it. The Piedra was a raging, foaming rush of water. All that remained of the bridge was the rails still bolted together and swaying in the wind. Though it was foolhardy, he inched across one of the strings of rails and made his way up the canyon. The family was fine. They had packed food and clothing and were camping on a spot higher up the hill. The house survived, though the creek came close. The rain continued unabated for 11 days. When it stopped, the river had changed course in many places and familiar landmarks had disappeared forever. ....) ....) ...) ...) J ...) At the time of the flood, the Chavezes had three children: Joe, Mary and Juan. Juan Ramon Chavez had been born on August 21, 1910. His parents were married at Blanco, then lived for a while in Rosa before moving to the homestead. One of Juan's earliest childhood impressions of mountain life concerned the cycle of hard times. He recalls, "It was always hard to store enough food and save enough money for the winter. As the weather turned cold you either had enough or you didn't. There, wasn't any we lfare. The store in Rosa might give you credit. Otherwise you were on your own." ...) J J J .J .J A few years after Juan was born a very exciting thing happened in the canyon. The Candelaria•Fowler Lumber Mill was built about a mile below the homestead. The 31 �company built houses for employees, provided a commissary and put up a school house. School was open during summer so that weather would not interfere so much. Liberato worked at the mill and times were easier until suddenly it closed in 1919. The people moved and the school closed. As the years passed, Juan was given more and more responsibility with the flock. "Because of the work we never got to go to school over at Stollsteimer Creek till late in the fall. Then we'd have to quit about April 2oth because the river would get too high to ford." Juan's youngest brother, Dave was born in 1920. In 1925 when Juan was 15, his mother died of pneumonia. "It got hard then," Juan says. "II was all my father and Joe and I could do to take care of the herds and work outside for cash income. There was no more garden." In 1927 Liberate married again. After about two years a daughter was born to them, and shortly afterward Liberato's second wife died also. When this happened, the Chavezes moved out of the canyon lo a rented farm on Stollsteimer Creek. Joe left the farm to work out for wages. Shortly afterward Mr. Chavez left for the same reason. Juan stayed for a while lo help his uncle on the ranch. Haying has always been back-breaking work. It certainly was during Johnny's generation. Early forms of the machinery now used began lo appear on the farms when Juan was a young man working on the ranch. The machinery was set up by the haystacks and required 3 operators, one to throw hay out of the stack, one to feed the machine and one to tie the bales. The 100 pound bales were taken to the depot and shipped out. Juan worked 2 years for the McDonalds. He was paid 50 cents per day. That amounted to $182.50 per year. In the winter he sawed green pinon for firewood. "When the green wood is frozen hard, ii splits easily." Juan couldn't resist a pay raise when he heard about jobs paying a dollar a day over in the San Luis near Del Norte. "I irrigated and helped with haying. When this ended, I got a job as camp tender with the sheep up west of the Rio Grande near Creede. I always enjoyed living up in the high mountains. We made fish hooks out of baling wire and caught some big fish in those creeks." Johnny had several girlfriends, but the one he kept remembering was a girl named Cleo Vallejo, whom he met at his brother Joe's wedding in 1929. "She was very pretty and shy." During the next several years Johnny worked at several jobs including the Forest Service, sheep-herding and clearing land for farmers. In 1938 Johnny and Cleo were married. They lived on Stollsteimer Creek for a while before moving to Pagosa. Later the Chavezes came to Ignacio to help Joe in his shoe repair shop. It wasn't long, however, till Juan was back on the farm where he is today. Cleo's parents were Alex and Marsh Vallejo. She was born in Blanco N.M. on April 9, 1915. Alex was a sheepherder, sheepshearer and farmer all his life. When Clep was 9 months old, her parents came to Ignacio and lived in this area and Oxford all their lives. 32 �,, ,, I"") 'l 'l ,,.., J 'l 'l ) } ) Juan and Cleo were separated for several years during the 1940's and S0's, but they got back together and still live on the farm NW of Ignacio Juan bought in 1945. "We got the farm for $400.00 down. We started with one cow and a pickup. Gradually we built up our stock and raised grain. We've tried sheep and cows and back to sheep." Juan and Cleo have worked hard all their lives and as many neighbors will attest, they have also been good friends, ready to help when help was needed. Juan learned to play the violin and guitar when he was a little boy. His parents ordered instruments through the mail. At first they were a complete mystery to Juan. All he learned, he picked up himself and though times have changed and age takes its toll, Juan's love of music is something no one can take away. ) April, 1976 Shelby Smith ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) } •) ) ) ) J J .J ..J J J J J ._) J_ J ...J .J .J .J 33 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Juan Ramon Chavez and Cleo (Vallejo) Chavez Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-12 Subject The topic of the resource Chavez, Juan Ramon; Chavez, Cleo (Vallejo) Description An account of the resource Biography of Juan Ramon Chavez and Cleo (Vallejo) Chavez based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the December, 1975 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Chavez, Juan Ramon; Chavez, Cleo (Vallejo) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/bba23690118b7331f99a509d2b7836a9.pdf a0e31da66d7665089489df896680523b PDF Text Text JULIUS and MOLLY TOBIAS (Buck) CLOUD "When I was born in 1895, there was no town here - only the depot and the agency and a country store over where the grade school is now. It was all Indian land from Pagosa to Utah. Not many houses. Tribal members lived in tepees and it was a good life. There were tepees all up and down the rivers." There are only the beginnings of Julius Cloud's memories of the old days in the Pine River Valley. Julius was born on May 30, 1895, the son of Edwin and Ruth Cloud. He lives on the same place where he was born three and one half miles south of town. "Ignacio was a field then. John Green used to plow a piece of ground down by the station and I liked to follow along behind and play in the soft dirt." Julius enrolled in the boarding school and then at the Allen Day School and finally, was transferred to the Indian School at Santa Fe, N.M. "It was OK at Santa Fe - not very good food, but we got to meet Indian kids from all over the country. Julian Baker and I and several other Utes were there. We had school and learned to drive a car and played football and baseball, which I really liked." After three years Julius returned from Santa Fe. He and several of his friends started an All Indian Baseball Team. "We played Mancos, Cortez, Pagosa and Silverton and by charging admission to the games, we paid for all of our trips and equipment. We traveled to and from our games in a Model T. No matter how deep the mud was, we never got stuck. Cars aren't that good today. Later-we got a Model A to carry more people, but the Model T was the best car. After we won the championship at Pagosa, we disbanded the team. James Baker was one of our best players. He later got on one of the professional teams in Denver." Julius remembers the store Mr. Burns had up near the Catholic Church. The building later was moved to downtown Ignacio across from the drug store and for a while was used to show the old-fashioned picture shows. Julius liked to go to the pow-wows. Some good ones were held at Navajo Springs, south of present day Towaoc. Julius learned to sing for the dances. He still knows some of the songs, but doesn't participate anymore because "it's too much effort." When he was about 20, the U.S. entered the First World War and Julius was drafted. He and Andy Frost, Frank Baker, George Brown and John Hays were sent to Camp Cody, N.M. for basic training. From there he was shipped to Camp Dixon, New Jersey, and from there to England and France. On the trip east, Julius' troop stopped in Chicago. He had never seen such big buildings or such smoky skies. Julius remembers, "It was so bad they had to turn on electric lights during the day and railroads ran overhead on platforms two or three levels high." As they left New York Harbor on the troop ship, everyone watched the Sta Lue uf LiiJerly slowly disappear. On the ocean Julius could noo the curvature of the earth and from the looks of it, couldn't understand why the water didn't run off somewhere. When the ship arrived in England, many of the troops had the influenza, some died. Everyone was quarantined for 21 days. Crossing the English Channel was like crossing a big river. France was a green country. All the roads were lined with trees which overshadowed the road. At every crossroads were religious statues. The wine districts were quite a sight. 34 �.., .., .., ,, .. ' ' ' ) ' ~) l ' ' -) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J ) _) J _) J J J There were whole hillsides covered with vineyards and piles of grapes ready for the wine vats. Life at the front was pretty bad. Each soldier carried an 80 lb, pack with a short shovel for trench-digging. One of the horrors of WWI was the poison gas. As a part of training, the soldiers were sent into a room to experience a small dose of gas, Julius says, "I cheated. After about 8-10 minutes they let us out. Everyone but me was coughing and crying and struggling to get his breath, I had hid my head under my coat and breathed through my clothes. When the officers saw me, they said, "What's the matter with that Indian Chief? He didn't feel it." There were soldiers from many nations involved in the war. Julius recalls, "the Germans wore green uniforms; the Americans had khaki, Some had grey with red buttons. I think they were the British, Sometimes the shelling would be so bad that the ground would shake. A few times I felt like I should say 'Goodbye America."' Sometimes during the three years Julius while was in France, he doubted he would ever get home a.gain. After a long time of waiting, Julius and one of his friends got leave to go to Paris, expecting it to be a happy relief from the front, but Paris was a grim city, overcrowded with refugees and short of food. "We had to stand in long lines just to get black rye bread. Julius also remembers there was no real Christmas in France. One year all we had for Christmas dinner was bread, bacon and oatmeal." In 1930 Julius married Molly Tobias Buck, They had six children. The oldest was Neil, then Jerry, Elliot, Darwin, Irene and Renee. Darwin died when he was about 20, All the others survive. Life was a hard in the 1930's, but Julius says he and his family got along just fine. A dollar bought a lot in 1930. He worked as a jockey for several years and enjoyed this work very much, "When I rode for people around Ignacio, I got fifty cents every time I won a race. When the tracks opened up in Durango and Cortez, I got $2.00 and $3.00 for winning. Later Julius did some farming and some sheepherding and was on the police force. He worked as a maintenance engineer at a school in Dulce for a while. Now he leases his land and stays on the home place. Some of Julius best memories are of the years when he was a boy growing up with Max Watts and Martin Hayes. We liked to play in the water down at the river all summer and fish and make bows and arrows and run in the woods. It was a happy life. This May Julius will celebrate his 80th birthday. For a person of that age he's amazingly strong and healthy. Shelby Smith, January, 1975 J .) J J J J J J J J J J 35 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Julius Cloud and Molly Tobias (Buck) Cloud Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-01 Subject The topic of the resource Cloud, Julius; Cloud, Molly Tobias (Buck) Description An account of the resource Biography of Julius Cloud and Molly Tobias (Buck) Cloud based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the January, 1975 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cloud, Julius; Cloud, Molly Tobias (Buck) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/fd11b908dbaf557a5e51d82217620de1.pdf 6f36d48b8f8bd2a849449e26823e2645 PDF Text Text ED AND EVA (Silva) COOK Basswood Lake on the Canadian Border in Minnesota is the traditional home of the Ft. Bois Band of the Chippewas. The band has lived there as long as anyone remembers. Edward James Cook was born there in 1907. His parents, Joseph Cook and Mary Defoe Cook lived in a log house in a small village near the lake. Edward, Sr. could have maintained a simple life at the lake, but he had different ambitions. The Duluth and Iron Railroad has branch lines to the lumber camp near the reservation. Edward, Sr. went to work for the railroad. By the time Ed, Jr. was old enough .to be interested in trains, his father was an engineer. "Many times I rode in the cab of the steam engine with my father. He'd take a load of logs to the junction of the main line, then back to the lumber camp." But once back home the Indian ways prevailed. The Chippewas practiced a seminomadic life. Each family in the village had a log house which they used in the winter. But in summer, they each brought out a tepee and headed for the woods. A choice of many beautiful campsites was available and became the subject of much debating and speculation among the clan. The clan moved several times each summer according to the whim of the leaders as to the availability of fruits, nuts, berries, etc. (Lakes, ponds, streams, meadows, and deep woods were the options). Each season of the year the north woods offered their bounty .. Fruits and berries in the summer, nuts, and wild rice in fall, deer and moose to hunt all year round and maple sugar in the spring. "I can remember my grandmother boiling the maple syrup in a large iron kettle. She made sugar cakes and regular sugar - all good. In the summer time, if someone killed a moose, he would invite the whole band (5-6 families) to come share the meat. The whole bunch would move their camp to the site of the kill, butcher the animal and begin a feast with dancing and celebrating. Any meat remaining would be smoked and dried and distributed among the families." At six years of age little Ed was sent to the B.I.A. school at Pipestone, Minn. Through the years he attended a number of schools in Minnesota and South Dakota. In 1918 the flu epidemic hit the reservation hard, but since Ed's school was in an isolated area, the students escaped the epidemic. When Ed was a young man, he came to Towaoc, Colorado, to visit his sister, Tina Ulibarri. When a job came available, Ed took it and decided to stay. The B.I.A. sent him away to Diesel School so that he could operate electric power plants on the reservations. However, the most interesting thing Ed encountered at Towaoc was not a new job, but a young lady named Eva Silva. "I was a lonely bachelor and Eva was an available young working woman. We began dating and going to the movies in Cortez. Before long we decided to get married," Maria Eva Silva is the daughter of Eliseo Silva, a Santa Clara Indian and Henrietta Johnson Silva, a Southern Ute (Henrietta's Indian name was Cora.) Eva was born at her parent's home on Red Mesa in 1915. Eliseo was a hard-working, ambitious farmer. He raised wheat, hay, and all the family food -- vegetables, turkeys, chickens, pigs, geese, 36 �r') -, 'l 'J -, l J ' J ..., ) ) ) } ) ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) cattle, etc. San Juan and Plata, Eva's grandparents, lived nearby. Their English names were Samuel and Phoebe Johnson. "We had a beautiful life there," Eva remembers. "In those days the La Plata was a large river (before so much irrigation water was taken from it.) We played in the meadows and under the trees by the river. It was a peaceful and beautiful life. Whenever my dad wanted to visit his family, he hitched one team to the covered wagon and the other to the buggy. We followed the La Plata River to Farmington, then to Blanco where we forded the San Juan, across country to Regina, then to Coyote , and Abiquiu and on to Santa Clara. The trip required several days. We took plenty of supplies. I clearly remember the blue enamel kerosene heater Dad used to heat the wagon if it got too cold at night. The feasts at Santa Clara were wonderful. First there was a Mass, then a procession, then Indian dancing and feasting. Visitors could go into any house to eat." In 1918 this idyllic way of life was interrupted. Eva's mother and grandmother both died in the flu epidemic. A Mexican couple came to share the work on the farm and to take care of the children. When they left, Kitty Cloud came to help take care of the children. In 1920 Eliseo died of appendicitis. Eva and her two brothers were sent to the boarding school at Towaoc. In the summers they came back to Breen to stay with their uncle, Henry Johnson, on the farm. When Eva was 14, she moved to La Boca to live with her cousin Margaret Wright. Soon afterward she was sent to the vocational school at Albuquerque. Curtis Cutthair, Nettie Unca Sam and Nettie Burch Frost were all there. After she finished school at Albuquerque, Eva returned to Towaoc and was working in the hospital when she met Ed. Ed and Eva were married in 1936. Ed's career with the Indian service took him to many locations during the next 32 years. Shiprock, Toadelena, Window Rock, and finally back to Shiprock. Eva recalls, "I enjoyed living among the Navajo. I know there was an enmity between the Utes and the Navajos a long time ago, but I liked those people." _) J _) _) J J J Eva serves as chairperson of the Board of the Southern Ute Public Housing Authority. Ed keeps himself busy maintaining a beautiful yard and garden. At least they do these things when they are not traveling, which they do often. Marvin has sent Ed and Eva plane tickets to come spend Christmas with him and his family in California. We wish them a Merry Christmas and long and happy lives. December, 1976 -- SHELBY SMITH _) J J J J J J J J J J 37 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ed Cook and Eva (Silva) Cook Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-12 Subject The topic of the resource Cook, Ed; Cook, Eva (Silva); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Ed Cook and Eva (Silva) Cook based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the December, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cook, Ed; Cook, Eva (Silva) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/e0263dfdd97ffb760983e83943fb3566.pdf 719da150a3b2fd0cd2e036670e723591 PDF Text Text BEN & CARMEN (Valencia) CORDOVA Joe M, Cordova and his wife Manuelita were living in Silverton in 1914 when their first child was born, Joe was stationed there to work for the D. & R.G.H Railroad. Jose Ben was born March 31, 1914, "That was a bad winter, My dad tells me the snow was 3 feet deep in Silverton, People had to dig a trench to get out of their homes. My folks left Silverton soon afterward and came to Durango. Dad got a job at the smelter. When I got old enough to go down there, I would watch them bring in the railroad cars with the ore. It was already crushed and ready to go into the furnaces. Gold, Silver, lead and other metals were extracted. Three hundred men worked there every shift. Just as kids are crazy about cars today, we were crazy about horses and rodeos. My uncle kept race horses, some of them very expensive ones. Whenever there was a race or a rodeo at the fair grounds, we would go. Once when I was still a small boy, my parents told me to stay home, but that didn't stop me. As soon as they were gone, I headed for the railroad tracks and walked all the way to the fairgrounds. I was barefooted with a pair of bib overalls and a baseball cap. I enjoyed myself and raced home before my parents returned. My Dad asked me, 'Did you go to the rodeo today?' I said, 'No, I stayed home.' Again my dad asked me, 'Did you go to the rodeo today?' I said, 'No, I stayed home,' He then asked, 'Well, who was that barefoot boy with a baseball cap and the bib overalls?' The result was a good spanking for me.'' When I was old enough, my parents enrolled me in Sacred Heart School. Little did they know I would get into a fight with a nun on my second day at school. It happened this way. I sat down behind an Anglo girl. She told me she didn't want a dirty Mexican sitting behind her. Since the backs of the seats were slatted, I kicked her a good one between the slats. When she told on me, the nun came over and shook me. I did not take this peacefully. I fought back and in the process I pulled the nun's habit off her head. After a couple of years at Sacred Heart, my parents enrolled me in Park School which liked better since it bad playgrounds and better facilities. On weekends and in the summer, I spent a lot of time with my Herrera Grandparents at Marvel, If my parents weren't going down there in the wagon, I walked. My grandfather told me I wouldn't have to walk if I could catch some of the wild burros in the hills. The one I caught was very useful. I broke him to pull a cart. In the evenings and on the weekends the burro and I went up the road west of Durango where the coal wagons passed. Coal was spilled all along the way. In an hour or so I could pick up a load of it to sell in Durango, Another way to make some money in the summer was to herd cows for the town folks. Many people in town had a milk cow, but no pasture, For $2.50 per month I would take a person's cow to the hillside south of Smelter Mountain or up on the hill where Ft, Lewis College is now to graze all day. Then before milking time I herded all of them home. I would have a bunch of them. The first few days each summer, it was a chase trying to keep them together on the way out of town and a mess sorting them out to the right barns when we got back to town, but after a few days they calmed down and knew right where to go." As Ben got older he herded sheep for the Bodos, worked on the D. & R.G. Railroad, the Colorado & Southern Railroad(which ran the Galloping Goose) and finally got a job at the Castle Coal Mine. In 1942 Ben came to the San Ignatius Festival in Ignacio and was introduced to a young lady who was a friend of Ben's sisters and his brother Vic. Carmen Valencia met Ben at the dance. Carmen says, "I liked to go on dates and to dance but if a young man showed any extra interest in me, I just turned them off. That night at the dance I wanted 38 �,...., ,...., "I ') "I J to dance with everyone, but this one man kept coming back and back. He was so persistent. That was in July. He kept coming back all summer and during the fall. Finally, we were married in November of 1942. ~") } J J ) ) J ) ') ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) .J ) _) _) _) ·J ,._) J .J ...) Carmen's grandparents came into the San Juan Valley in 1876. Five families left the Huerfano country near Walsenburg in covered wagons. They camped and traveled for three months following the valleys westward. In September the caravan arrived at Turley near the present site of the Navajo Dam. Carmen's mother, Benerita Valdez, was born that fall. She was the first baby born among the pioneer immigrants in this area. When Benerita was grown, she married Manuel Valencia. They farmed in the San Juan Valley in New Mexico until 1927. That year two of their children died within two months. These tragedies prompted them to move to Colorado. Carmen was only five years old at the time, but she remembers how her mother kept count of the number of times the family forded the Pine river on the way. Since there was no road over the ridge to Ignacio, the Valencias simply followed the river. The valley is narrow and winding and steep cliffs rise abruptly first on one side, then on the other. Benerita became curious about how many crossings they would make. She tore the hem loose from one of Manuel's handkerchiefs and tied a knot every time they reached a ford. By the time they reached Ignacio, there were 13 knots in the hem. The family leased Harry Richard's farm near La Boca. Manuel died in 1931. Carmen and her mother moved to town. "When I started to school," Carmen says, "I could speak hardly a word of English. If we spoke Spanish there, we were put in the closet. When I was 16, my brother that was supporting us, decided to get married. I decided to go to work. The pay was not high. Household work 8-12 paid 25 cents. Also, I did baby-sitting and whatever I could find. Mother watched me like a hawk. I loved to dance and mother would take me, but if I danced more then three times with any one boy, we went straight home. I was 21 when I married Ben. We moved to one of the cabins west of Durango near the Castle Coal mine. Ben's shift was from 6:00 am to 3:00 pm. I was very spoiled and not used to being alone. I was afraid of the owls hooting in the woods. Our cabin had no curtains or blinds and to top it off, shortly after we got settled there was a report of a killer on the loose west of Durango. Well, I made newspaper blinds. If there was a killer on the loose, I didn't want to see him. After a year we moved to Ignacio. Ben worked for the county for a while until he was hired by Okla Lunsford. Then Dan Sandoval taught Ben all he knew about slaughtering animals. Ben worked in the slaughter house and the locker plant all his life until he recently retired because of disability." Carmen and Ben built their own house in 1950. They hired Pete Valdez to make the adobe bricks (1500 of them for $100.00). Each brick weighed 22 pounds and had to be turned every 3 days until dry. "It was a lot of work", Carmen recalls, "but we didn't mind it, we were so eager to have our own home." J The Cordovas had three children, Vickie, who now lives in Vail; Carmen (known to most people as Dee Dee) and Charles James who died when he was 6 years old. In 1961 they adopted Anthony. There are three grandchildren who, according to Carmen, "are the light of our lives". They are Daniel Ben Ryder, Deann Carmen Ryder and Dawn Garcia. Both Carmen and Ben are busy in community and church work. We wish them many more years of happiness. -~ J February, 1977 -- By Shelby Smith ...J ...J ...J .J .J J .J 39 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ben Cordova and Carmen (Valencia) Cordova Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-02 Subject The topic of the resource Cordova, Ben; Cordova, Carmen (Valencia) Description An account of the resource Biography of Ben Cordova and Carmen Cordova based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith in February, 1977. Included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cordova, Ben; Cordova, Carmen (Valencia) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/2bb60b490242449f311ee2924a071726.pdf ea97c817c7910dd1616eaf72fa0d6969 PDF Text Text CONRADO DESIDERIO (C.D.) CRUZ On a warm day about the middle of May a wagon came rattling along a rocky road. At the crest of a small rise the clear swift Navajo River came into view. The shouts of the children and the smile on their mother's face were signs almost as plain as the warmth of the day that the long cold mountain winter was over and once again the time of new life and renewal had begun. The wagon stopped on a grassy rise near the river. The mother gave swift directions. "Ben, unhitch the team. Conrado, unload the wagon. Manuel, gather some firewood. Lucio, get a pail of water right away." The Cruzes camped at the river several times a year for a very simple reason. When you can't take the river to the wash, you take the wash to the river. Bedding, quilts, mattress covers, clothing, curtains, and every other washable item in the household was brought the eight miles to the river several times a year, washed by hand in the rocky shallows on the washboard, dried, folded and carried home smelling sweetly of mountain air and sunlight. Each wash required 3-4 days. The boys fished, hunted, waded in the river, frolicked, ate like mules, helped with the washing chores when necessary and enjoyed the whole affair. Conrado Desiderio (C. D.) Cruz, 2nd son of Leandro and Rafelita Cruz was born in Chimayo, N. M., on February 19, 1914. The family moved to Chama, then to Haines north of Cuba and finally to Dulce where Leandro worked in a lumber mill. Leandro wanted land of his own. When he heard about a homestead available near the town of Edith, he took the chance and filed on 160 acres of dry land. Soon afterward the Cruzes settled on the land. Their neighbors came in force, chopped down trees, hauled logs and helped erect a well-constructed, warm log house. This same cooperative spirit prevailed during the rest of the year. "Our neighbors watched one another's fields. Wherever the wheat ripened first, the whole neighborhood would gather for the harvest. The wheat was cut with hand scythes and tied in small bundles. As soon as one field was finished, the neighbors would move to the next ripe field. If the moon was bright, the men often stayed with the job until 12:00 or 1:00 o'clock. Everyone enjoyed helping their neighbors and got a lot of work done together. I think people were happier then." The Cruzes raised most of what they ate - potatoes, beans, habas, squash, peas, fruit, wheat, oats and blue corn. Whenever they needed flour, they and their neighbors would take several wagon loads of wheat and corn to the mill at Bayfield or the one at Tierra Amarilla. It would take several days to reach the mills and then perhaps a week for the grain to be ground. Those who had money paid for the grinding. Those who had no money could pay the mill with grain. It was a good thing the Cruzes raised their own wheat. C,D. says with a family of eleven it was common to use up a 50 lb. sack of flour each week. Garden produce was either dried or kept in the cellar. Dried apples, apricots and peaches were apportioned out to the children during the winter. The children relished these fruits as much as any Sunday sucker. C.D. did not get to attend school every year and when he did, it was usually for only 2-3 months in the winter. He rode a burro to school 8 miles across the border in Colorado, carrying hay for the animal and lunch for himself in a 3 lb. lard can. "I wasn't any angel," C.D. freely admits. "Whenever, the teacher sent a student to the river for willows, it was usually me or Ben they were used on." When it came to throwing rocks, dipping a girl's pigtails in ink, getting into fights or playing hookey, it was C.D. involved more often than not. A girl named Margie Abeyta was a special problem to C.D. "She was a bookworm and a tattle-tale. Even when I hadn't done anything, she would tell on me and the teacher would always believe her." C.D. hated old Margie as only children can hate. He 40 �"l -, -, -, ., ., would never have believed it if anyone had ever told him that Margie would one day be his wife. ) ' ') ' ") -) ) -) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J J J ) J ..J _) _) ...J During the summers C.D. and Ben were assigned to herd the sheep in the hills near their home. C.D. "suffered" from a strange affliction which can only be called 'sleeping sickness'. "As soon as we'd get the flock over the first hill, I'd find a shady patch of bushes and go to sleep." Ben complained, Mr. Cruz threatened, but C.D. couldn't resist the lure of his siestas. "Dad caught me one day, took me straight to the house and told Mother to put me to bed and keep me there all day. I couldn't sleep a wink in the house. I guess that broke me." Over the next ten years Leandro and Rafelita slowly increased their flock until they had about 1,000 head. C.D. remembers November of 1931. "The lambs had been separated and taken down from the high country. The ewes were still there. No one expected 7 feet of snow that winter -- much less did they expect it to start this early. Overnight 3-4 feet fell. The herdsmen started immediately for their winter grounds in Gobernador Canyon. It continued to snow. We broke a trail for the flock with the horses and mules until their legs were sore and bleeding. Every day many sheep died. We finally realized the snow was as deep at Gobernador as it was in the mountains and just gave up. Only about 50 sheep survived. That winter just about wiped out everybody." One year C.D.'s cousin, who had bought 10 acres up on the Navajo River, hired him and Ben to clear the willows. They worked 15 days for a .22 rifle and a guitar; then another 5 days for a violin. Neither of the boys had ever played an instrument before, nor was there anyone to give them lessons, but they taught themselves to play and soon were being hired for parties, weddings and other celebrations. When times got hard in the 30's, C.D. joined the CCC and was sent to camp at Los Alamos, N.M. He was paid $25.00 per month. $20.00 was sent home and the other $5.00 was issued to the boys in the form of coupons for candy, cigarettes, etc. The boys were often given passes to Espanola or Albuquerque or Santa Fe for the weekends, but anyone who had not returned to camp by bed check was put on K. P. duty for 2-3 months. Conrado was on K.P. a lot of the time. When C.D. and Margie Abeyta (his old enemy from grade school) decided to get married, both sets of parents were opposed. Their reasoning was simply that a horse and a mule should not get married. C.D. was known as a hell-raiser and Margie was a school teacher and pretty much the same book worm as before; but in spite of the opposition, they were married in 1935. C.D. worked as a logger while Margie taught school. From 1939-48 C.D. herded sheep in Utah from spring to late fall and spent the winters at home. They had four children - Yvonne, David, Sofie and Deanne. Margie died in 1955. After working in the coal mines in Dragerton, Utah, and on the pipe lines near Farmington, C.D. moved to Ignacio and married Concie Keys - - - - - - (missing last page) . ...) November, 1974 - Shelby Smith ...J ...) ...) ,..) ,..) ,..) ....J ...J 41 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conrado Desiderio (C.D.) Cruz Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-11 Subject The topic of the resource Cruz, Conrado Desiderio; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Conrado Desiderio Cruz based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the November, 1974 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cruz, Conrado Desiderio Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/d3ba0469ae5f1519b4b1d0e51245cb4d.pdf c810f46e5c1762b56e5ebf73a71e267d PDF Text Text BELLE (Williams) CUTHAIR Belle Hancock Williams, one of seven children of Price Williams and Maria Capote William, was born in the Florida Valley of La Plata County, Colorado, on January 12, 1906. "My parents owned a frame house in the valley just south of where the narrow gauge railroad crossed the Florida River. (1& 1/2 miles south of where the present U.S. 160 crosses the river.) The valley was not cleared for hay fields then. II was full of sage brush. There were huge clumps, some 5 feet tall and so thick we used it for firewood. My parents could hunt and fish and gather wild food, but my father wanted better things for his family. He decided he would have a better chance for jobs if he could speak English, so after he was married, he went to Fl. Lewis to learn English. When he came home, he brought a Navajo boy named Jake who was in trouble with the Ft. Lewis people. Jake stayed with us a long lime and helped with the work. My father got a job at the lumber mill. He drove a team lo drag logs. He had his own horses and mules and donkeys. He cut wild timothy down by the river and in hollows watered by the springs coming out of the Florida Mesa. Our nearest neighbors were a Mormon family. They loaned my father their mowing machine and then he would share the hay. Every summer and fall my parents sent me out to pick blue berries, chokecherries, buffalo berries and Indian bananas (the fruit of the soap weed). The Indian bananas were my favorite. When the stalk gets dry and the pods hang down their heads in the fall, they are ready lo pick. They are as sweet as apricots. I've been back to the places where we used to pick them, but the deer and elk always get them first. We also picked wild onions and wild spinach. Sometimes my parents bought a bitter plant from the Mexicans for medicine." After a few years, Belle's parents moved over to her grandparent's farm 3 1/2 miles north of La Pasta in the Animas Valley. Belle soon learned all about milking goats and herding sheep. "Most of the milk we made into keso (cheese). It's a simple thing. You boil the milk. Squeeze the juice from the Soap Weed into the milk and boil it some more. Let ii cool. Then put the milk in a cloth and let all the water drip out. The keso we made was something like cottage cheese." Belle was finally sent to the Indian School at Ignacio. She well remembers the big sign there which said, "Don't talk Indian," but even so Belle mostly enjoyed the school. "It was more fun than milking goats and herding sheep!" Belle's mother died when she was fourteen. "I stayed with my grandparents for a while. Then I got a job at La Pasta working for the Candelario Vigil family who owned the store and dance hall there. I cleaned, carried water and helped with the cooking. I lived with that family two years and they treated me very well. In 1922 Superintendent McKeen sent me to school at Towaoc. In the summers I didn't have any place to go, so I got a job working at the Wrightsman Hotel in Mancos. Ellen Watts and I both worked there two summers. We washed dishes, ironed table cloths, 42 �picked berries and cherries and currents and made them into ice cream and pies. Near the end of the second summer Ellen and I heard about the Spanish Fiesta in Durango. Our jobs were about to end at the hotel, so we took the train to Durango to watch the games and the races. When we found the Indian camp, we located Daisy Eagle, Ellen's sister. She took us home with her to Spring Creek." Belle attended the Haskell Institute in Kansas until she was 18. When she came back to Colorado, she worked for the hotel at Mancos again. Ellen Watts got married and it wasn't long till Belle had married Curtis Cuthair. "I met Curtis in Mancos. We had known one another several years. Finally, one summer Curtis came to see and said, "I don't have a family of my own. I'd like to settle down and have a family to be long to." Curtis had been to trade school. He got a job operating the steam heating system at the Agency in Ignacio. In his spare time he farmed his place north of Ignacio where the family home is located . Belle and Curtis had seven children, Richard, Garnet, Christine, Larry, Vera, Laverne, and Darlene. ) ) ) ) ) ) _) J _) J J .,_) .,_) J .J J Curtis probably never dreamed his wife would become a movie star, but that happened last year. Belle was selected to be in the cast of the movie "Winterhawk." She and Thelma Kuebler appeared in mountain scenes in their native dress. Belle enjoyed her part in the movie very much. Whether they knew it or not, when the casting crew chose Belle, they chose someone w ith authentic ties with and memories of the tribal history of this area. Belle says, "My grandmother was a half-sister to Ouray. My grandparents moved around with Ouray and fought the Comanches with him over the salt in the San Luis Valley. They chased the Comanches all the way to Antonito once and killed a lot of them. At one time there were Indian trails all through the mountains. My grandparents traveled there, hunting and fishing during the warm time and in the winter time settled in the valleys. I might know more about the old days, but when I was a child, it was not proper for children to ask many questions. When I wanted to know something, my mother would often say, 'Don't ask questions. Mind your own business. You are too young to know'." Belle's memories of her own time are very strong. "I can remember our home in the sage brush in the Florida Valley. I remember learning the worship dance from Tom Newton's mother and the oldest memory I have as a little child is the time - I must have been about three -when I was wrapped in a blanket and tied on my aunt's back and she was dancing and dancing and dancing. I can't forget things like that." February, 1976 -- Shelby Smith .,_) .,_) J J J J ·....J 43 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Belle (Williams) Cuthair Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1976-02 Subject The topic of the resource Cuthair, Belle (Williams); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Belle (Williams) Cuthair based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the February, 1976 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cuthair, Belle (Williams) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/69fe79e53079fabacc4018ce3e946988.pdf 25716e7a5fc9dfaff05dab6b2f8ea7d7 PDF Text Text ANDY AND LUCY (Valdez) DURAN Not many youngsters can say "I was the 14th child in my family." Fewer yet can say, "I was the 14th child in my family and I have 6 younger brothers and sisters," but Lucy Duran can make both statements. When asked what it's like to grow up in a house full of people, Lucy says, "My older brothers and sisters took care of me, carried me, dressed me and fed me. Mother was busy all the time. She never stopped. The older kids had to help with the younger ones because mother had only a little time to spend with each child. When Lucy was 4 years old her parents, Cornelio and Ferminia Valdez decided to leave Blanco, New Mexico, and moved to a farm south of Ignacio. "When I look back on those days, I think how poor we were, especially compared with today. We each had one set of clothes and one pair of shoes. When the shoes were worn completely out, father would try to buy us another pair." "Father and the boys were always busy on the farm. They raised grains and hay. We produced our own potatoes and beans and corn and everything else we could grow. Mother dried apricots and peaches and vegetables. In the fall our cellar was full of potatoes, squash and apples. After it was cold enough, the butchering would start. The hams were coaled with curing sugar, wrapped with cheese cloth and stored in the cool house. We hung a leg of beef outside and covered it with a sheet. Whenever-we wanted meat we went out and cut off whatever portion was needed. In the spring 1the leg of beef was moved into the cool house until it was used up." "We seldom ever came lo town except lo go to mass on Sunday. Dad and the boys hitched the team to the big wagon. To keep our dresses clean we threw quilts into the back of the wagon. If the weather was bad, we stayed home and Dad read the Bible to us." Transportation in the old days seems slow lo people today, but it was dangerous at times. Lucy recalls, "Once Dad and Mother and Mary were driving the wagon from La Boca to Ignacio. When the tail of one of the horses got caught in the reins, it became very frightened and bolted. The wagon turned over. Dad and Mary were unhurt, but Molhe~s leg was broken. After Dad got the wagon tipped up again, he lifted Mother inside and brought her to Dr. La Forge." Like most children of her generation, Lucy loved to ride horses. "We always rode bareback lo bring the cows in. We liked to ride fast and to race. At that time I would rather ride horses than anything." Lucy got lo go to school in the country a few years. then the family moved to town. "I was a little afraid to go to school in town because I could speak hardly any English, but I met Jesse Stauffer and Frances Copeland and we became good friends. Within a week or so I could get along with the English pretty well. I began earning my first money washing and ironing clothes for Mrs. Wayt (Vida Ritter's mother. ) I went early before school to wash and hang the clothes. At noon I would take them off the line and sprinkle them. Then in the evening I ironed them. I made $.75 an hour doing that." 44 �., ., ., ~ ., ~ J J ) ' ) ) ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) "Dad didn't care for dances, but Mother loved them. She often took us kids to the dances at the S.P.M.D.T.U. Hall. It was at one of the dances there that I met Andy Duran. Andy's first wife had died some time before. We dated for about two years and then decided to get married. Andy Duran was born in Durango on October 29, 1902. "Dad didn't care for dances, but Mother loved them. She often took us kids to the dances at the S.P .M.D.T.U. Hall. It was at one of the dances there that I met Andy Duran. Andy's first wife had died some time before. We dated for about two years and then decided to get married. Andy Duran was born in Durango on October 29, 1902. His mother died when he was still a small child, so his grandparents raised him in Rosa, N.M. Andy quit the 8th grade to go to work on the railroad. He was still working on the railroad when he and Lucy were married. The Duran's have 10 children, Andy Jr., Cornelio, Jack, Orlando, Rudy, Lillian, Eileen, Corinne, Martha and Yolanda. As a railroad employee, Andy and his family had-free tickets to ride the train. Most of their travel was back and forth to Durango for shopping and visits. In 1941 Andy was moved to Rico as Section Boss. After a couple of years there he got an opportunity to work in the mines at Telluride and Ophir and stayed with that for 12 years. That is definitely not easy work, but living there provided a magnificent place for the children to grow up. Probably no place in this country has more spectacular scenery or more opportunity for outdoor fun than the mountains around Telluride. Lucy remembers, "Our house was full of fishing gear, snow shoes and skis. The boys were out camping or hiking or fishing or hunting as much as they could. Even today the boys take their families over there and camp and fish and try to share that beautiful place with their children." ) ) ) ) ) ) _) ). _) Boys, even good boys like Andy's and Lucy's, are rascally at times. "They were in and out of mischief," Lucy recalls. "I especially remember the time they and their friends were daring one another to ride the tram cable across the valley." A tram with big ore buckets carried the ore from the mine down to the mill. Unknown to us the boys had been daring one another to jump up and grab a hold of the cable and hold on until it carried them across the valley to the next hill where they could jump off. I guess some of them had been doing it. Finally, it was Cornelia's time. What he didn't know was how close it was to 12:00 noon. At noon the mine whistle went off and everything, including the tram stopped while the miners had lunch. Cornelio was about halfway across the valley when the whistle blew and the cable stopped. Well, no one can hold on for an hour. Cornelia's arms gave out. He fell and fortunately, only broke a leg." ..) ..J .J J J J J ..J J J J .J ...) "For several years the family lived in company housing at the mine at Altus (Alta). Sometimes we were snowed in for a week, but we always had plenty of coal and plenty of food stocked up. Avalanches would cover the roads and the big rotary plows would have to come dig it all out." As anyone knows who lives around Ignacio, Andy and Lucy have wonderful children. Their method of child rearing is as follows: "We always tried to make our children understand that God should be first in people's lives and then a good education so that they can earn a living and be of use to others. Children should be whipped when they are bad until about age 12. From then on they have minds of their own and if they haven't learned right from wrong by then it's probably too late, anyway." 45 �When the mines closed around Telluride about 1954, the Durans moved back over to Ignacio. Andy did farm work around this area until it was time to retire. But like many other active people have discovered, retirement is not necessarily that much fun. So Andy is working again this summer. When asked if there is something she would like to do that's never been possible, Lucy replies, "I have always dreamed of going to Rome to see the Pope, but that's a long way over there." Even if Lucy never -gets to go, she and Andy can look back on a panorama of life experiences with many good memories. Their lives have spanned great changes in this country. Both still enjoy good health. We wish them many more years of health and happiness and wish their children many more reunions at Telluride. September, 1975 -- Shelby Smith 46 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Andy Duran and Lucy (Valdez) Duran Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-09 Subject The topic of the resource Duran, Andy; Duran, Lucy (Valdez) Description An account of the resource Biography of Andy Duran and Lucy (Valdez) Duran based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 1975 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Duran, Andy; Duran, Lucy (Valdez) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby