1 10 216 https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/c87cfe96f50f865ce81969db59a99464.pdf 10bab603218f4beca6714a9c2cfd002e PDF Text Text Anna Mae Alires -(Navajo) My name is Anna Mae Alires. I was born in Shiprock, NM. I am 72 years old. I had been in boarding school most of my life. I ended up here at the Ute Vocational School back in 1946 and graduated on my birthday in 1950. After that I worked in Durango cleaning people's houses. Then, I got married and had a daughter, but I got divorced about a year after that. I entered Fort. Lewis College (the old Fort Lewis in Hesperus). I lived in Durango and rode the school bus to the college every day. I just went a couple of years there, and then I got a job at Mercy Hospital for about a month until I applied for a job here at the Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA]. I was hired as secretary for the Branch of Education. When I was going to school here it was a vocational school where we learned how to cook, how to sew, how to be a homemaker. They boys learned farming: they took care of the garden and the chickens, and milked the cows. In the fall they would bring in the vegetables from the field. The girls would learn how to can. The boys would kill the chickens so that we could learn how to clean and dress them. We learned how to cook in our home economics class. Then, I graduated and I left. In '55 I got my job here at Bureau oflndian Affairs with Branch of Education. I really don't remember when they integrated with the public schools. Instead of going to school here at Ute Vocational, they started going down to the public school. We just stayed open to let them board and room here. We took in students (Indian students) from Crown Point area; that's in NM, and Ute Mountain. But, I enjoyed my work with Branc·h of Education. We dealt with the children and everything, and there were some that were ornery; we'd have to deal with them. I would have to take them home and tum them over to their parents, and their parents would have to return them to the school. Like I say, I enjoyed that work, but then it closed in '81, September 1981. The dorms closed entirely, and so I transferred over to Branch of Forestry up 'til 1990. I retired from there, but while I was working for the BIA, I had a part-time job as a dispatcher for the Southern Ute Police Department. I retired from that job on August .-.ro23rJ~2002. I came up here from St. Michael's in Arizona, and I really wasn't too happy there. It was a boarding school, too. The food wasn't that great. So, when I came to Ute Vocational this gal named Elsie Watts (she was from Ute Mountain) said, 'if you want to, you can room with me,' because here there were two to a room. When I was at St. Michael's it was a big room with a bunch of beds; you didn't have that much privacy. When I came here she said you can room with me, and I went up to the room and there were only two to a room; that was really something. And then she took me over to the dining hall. I was amazed, because the food ... I could not believe they were serving salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, meat, and all that. It was so different from St. Michael's. I really liked this place, because it was homier than that place. I had fun: I was a cheerleader (Elsie and I were). And, you know Stella Santistevan? I was a cheerleader with her sister. I stayed, because I liked this part of the country. So, I got my jobs here and I stayed, and all of my children were raised here. We don't know too much about our traditional way of life. I was orphaned when I was ... When I was born, my mom died. My dad didn't want me to be ratSed on the Navajo Reservation raising- sheep-; he didn't want me to have-a dozen kids raising �Page 2 of 3 sheep. He wanted me to get out and get educated, to get off the reservation. This German lady, she was on her way to take a bunch of children to Good Shepard Mission in Arizona. They didn't have any parents and it was an orphanage. My dad was late in bringing me in and she couldn't wait, so she took the other babies. But, when she came back I was in a room waiting for her. She never gave me up: she kept me, raised me until I got married. I was happy to have her take me, but I was never able to learn my language or to really learn about their traditions until later. When I was young it didn't really interest me, but now it does. I've been reading about the Navajo traditions and the Ute culture. I'm finding a lot on the Internet now. There is a lot on the Internet that you can read. We couldn't speak in our native languages at the Ute Vocational School. If you talked in you native language, you were punished (I was punished). I did learn a few words, and one was, 'shut up.' I would say that to the instructor and I got punished. They'd make you stand in the comer or something. But, all the time that I was going to school, we weren't really severely treated, we weren't treated harsh or anything. At Fort Lewis I wanted to become a secretary. I studied shorthand, typing, grammar and al that. And, then, I had to take other courses: Western Civilization. I don't remember what others, but I just took it long enough to where I'd be able to get a job. I didn't graduate or anything, or get a degree. I've got three children: one girl and two boys, and they were all raised here in Ignacio. I have got 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. They're all being raised here in Ignacio except for my youngest son's children; he moved to Cortez. That's about it, I retired and I'm enjoying my grandchildren. I was telling my children; when I was growing up, working and trying to raise them, I really didn't spend too much time with them. Because, they would be at school and I would be at work, we'd do our chores, and then they'd get ready for bed. Sometimes I took them to the movies. But, it seems like I'm spending a lot of time with my grandchildren, and I'm really enjoying it. All parents go through that, you know? (Especially when you're a single parent.) I've been telling my children what I went through, and I tell my grandchildren about how it was when I was growing up. I always dept a diary, and I started putting it on my computer. I told Tom [Anna Mae's son], 'if any of you guys are interested, make a copy and read it.' It is a diary from when they were growing up. I would write the funny little things they'd say. Now I'm retired, living in the Senior Center's apartments. I had a half-sister, I didn't know here, and I knew I had brothers. When I was here in Ignacio, at the Ute Vocational School, I found out I had a brother, and my cousin got him to write letters to me. He couldn't speak English, so he had somebody that would write for him. And then, all of a sudden, I didn't know what was going on. He was working in Portland, on the railroad. Two years later, after I got married, I asked my cousin what happened to my brother. She told me he had died in a railroad car fire. I said I didn't even know: nobody notified me. Then I found out that I had a half-sister, and I didn't meet her until after she had children and after I had children. There was a girl at the school here that was related to her husband, and she came and told me that my sister is back in Shiprock. She went to school at Riverside Boarding School. I don't remember how many years it was, but I loaded my kids up, went to Shiprock, and found her. Her kids were-as- s-mall as- my kids-. &he-doesn't know much about our father, �Page 3 of3 because he died when I was six years old and she was three. So,she doesn't know anything about my father. My foster mother didn't know much about my father, either. My son and I did go down to see my cousin a couple of years ago to find out more about my family. But, she didn't seem to know, either. She did tell us my clan name. The Navajos have clans. She told me what clan I came from. But, I don't know any of my relatives now. One time she got me down there to meet my grandfather. I went down to Newcomb (between Shiprock and Gallup) and met my grandfather. But he was elderly, and he couldn't speak much English and I couldn't speak Navajo. I remember him crying and she was translating for him. I don't know really if he was from my mother's or father's side. I wish I had paid more attention now that I'm older. My maiden name is Todae: on my birth certificate it's spelled T-0-D-E-A; my foster mother spelled it T-0-D-A-E, and that's how I went. I had brothers and sisters, a few of them died from tuberculosis; that was bad on the reservation back then. But, I didn't know them because I was the last one born. They told me they died of tuberculosis when I was a young child. Interviewed by Michael G. Miller, VISTA worker, on January 161\ 2004. � 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 Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. 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 Anna Alires Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-01-16 Subject The topic of the resource Alires, Anna; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Anna Alires written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on January 16, 2004. 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 Alires, Anna Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/1e71fd10b9fccce5b752979ece1d6405.pdf db0c131195e3830189486bf23aaba783 PDF Text Text ALBERT & ETHEL MAY (Chambers) ANCELL Albert G. Ancell was born in Collinsworth, County, Texas, south of Shamrock on October 17, 1902. His father, Thomas M. Ancell had been born in Howard County, Missouri in October of 1871, and moved to Dallas, Texas with his parents when he was an infant. After he was old enough to work, Thomas got a job laying ties and rails on the Ft. Worth and Denver Railroad which was building a line from northwest Texas to Denver. While working near Harold, Texas, Thomas found a farm he liked enough to settle down and raise wheat and cattle. "While dad was on the farm near Harold, he married my mother, Lettie. I was the third of four children. Shortly after I was born, we moved to Gaines County Texas on the New Mexico Line near Seminole. It was flat empty ranch country where I grew up. Our nearest neighbors were 8-10 miles away. My first schooling was at a little ranch school. Later I attended 6th and 7th grades at Lovington, New Mexico. During the drought of 1918 I quit school to help my dad drive his 1200 head of cattle to Colorado. He sold the cattle to buy a farm, but later lost it on a mortgage. I started working for wages on the Butler Ranch. In 1926 I headed for California in a Model T Ford. The route I took went through Trinidad, Albuquerque, Silver City and Lordsburg. Then I went to Tucson, Phoenix and Yuma, to San Diego and Santa Barbara. West of Yuma I had to follow the old plank road across the sand desert. The whole trip took 13 days. There weren't any motels so I camped along the way." . ) J ) ) ) _) .J J J .J ,..J J "I soon got a job working for the Bixby Ranch, one of the biggest ranch companies in California. They owned land in several parts of California and Arizona. Their headquarters was in Long Beach. We ran cattle through the area where Disneyland is now located. I stayed with the ranch for about 6 years. My wages were $60-75.00 per month plus room and board." "My brother at Presidio, Texas, asked me to come down there and help him operate a filling station. At that time there was a small boom going on in that part of the country with the building of the railroad from San Antonio to Chihuahua, Mexico, and on to the Pacific. In 1936 I moved to Como, Colorado in South Park where I worked in the hay and cattle business for 11 years. Then I came to Ignacio and bought Glen Rouses's place. I raised grain and hay and did combining and other custom farm work for neighbors. In 1965, I married Ethel May Arnspiger." Ethel May was the seventh of eight children born to Henry Walls Chambers and Susan Louise (Lee) Chambers, Susan's dad was a relative of Robert E. Lee. Henry and Susan were both born in Texas, but after their marriage moved to Globe, Arizona and then on to Colorado in 1902. .J ..J· .J .J J J J ·J ...J "My dad helped build the Cascade Flume north of Durango. In 1904 they moved to Bayfield and took a homestead on Spring Creek where I was born on July 4, 1904. Mother died when I was 5 years old. I attended the Mason School east of town where the Lieses now live, for 8 years, then came to Ignacio for 2 more years. That was all the school offered here. In 1924 Ernest Arnspiger and I were married. Ernest worked in a 3 �butcher shop in Ignacio for a while, then got a job at a coal mine north of Bayfield. Finally, we bought a farm over on the Florida Mesa near Falla where we raised our children. We had one son, Randall, who died in 1957 and one daughter Lorraine, who is now a Registered Nurse in Tucson, Arizona." "My dad's second wife died in 1939, leaving him with 2 young daughters. Since one of the girls was only 10 years old, Ernest and I decided to move over to the farm on Spring Creek to help dad with the work and to help take care of the girls. In 1961 when Ernest became ill, we moved to Bayfield where he died in 1963." "Two years later, I married Albert Ancell. He had a place on the southeast corner of Holt's farm where we still live. Albert has 3 children of his own. Lettie June lives in Littleton, Colorado; and Lyle and Dennis live in Abilene, Texas." The Ancells have both lived a good many years and Albert has lived a good many places of different climate and elevation. In Albert's opinion, Southwest Colorado has the most pleasant climate of all, otherwise he says he wouldn't have stayed here for 30 years. Of all the various periods of time Albert has lived through, he feels that today is the best and the easiest time to be living. Taken in August 1979 August, 1979 -- by Shelby Smith 4 � 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 Albert Ancell and Ethel May (Chambers) Ancell Biography Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1979-08 Subject The topic of the resource Ancell, Albert; Ancell, Ethel May (Chambers) Description An account of the resource Biography of Albert Ancell and Ethel May (Chambers) Ancell based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the August, 1979 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 Ancell, Albert; Ancell, Ethel May (Chambers) Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/36fd309450e71441576d8ee1a9b87512.pdf 2333adb530fa82980f5e8646a3af94d4 PDF Text Text ROSELIA (Munoz) BACA Though Spanish-American people had lived in the Rio Grande valley for years, few except prospectors and fugitives from justice had ventured into the San Juan basin to stay until about 1875 when a wagon train of Spanish-American settlers from Culebra moved across the passes to homestead in this area. About the same time families from EL Rito near Espanola moved in to the San Juan valley near present day Blanco. One of these was the family of Presentation and Mercedes Munoz. Their first child was a daughter whom they named Roselia. Mr. Munoz farmed a well-irrigated farm in the river valley. Except for sugar and coffee and patent medicines, the family produced almost all their food and other needs on the farm. Since no refrigeration was available, it was difficult to keep meat in the summertime. They made jerky with some of the meat. The rest they ate or shared with the neighbors. For fun Roselia and her younger brothers and sisters loved to swim in a large hole in their irrigation ditch. Any toys they had they made themselves. Roselia remembers making her own dolls and doll clothing. "Usually," she says, "there was not much time for fun, since all work was hand work on the farm, all of us, even the children had work to do everyday. " Life became more difficult when Roselia was 13. Her mother died that year. Immediately Roselia became "mother" to her 6 younger brothers and sisters. Roselia has since had 12 children of her own and has a major hand in caring for some of her grandchildren. ) ) J J _) J _) J J _) j ...) J J J J J -.J -.J J J Now 80 years old,Roselia says, "I feel like I have always been a mother. "Occasionally Mr. Munzo allowed the children to attend dances in the area. At one of them 17 year old Roselia met a stranger named Simon Baca who had recently moved from Colorado to work on construction of the new citizens ditch. Roselia was 17 Simon was 31. When asked why she chose to marry someone this much older. Roselia says, "Simon was a very nice guy and 1 wanted someone nice to take care of me. "Marriage soon meant more people to take care of. She and her husband moved into her father's house. When the first of her 12 children was born she was still keeping house for her father and caring for her brothers and sisters. Each week she used 251 bs. of flour to make light bread for the family. During the warm months she supervised the drying and canning of the winter supply of garden produce, fed her family and her father's family plus any hired hand on the farm. For five years Simon drove a horse and buggy on the mail route between Largo and Aztec. When her younger brothers and sisters were old enough to take care of them selves, the Bacas moved to a farm on the Mesa, south of Ignacio. Simon worked for the tribe as well as caring for sheep and goats. In the evenings he enjoyed calling for square dances and was very talented on the violin. Most years the children had to stay out of school till at least Thanksgiving to help put up hay and to harvest the potatoes and beans. For fun the boys liked to go rabbit hunting. During good years all the children gathered pinon nuts. The family kept what they wanted and sold the remainder for cash. 5 �One summer day, Simon and Roselia were away from home. One of the children must have been playing with matches for the farmhouse burned to the ground. Manuel who was the oldest one at home-was barely able to get the younger ones out of the house. In five minutes the whole place was a roaring inferno. Roselia was sad not only because they lost all their clothing and household goods, but also because she had lost family mementos from previous generations. The family had to start all over again to acquire the possessions of a life time. Seven of Roselia's boys were in the service during WW II and the Korean War. She recalls being very worried, fearing what news might come in the mail, but all of them came back. Simon died at the age of 87 in 1969. All of Ros.elias' 12 children are still living. They are scattered every where across the west from Denver to Seattle. Roselia who is still healthy and very active spends a Great amount of time traveling and visiting kids and readily admits how much she enjoys it. "I'm on vacation all the time," she states, "I have to keep track of my children and grandchildren." by Shelby Smith 6 � 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 Roselia (Munoz) Baca Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-12 Description An account of the resource Biography of Roselia (Munoz) Baca based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the December, 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. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Baca, Roselia (Munoz) 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/0f1518c4411e60c7c46aed5619379f9e.pdf 6a972345b80f2394197d26651096a294 PDF Text Text '1 ~ ~ 'J l EDNA (Russell) BAKER "I ,,..) l ·, ) ) ) 1 J ) 1 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) About 10 miles south of Durango the Weazel Skin Bridge crosses the Animas River. Since the main highway runs up on the Florida Mesa and mostly local travelers use the bridge, it receives little attention. Perhaps a few of the old-timers of that area remember how it got its name. Weazel Skin was a Ute who settled on a tract of land in the Animas Valley in the 1880's. He raised sheep and goats and developed a profitable farm and ranch operation on the river. Weazel's English name was Hickey Williams. One of his daughters who grew up on the ranch was named Marsalino. The Russell's lived on the Weazel Skin Ranch and had four daughters: Daisy, Maggie, Edna and Sara. Edna remembers going to Durango in a buggy to see the fair and for shopping. "We liked to ride the street car from one end of Main to the other. Once my mother left a diaper bag on the car and we had to wait till it made a complete round before we could retrieve it." When Edna was still a young girl, her family moved onto the Spanish Fork Ranch where Spring Creek enters the Pine River near La Boca. Edna went to school here for a few years, then was transferred to the Indian School at Santa Fe. Then she was sent to Sherman Institute at Riverside, California to finish high School. There she met Indian students from all over the country. "We were given a choice of pre-vocational training at Sherman. I tried nurse's training and dry cleaning. I liked both of them and both have been useful since then. At first I didn't believe I'd like the nursing. A nurse sees so many sad and stomach-turning things, but soon I began to see the other side of it. Sick and injured people are just people who need help and the feeling you get from helping them is just great." ) J ') J ·_) _) __J ,. ) .J __J ..J __J __J Edna's years in California were great, too. California in the 1920's was a beautiful, uncrowded place with its clean air and tropical plants and mountains by the sea. From Riverside to Los Angeles were large open country areas, not all city like today. ''We went to Catalina Island and rode the glass bottom boat. Sometimes we went to the amusement Park at Long Beach. I remember how I screamed when we rode the roller coaster over the ocean. We went to Tijuana to see the bull fights. At that time the arena was a beautiful log structure." When Edna finished her nurse's training, she worked at Dulce, then at Towaoc, then at the Taylor Hospital in Ignacio. Minnie Cloud and I were some of the first ones hired . We cleaned and cleaned the building and made towels and baby clothes until it was opened. Soon afterwards Edna married Cassimero Baker. They had two sons, Archie and Dusty. When the army started building up Ft. Carson, Cassie and Edna moved to the east slope. Cassie worked on construction projects on the base and Edna became a welder ..J ..J .J J J ..._) 7 �in an airplane factory operated by Universal Electric at Colorado Springs. She enjoyed the work very much. Finally. she and her boys came back to Ignacio and she worked in the Taylor Hospital until ii closed in 1955. "Even when we moved back to Ignacio, I sent my boys to the public school because I wanted them to learn to get along with all kinds of people." After the Taylor Hospital closed Edna worked in Denver and in Colorado Springs for a while, then she returned to Durango where she worked at Mercy and Community Hospitals until she retired. "I always liked my work in the hospitals. Such nice people to work with. It was a new world every week -- always in training or going to nurse's workshops and conventions and having dinners. I worked side by side with all kinds including foreign students and trainees. I really miss my many friends in Durango and Colorado Springs whom I visit whenever I can." Archie worked hard and went through training for auto mechanics. He worked several years in California and now lives in Durango. Dusty has had mechanics training and also training as an X-Ray technician in the hospital. He was working in Durango hospitals until the opportunity to apply as manager of the new Shell Station opened up, and when he got the job, he and Edna moved back to Ignacio. After being gone so long, it seems a little strange to be back in this area, but Edna has quite a few relatives here and just as she has made new friends wherever she has lived, she will surely be able to do the same here again. We wish her and her children the best of good fortune and wish lo welcome her back to Ignacio. November, 1975 - Shelby Smith 8 � 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 Edna (Russell) Baker Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-11 Subject The topic of the resource Baker, Edna (Russell) Description An account of the resource Biography of Edna (Russell) Baker based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the November, 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. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Baker, Edna (Russell) Language A language of the resource English 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/9d4d026ad7bd8a144f6f2d4586a0cd7c.pdf 43f9539a2134a7f095a1072f5457aa4c PDF Text Text I") 'l 'l 'l i ,, J i ' 1 ) l 1 ) ) . JAMES (JIMMY) SPENCER BAKER James Spencer Baker, known to most Ignacio people as Jimmy Baker, was born on August 12, 1899, the son of James Baker and Lucy Spencer Baker. "I was born in a log house at Caracas. I think the house is still there. My father built a good barn and corral. We had chickens and milk goats and hogs and range cattle and riding horses and draft horses. The draft horses were "Perch" (Percherons) and weighed 1500 to 2000 pounds. They could really plow and pull the wagons. My father raised wheat and hay for the animals and potatoes and beans for the family." When Jimmy's mother Bessie died in June of 1907, Jimmy and his father and his sister Grace and his brothers Julian, Frank and Cassey faced a lonelier world. It was still two years until Jimmy's father took him to the Indian School at Ignacio. During summer starting at the age of 12, Jimmy was sent to the hills to herd the cattle. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J _J J ...) ..J ..) ...) ...) ...) ...) J J J J J J "I rode my horse up to the Vega every week to count the cows. Some of them would be way up in the brush. When we went up some of the steep hills, I would get off the horse and grab a hold of his tail and he would pull me right up. The first year I went out I was afraid a lion or a bear or a bobcat would get me, but I never had any trouble." One of those trips Jimmy will never forget. He was late getting started back and then it started to rain and how it rained! "Before I got out of the Vega, it started to rain and by the time I got to the Dipping Vat on Cat Creek my horse and I were both soaked and it was so dark we couldn't see anything except those big lightning strikes coming down. I didn't get home until 1:00 or 2 :00 a.m." In the days when Jimmy was a boy, one of the best ways and certainly one of the most exciting ways to obtain new wealth and valuable property was to hunt the wild horses in the hills above Caracas. Jimmy and his father and brother sometimes were gone several days patiently tracking, listening, stalking and then off on a wild chase to rope a few horses or, if possible, to drive a herd into a box canyon. "Our friends Tito and Tony and Narcisso Gomez sometimes went with us. Then we all got together to brand the horses and break them. Our brand was a curved arrow with a split tail. ln the winter of 1915 we went out one morning and all our horses were gone . We told the Marshall, Porfirio Chavez. There was deep snow and he tracked the men all the way to Lumberton and brought our horses back and put the men in jail in Pagosa . They turned out to be some of our neighbors. After the trial, they were put in the pen." Jimmy lived at Caracas until 1916 before he moved over toward lg nacio. In 1918 he was drafted and sent to Brownsville, TX, then to Laredo, then to San Antonio and finally to Ft. Riley in Kansas. Jimmy was in Company A, 9th Engineers and was trained to be a blacksmith. During the First World War the army had some motorized vehicles, but it also retained many horses and mules and wagons. Therefore, blacksmiths were needed to shoe the horses and to keep the wagon wheels in repair. Jimmy would have been sent to France soon, but as he explains, "Woodrow Wilson and Kaiser Wilhelm signed the peace." 9 �When Jimmy was mustered out of the army in 1921, he decided he wanted to see the country, so for a while he rode the rails. "I went all over the country as far as Bismarck, North Dakota, but I never got caught by the railroad bulls because I moved like the coyote." Next Jimmy got a job on the D.& R.G.W. Railroad on the line between Denver and Steamboat Springs as a member of the Extra Gang. Jimmy's crew spent a lot of time on the lines around Moffat Tunnel 13,000 feet up on the continental divide west of Denver. Jimmy enjoyed the changeable weather and the beautiful sunrises and sunsets visible from the divide. He remembers one morning when "the sun came up pale, so pale over the lake. (Yankee Doodle Lake) it looked like the moon." After working a while on the railroad, Jimmy went down to Denver and got a job with the Public Service Company till 1926. The next year Jimmy's father died and Jimmy came back to Ignacio to stay. He married Bessie Box. They lived on his place about a mile east of Ignacio where he raised cattle and hogs and chickens. This month Jimmy celebrates his 76th birthday. He has been alone for some time. Of course, he gets lonely sometimes, but he is still strong and healthy, likes to walk a lot for exercise, and has a wonderful sense of humor. We wish him many more years of good health and good times. August, 1975 -- by Shelby Smith 10 � 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 James Spencer Baker Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-08 Subject The topic of the resource Baker, James Spencer; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of James Spencer Baker based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the August, 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 Baker, James Spencer 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/00ef6b6599ca0c21e37c8beefd4dfda0.pdf deef2b18cd9072d3894f58b050727645 PDF Text Text .., 'I 'I , , ' ' ' ) ) ) ) ) , ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ~ ) _) ) ) J J _J J _J .J ..J J J J J J J J J J JULIAN S. BAKER An Indian family riding in a wagon pulled by two houses came jolting over the last hill into the Pine River Valley. Almost ready for its second cutting, the hay in the meadows was brilliant green and restful to the eyes. This time of year the river was low and clear. Here and there the family could see the flashing movements of large feeding trout. To the south they could see the depot and a few other buildings in the young village of Ignacio. Up the valley to the right was their destination, several buildings of the Ute Agency and a few homes. Julian Baker was eight years old. He had no idea this trip would mean any more to him, than any other previous trips to visit a cousin who lived near the agency and to trade for supplies in Ignacio, but it was to be very different. The next morning after all business and visiting was done, Julian's father hitched the horses and loaded the supplies. As Julian approached the wagon, his father stopped him and said, "These are your relatives here. They will be a family to you. You won't need to feel that you are away from home." Through tearful eyes Julian beheld his mother in the wagon and began slowly to understand that he was expected to stay. Almost before he could begin to wonder why this was happening a bell began to ring. "Do you hear that", his father asked. "That'.s the school bell. Do you see those boys and girls going to that building? Your cousins will be a family to you." Julian watched the wagon roll slowly toward the river, then turned and walked more slowly toward the strange building across the field. Julian recalls the winter holidays were all new to him. Until school he knew nothing of Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter. On his first Halloween celebration he remembers a great bowl of a new food called popcorn and remembers even more clearly that he ate with delight and great gusto until he was ill. Soon enough the school became a familiar and comfortable place. Most years thereafter he rode the train to Ignacio in September. Julian was born July 17, 1892, on his father's farm in a canyon behind Allison. Since the county line runs right through their place, Julian says to this day he is not sure whether he was born in Archuleta or in La Plata County. One of his earliest recollections is a clear memory of men surveying the section lines near Allison. This was done in 1896 when Julian was four years old. This government survey he observed was one incident among others leading to an exciting yet sad rivalry which erupted a few years later near Julian's home. To tell that story we must go back further into the past. Long before the Spaniards and the French and the Americans came, the Utes enjoyed a home territory and hunting ground unsurpassed by that of any other tribe in North America. Though the territory of every other tribe had advantages and desirable characteristics, the home land of the Utes, occupying the great valleys and ranges of the backbone of the continent was unusual for its size and beauty. Few tribes ever possessed so large an area or enjoyed such richness and variety of terrain. The Utes made occasional raids onto the great plains east of Pikes Peak in search of buffalo or to harry their old enemies the Cheyennes and the Arapahos who in turn made occasional raids against the Utes in the mountain regions. Finally, the whites coming with their 11 �numbers and new weapons eventually began asserting their will over the land. Julian remembers the old men who told him of the time when the American Army came to the great plains and ordered the Utes to leave. "You will no longer eat Buffalo. You will eat deer," they said. "Go into the mountains. Migrate among them. When you have found the area you like best, stay there. " Each head of a household was told to stake an allotment. (160 acres for farming, 160 acres for grazing) Rather than marking the corners of the allotment, the Indians were told to plant a large post in the center of their chosen land and each year to clear and work a larger area around the post until all 160 acres were being used. Hundreds of farms were started by means of the allotment system, before the land was surveyed. When little Julian saw the surveyors at work, he didn't begin to guess the trouble it would soon cause down the canyon aways. A Ute farmer had a farm not far from Julian's home acquired by means of the allotment. After the land survey, he discovered another Ute had acquired nearby farmland according to the survey lines and that the surveyed land and the allotted land overlapped. Rather than attempt some sort of peaceful solution, the two farmers became very angry and proceeded to shoot at one another whenever they watered their horses in the creek each claimed. The feud ended when one of them killed the other. Julian was asked for any memories of Chipita and Ouray, but he said they died a few years before he was born. Julian and Ultima Baker (the former Ultima Watts, sister of Max Watts) were married at a farm house between Bayfield and Ignacio. They had one daughter, Mary, and eight sons: Walter, Randolph, Ullysses, John, Carl, Thomas, Christopher and Clem. Four of the sons survive, John, Carl, Chris and Clem. Julian has been a farmer and rancher full or part time most of his life. He was selected to be Tribal Judge from 1947-1956. Though this is essential and important work, the pressures and mental strain of decision-making were very strong and Julian recalls, "That's not the kind of job to make anyone the most friends." Another kind of work · Julian especially enjoyed and still enjoys in his shop is carpentry. He has done a lot of construction work including some of the building at Lake Capote. In the last few years Julian has invented several kinds of bead looms and an ingenious stock chute for separating sheep. Julian will be 82 this next July. His life has been long and varied and full. He and his people have survived many challenges and coped with many changes during his lifetime. All of us appreciate his example of tenacity, courage and hard work. We wish him many years of happiness and good health. by Shelby Smith - January 1974. 12 � 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 Julian S. Baker Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-01 Subject The topic of the resource Baker, Julian S.; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Julian S. Baker based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the January, 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 Baker, Julian S. 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/aabae97023dd0d087a464de99a4c692f.pdf 7661f6ebed4876be2c5ea861e26f5893 PDF Text Text Annie Bettini (Southern Ute Tribal Elder) Somewhere around here: I don't really know where I was born. I wasn't born in a hospital. I was born in somebody's home. No one ever told me where I was born, and I never '- -a'ske"d. ''At thanime, ybu didn't ask qirestiofis. -'Septemo1sr 1,cl:1~22 fAnnte·s'bfrtn'da)'j. My dad's name was Hickey William. My mother's name was Isabelle, but I can't remember her last name. She was Spanish, and my dad was full-blooded Ute. I have one sister, Arabella, who lives next door to me here. I have another sister, Mary-Anne, who lives in the mobile home right over here. I had a brother, but he died. I guess there was a girl before I was born, but she died. My mother and father separated when I was five, or something like that (I can't remember), and I was raised by my grandmother: Dorkis William. She raised all ofus, all three us. So, we grew up with her. I had a half-brother, who passed away about six years ago, I think. And, I had a sister who passed away before he did. Then, I have two sisters left. I didn't get to know them until I was way up in my thirties, I think. So, I finally got to know them. We've basically lived around here. The Weasel Skin Bridge is named after our family. Our family name was 'Weasel Skin' until they changed it to 'William.' I grew up speaking Ute totally. Then, when I went to school I began to speak English language. I started off school down below here, there was a one-room schoolhouse down by a place called La Posta. I started off school there until I don't know how old I was. They had the boarding school in Ignacio and they transferred us over there; which was very hard on us. I don't remember, it must have been around ... See, in those days we didn't start school until we were six. In those days they didn't require children to go to school at five. We basically started at six. But, we were kind of devastated to be taken away from home. But, in the course of time I got used to it. We graduated from there; they called it the Ute Vocational School. But, you know, school wasn't half as hard as it was in those days. We just learned the basics, and I don't remember all that I learned. I don't remember having trigonometry. We had fractions, but we didn't get into all that other stuff I guess it was just the basics. After I got used to it [boarding school life] I just took it as it was. It did something to me that bothers me today. It made me become insensitive to me grandmother and to my dad. I wanted to get away from this life that we had. We were poor, we were very poor. We didn't own any furniture. We slept on the floor, we ate on the floor. We only had one chair and one little folding bed. When I went to boarding school it showed me all of those things. I guess it kind of made me go away from all of that, and made me forget about my grandmother and my dad. Then, from there I went on th work in Denver. As a young person I Didn't realize that was the wrong thing. To me, now, it was wrong: I became insensitive. That's the way I looked at it. From that point on I went into the Army, and I found out that that wasn't what I really should have done. There was a lot of discrimination there. That kind of shocked me, too. I wrote letters back, and in those letters I wrote my dad things I didn't like about it. He started to work things out and talked to some of his neighbors to help him get me out of there. I came home for a little while, and then I found out I wasn't happy anymore. I needed to work and I needed to support myself My grandmother and my dad couldn't do it. I realized that there were things there that I could have that would make life easy for me. In a way it was good and in a way I regret those days. Ifl had stayed around home, I don't know what I would have done. Basically, go out there taught me a lot, taught me how to take care of myself; how to look after �Page 2 of6 my own needs. Yet, at the same time, I forgot my grandmother and my dad. I'd come home and visit, then I'd go back to my work or wherever. I worked in Nevada for a little while. To this day I have a regret ... It's in the past; I can't go back and re-do anything. But, then, I began to realize that I would have to support myself and do other things for myself So, that was part of growing up I guess. I worked in a laundry. I worked in the school in Ignacio for a while. After I got out of the service I went to Nevada and worked in the boarding school there as a matron (looking after the kids there). Then I came back over here and worked at the boarding school (the boarding school was still there) in the 40s, I think. After that I got married, and then we went off to California. We came back and lived a little ways from here. We built a little house over there, but my husband couldn't find a job. He was not a tribal member; he was Italian. He worked in the mines with his dad for a while, but the wages just weren't very good. So, one of his sisters lived in California, and she said, 'Come here. You can find good work here.' So, we moved over there. Lived over there for quite awhile until he passed away. I came back here after he passed away. I didn't have any ofmy own [children]; I had miscarriages. I adopted a little boy. My sister-in-law had a boy when we were living here. She had a baby boy out of wed-lock. She gave him to me to take care of (she was working and she really didn't have a way to take care of him). Finally, she gave him up to me. 'Here, you can have him.' She even said, 'We'll even go through adoption with you.' At the time it cost too much, and we didn't have the money. We just raised on our own until my husband passed away, and then I adopted him. I raised foster children, too. I raised about twelve. I don't know where they all are. Some of them have passed away. There are few out there that I don't know where they are. The daughter I have is my adopted daughter. She belongs to one of the Ute ladies in Ignacio. She lives not too far from here with her husband and her children. We lived in Buena Park, CA My husband found work there. He became a foreman for a mobile home construction place. Then, he passed away in California. After he passed away, we moved over here. Then my son passed away in 1972; he had cancer of the bone. We had sheep ... sheep and goats. We herded sheep all over the hills here. At that time, there were no restrictions anywhere. We could go anywhere, except we couldn't go over into that fence that is privately owned. Sometimes the goats and sheep would get in there, and we'd have to go over there and chase them out. There was alfalfa there and alfalfa bloats the animals. We just roamed all over. Went fishing. Played. We didn't have any toys that I remember. We played with rocks, and mud, and sticks; whatever we could find to play with. We had pets. We had animals like a goat or a lamb for a pet, kitties and doggies; those were our enjoyment. I only remember my grandmother got me a little doll for Christmas one time. My dad got me a little teddy bear. I don't think the other kids ever got anything for Christmas. We didn't know what Christmas was all about. We didn't know what the holidays were all about. We didn't get to the Sun Dances or the Bear Dances often; once in a great while, maybe. We had to travel over there by horse and buggy or wagon. My dad didn't have a car until a little later on. He bought a Model T Ford. He had to go to work far away, too. Sometimes he had to go to work in Towaoc and sometimes he worked around here on the farms. Sometimes they'd have to clean ditches; now they don't do that anymore. He found odd jobs here and there that didn't pay very well. �Page 3 of6 We would go to Ignacio once a month for commodities. That would last us. We had to use it very sparingly. Then we had our goats and sheep that we could kill: not in the summer time. My grandmother was very hard about that, because the meat spoiled (we didn't have a refrigerator). Not what I have here today: nothing ... nothing. Sometimes we were ragged. They had the C.C. camps [Conservation Corps]. They worked up in the hills. One day this man (I remember his last name, it was Aspen; like the trees) came and he said, 'Come here, girls.' We were kind of afraid to go. My grandmother was there. He said, 'I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to measure your feet.' I said, 'Measure my feet? For what?' So, he measured our feet and he measured my grandmother's feet. The next day or so he came and he brought us tennis shoes, because our shoes were all wore out. From that point on he kept an eye on us. When we needed something, he even would bring groceries at times. He was a very kind man. I remember his kindness very well. I guess he just felt sorry for us or something. I basically grew up around Spanish people and Anglo people. Most of our neighbors are Anglos. They helped out. Sometimes they would take my dad to town if he needed to get groceries. They would pick him up and take him to town. They were very helpful. Dad grew wheat, at times, and they'd come and thrash his wheat for him. Then my dad would take the wheat to, I don't know if it was Cortez, but they had a milling place. He'd take it and have it turned into flour. Then he would come back with sacks of flour; which we stored in a big, upstanding box. So, that kind of kept us with flour through the winter months. Our diet was basically meat, beans, and potatoes (meat when we could get it, depending on when it was not winter time). When we went to Ignacio they'd give us cans of meat, and that helped during the summer. We'd pick berries (chokecherries) and grandma dried it. Sometimes there was a vendor that came from New Mexico with chili, with fruit or something. He was a tall Anglo man. He would stop by, then he would leave (grandma always had a little money from the sale of goats). He always had watermelon and cataloupe ... stuff like that. She would buy one or two, then he would give extra. He did that for about three times. He didn't come every week, but each time he would leave extra. The last time he came he wanted one ofus girls, and Grandmother got so upset at him. She started talking in Spanish (she knew some Spanish). She just chased him: 'I don't give my girls to nobody! Here, take you stuff!' He took it, and she was so upset. He wanted one ofus. I don't remember, I think he was after Arabella. He said, 'If she won't go ... ' Then he grabbed me like this, and Grandmother said, 'No, no, no.' She got a stick and she was going to hit him. I don't remember all that he said (our English wasn't all that well yet). He wanted to take one ofus with him [laughs]. All in all, we didn't complain. We took life as it was and we were happy. I don't know how Grandmother ever felt, because whe was a quiet person. My dad was quiet. He wasn't home much; he was out trying to earn a little biut of money. He had to buy hay for the sheep and goats. We sheered the sheep and got a little money off of that. We sold some young goats for people from Durango, especially the Spanish people. They would buy goats off ofus. Then the wool from the sheep kind of helped out at times, too. Of course we had horses. In the winter time, Dad had to feed them and buy hay. That's why he worked for some of the farmers around here: maybe they'd give him a bale of hay with money besides. Then, he raised a little bit of hay down on this side of the river [Animas River]; there's a piece ofland there that's kind of flat. He raised hay, cut it, and we'd pile it. In those days you had to pile it, and we'd help him as big as you please. We had horses to ride ... we enjoyed that. My dad used to dance the Sun Dance; up to a point. We'd go over there ... I had two of my aunts living with us at the time. My grandmother would go over there (the family took turns �Page 4 of6 going over there). The family had to be there. Once in a while we got to go. I never wanted to stay home. I always wanted to be with Grandma. I didn't really want to stay with my aunts, except one aunt was good to me. The other one was kind of mean to me, so when she stayed home forget it: I didn't want to stay home. But, I could stay with my aunt Margaret. We used to do a lot of things: we used to make candy or whatever. She had a talent, but she passed away rather young. She had a talent of making things out of whatever we had: like mixing together sugar and peanut butter and making it into candy. She just had a talent that was amazing, but she passed away. That I enjoyed: I enjoyed staying with her, because she could just put things together. My other aunt was different; she was kind of grumpy at times. My grandkids are a quarter Ute. Their father is Anglo; he works for the Finance Department in Ignacio, for the Tribe. His name is Brian Ross. They live right over here. The boys love spending the weekend with me, especially the little one. They call me, 'Nanni.' The girl is the oldest (she's eleven), and she's as tall as I am. She comes home from school to me, and the boys go to the Academy. Their mom teaches at the Academy. They're real good kids. I had them for a whole summer, when my daughter was going to school in Boulder. They were good. We'd go to the grocery store and people would just come and say, 'Oh, your grandkids are so well behaved.' Or, we'd go out to a restaurant, and they were just so good. Of course, we've taught them about the Lord, that there's a Creator. We tell them that He expects us to behave; expects us to respect and to love others, and to care about others. I didn't come to know the Lord until I was in my late thirties. But, I have to say that knowing God has been a great help to me. He has sustained me through life: kept me going, kept me strong. I don't have any major health problems, just my feet. All in all, I have to give God credit for just being in our lives. We just feel that the Lord was there for our little, little boy. Their house is in area that has lots of rocks and sagebrush, and there're rattlesnakes over there. One Saturday, the kids were out playing around and dad was working out in the yard. The little boy goes to his father and said, 'Dad. Look. Baby snake.' Guess what it was ... a baby rattler. We feel it was a miracle that that little rattler didn't bite him. His dad flicked it off his hand and, he happened to have a shovel, killed it. We tell them to watch themselves. But, that was just a miracle in itself I was coming from town and I stopped at their house. My daughter came running out, crying. I thought something terrible had happened. She said, 'Cody had a baby rattler in his hand, and I'm just thanking God for not biting him.' So, we believe that God is very present if you connect with him. There has to be a relationship there. I give God for my strength and for just sustaining me, because it's kind of lonely living by yourself You get up by yourself, eat by yourself, go to bed by yourself The kids come, but they have their own home. And, He provides you with other people, other believers that you connect with. That helps. That's a big help in my life. I say to myself, 'I want my grandkids to keep on going to church, to keep on building their relationship with the Lord.' So that they, too, will know that there's someone who will protect them and help them along life's way. I think my belief in God, and knowing that there is a Creator there, has really helped me. It made me overcome the regrets that I had. Sometimes I get to where I feel as though someone is telling me, 'It's in the past. There's nothing you can do about it now.' It's now that counts. It's now, what you do, that counts. I've been involved in translating the Bible into Ute language; mostly it's on videos. I'm becoming a songwriter, too. A Native American tune will be coming to me and I don't have words for it, so pretty soon words will be coming out of the Bible, the Scriptures. We have some that we've recorded on CDs. Some are in Ute and some are in �Page 5 of6 English, because I have to do it in both. That's something good that I'm doing. I feel like the Lord is blessing me. He's blessing my family, too. I just have to give God credit. Truly, we have a Creator. Truly, there's somebody out there that takes care ofus. So, I'm happy about that, because I know one day I'll be going over there. Ifl can just do what the Lord wants me to do here, then He'll accept me. Last year I involved myself quite a bit with the Academy. I went into the classroom and showed the children how to make generic cradle boards. I made it out of cardboard and material, and talked about it (the history of the cradleboard and how women used it; how it was helpful to them). But, this year I haven't gone over there at all. *** Basically, I'm thankful I have a home. I'm thankful that I have a warm place live; thankful that I have enough to eat; thankful that I have my health. I don't have to cimplain about anything. I really don't need the money. I've always had to live on as little as possible. Money comes and I save it ... I don't spend it. I don't have nothing to spend it on. I spend most of my money on my grandchildren. When they need something, I'm here to help them. But, as far as needing anything more: I don't need anything. I have a nice car to drive. What more does a person want? I don't go gambling, because I feel like that's just throwing your money away. The best thing to do is to just spend it on your grandchildren and have a little enjoyment yourself. I don't go to the General Meetings anymore, because all they do is argue and complain. We shouldn't. I think most of the Ute people were poor, and now we're 'prosperous'. Sometimes I hear people say, 'that money is ours.' It isn't ours until it's in my hand, it's in my name, and it's in my bank. As long as it's there, I don't claim it; it's not my money. Ifl have to go chop my wood in the hills, I will. You know, we did it when we were kids. My sister and I even used to hitch up our dad's wagon when we ran out of wood, and go up in the hills to gather wood. We'd bring those big, long logs, and we'd chop them. I'm old but I can still chop wood. I may get tired faster, but I can still do it. There's no use complaining. There are too many things in this world that are happening, that are terrible. We're not even secure in this country anymore. We just have to pray to the Lord that He'll keep His hands upon us. But as far as complaining, what's to comlplain about? *** One thing my dad taught me about money: don't ever borrow money, or anything from anybody, unless you have a way to replace it. And, if you borrow money from anybody, you have to pay it back. I've kept to that. My grandmother always told me, 'Some day you are going to have things. Some day you are going to live the white man's ways. But, I want you to remember this: take care of what you have. Always take care of what you have.' And, I have. Those two things have been a big blessing to me, and I try to teach my grandchildren that: take care of what you have, and respect your family, respect all the people around you; no matter who they are. So, those things I've always held on to, and that was a good lesson. They stick out right in front of you, as big as your face. �Page 6 of6 So, you could say we are pretty close. I've taken Cecilia [her daughter] as my very own. She feels the same way, too. One time I mentioned something about her being adopted. Oh, she got so upset. She said, 'Mom, you are the only mom I've ever known. I don't want you going around telling people I'm adopted.' And I said, 'Well, I'm sorry.' I thank God for her. She came into my life. Otherwise, I feel old; I wouldn't have any little ones hanging around. *** Interviewed by Michael G. Miller (VISTA) on March 15th, 2004 in her home. � 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 Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. 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 Annie Bettini Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-03-15 Subject The topic of the resource Bettini, Annie; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Annie Bettini written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on March, 15, 2004. 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 Bettini, Annie Extent The size or duration of the resource. 6 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/5ed4d6abd9de43ddd2617d75672b8aa0.pdf 4ccd1a4aa131642a4839a0b3b6719ec1 PDF Text Text ALMA BOX "My parents were from Capote Band of the Utes. Henry Box, my father, owned land down near La Boca. He raised wheat and corn and vegetables for the family. My mother, Sally Box, also worked hard on the farm. I had three brothers and one sister. The oldest was Jacob (the father of Eddie), Agnes, Fritz and Mary Box Chavez. Then came my brother Paul, my sister Bessie, who married Jimmy Baker, and my little brother, Henry. Now all my brothers and sisters are dead. We lived in a post house plastered with adobe inside and out. These were easy to build and were warm. Our water was carried from a spring. Mostly we ate deer meat, which my father supplied. He was a good hunter. My mother taught me to dry food, to do beadwork and to sew my clothes. We dried wild spinach, chokecherries and buffaloberries. She taught me to weave baskets from the wild grasses, but I have forgotten how to make them. In those years there was a small store near the train depot in La Boca. Sometimes we went shopping there, sometimes at the stores in Ignacio. I quit riding horses when I was very young. Once a horse threw me off, so I quit." ) ) "Our family always went to the Bear Dance and other pow-wows. My brother liked to sing at the dances. Anymore I don't go. Maybe we just drive around at the Sun Dance to see who all is there." ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) J J _) ..) _) _) ...J ...J J ..) J ...J J J ...J ...J "When I was a child, I was sent to the dorm and the Indian School here in Ignacio, but I only stayed about 3-4 years. After that I stayed home to cook and wash and sew for the family." "I have four children, but only two are still living. Emiel is the oldest, then Rhoades, Sarah and Alice. Rhoades served in the Army in World War II. He lived through the war, but died a short time after coming home. Alice died in 1968. Her children, Terry and Tooley, still live w ith me. Sarah married Clifford Baker. Their seven children are the twins, Ronnie and Iden, Teddy (now deceased), Ann Wesley, Connie and Melvin. Emiel was never married." Alma bought her house in Ignacio about 1955. She still uses her wood and coal stoves for heating and cooking. Once she tried an electric range, but didn't care for it. She has never used natural gas because she doesn't trust it. Alma goes to Durango with her grandchildren for shopping whenever needed. A few times in her life she has visited Dulce and Towaoc. From time to time she goes to Santa Fe to visit Rhoades' grave, but that's about as far as she has ventured from home. Alma is now 77 years old, a quiet, old-fashioned lady. She never learned to drive a car. If the phone rings, she will answer but she never has learned to call out. She spends her time sewing and watching TV and occasionally thinking about her parents. "I really miss them," she says. Alma is still in good health, has good hearing and good vision and still sews most of her own clothes by hand. We wish her many more years of peaceful and quiet life. January, 1981 -- by Shelby Smith 13 � 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 Alma Box Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1981-01 Subject The topic of the resource Box, Alma; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Alma Box based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the January, 1981 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 Box, Alma Extent The size or duration of the resource. 1 page 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/238603d434631037ca4f1a913bb7cd40.pdf f160749ee230e17f4b6097b77b54ace1 PDF Text Text FRITZ BOX I was born on September 25, 1915, in the Pine Valley just south of Bayfield, west of the river. Soon after I was born my parents moved to an adobe house north of Russel Box's place. My father, Jacob Box, was a member of the Capote Band and my mother, Bertha Bent Box, was a member of the Moache Band. I barely remember my grandfather, George Bent, since he died while I was very small, but I can still picture his braids and his buckskin clothes. I remember my grandmother, Virgie Bent, much better since she lived until I was 10 or 11 years old. She was a tireless worker. She is the one who took care of us all. She kept busy all the time, tanning buckskin hides, making moccasins and leather clothes. She snared rabbits and prairie dogs and dried greens and berries for the winter. When she was not making clothes or preserving food, she did beadwork. I had five sisters; Marjorie, Florence (who died at the age of 10 or 11 ), Agnes, Ellen (Mirabel), and Mary (Chavez); and three brothers: David, Eddie and Clyde (who died at the age of 6). Our dad-was a good farmer. He raised wheat, oates, hay, chickens, pigs, turkeys, cattle, and horses. He had rights to summer grazing in Carbonate Basin north of Bayfield. Every summer we made a big herd of our cattle and those of several of our neighbors. We loaded the camp gear on the pack horses and headed up to the range. We stayed until the cattle were settled, then returned home for the summer. In September Dad and I and several of the neighbors went back for the roundup. Once they were started, they came willingly. The cold nights were telling them it was time to get out of the hills. When an infestation of poisonous weeds began taking over the range, we were assigned another range east of Tillawocket. I attended the Allen Day School with Joe Weaver, Harold Groves, and Jack Frost. They were pretty good boys. Sometimes in the winter Joe and I sneaked off to the river instead of going to school. We'd ice skate a while, then build a fire to get warm. In the afternoon we'd go home at the right time. When Dad asked us how was school, we'd answer, 'Just fine.' Then he'd say, 'You didn't go to school today.' I don't know how he knew, maybe we looked too happy on those days. Even though we skipped school once in a while, we did well in school. None of us had any trouble learning to read or do the other work. After 5 or 6 years at Allen Day, I was sent to the Indian School at Santa Fe with Casey Baker, Robert Weaver, John Williams, Charlie Spencer and Graves Gunn. We rode the train to Santa Fe with several Utes from Utah. II was like a military school with bugles in the morning and marching drills. In February of that year I was called to the office. I was sure I was in trouble. All they did was tell me I was going home. Until I got on the train with my sister, I didn't know that my father had died. One year shortly after we got back to Santa Fe, Graves and I decided to run away from school. It took us several days to walk to Antonito following the railroad track. For several days we hung around town sleeping wherever we could with no idea what to do next. One afternoon a nice looking man walked up and said he wanted workers in his potato harvest. He drove us to a farm northwest of Monte Vista where some Spani-sh people lived. The first three days of picking potatoes were very hard. Our backs were very sore from stooping and lifting but we soon got used to it. Our bed was a blanket in a straw stack. They fed us very well. When the harvest was finished, the man paid us off and put us on the train at Monte Vista. I don't remember what he paid us, but we thought we had a lot of money. We got off the train at Alamosa where we stayed in the best hotel, ate a fancy meal and played pool in the lobby. The next morning we took off walking along the railroad track toward Antonito. Four miles south of town we stopped to 14 �.- , """) """) """) """) 7 t t '") "') ) 1 ' ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ' ) ) ) ,) ) ) _) _) J J J J ..J rest. The traffic was passing along the road not far away. Suddenly, a pickup slowed down with the driver watching us. We thought it was the truant officer. There was no place to hide. Graves said, 'They've got us now.' The man walked up and asked, 'Where are you going?' When we didn't answer, he said, 'Why don't you come work for me?' He drove us way west of Alamosa toward that big mountain. We harvested potatoes for another week and a half. Back in Alamosa we stayed in the hotel and ate another meal. The next morning we decided to quit fooling., around and get home. It was getting cold. So we bought train tickets to Ignacio. The closer we got to home, the more nervous we got, because we knew someone would be on the lookout for us. At La Boca we got scared and jumped off the train. I walked up to my grandmother's place and told Graves to stay there until we found out whether anyone was looking for us, but he went right on to town. Just as soon as he walked into Ignacio, Harry Richards grabbed him. Harry was the Indian cop at that time and he knew we were going to show up sooner or later. He tried to catch me, but I kept on the move. Early each morning I rode out into the country and didn't come back till late. I was down i n La Boca the day Harry Richards putSxGraves on the train for Santa Fe. I waved at Graves as the train rolled by with him trapped between Harry and the window. I was laughing, but Graves didn't think it was funny. I spent two years out of school, hunting hauling wood, breaking horses, and doing a little rodeo riding. I joined a dancing club made up of young single boys with one older man who was our leader and teacher. He taught us the war dances and the songs for the sun dance. After two years of freedom I decided I better go back to school and make something of myself. I enrolled at Albuquerque with Mary Chavez, Joe Weaver, Harold Groves, Frances Pinnecoose and Nettie Frost. Later I transferred to Haskell Institute in Kansas where I finished high school in 1935. When I got out of school it was the middle of the depression. I worked at whatever I could find. My brother David was leaving a job in the BIA auto shop at Towaoc to go to school. He sent me to ask for his job and I got it. One year at the Ute Mountain Bear Dance I met a girl named Pearl Posey. I soon got acquainted with her parents. They made their living fro'] a herd of sheep. Pearl and I got married in 1938. I was drafted in 1945. They statione€1 me in Mineral Wells, Texas, Hawaii and Okinawa and sent me home in 1946. Back home the BIA rehired me and I stayed with them for eight years. I served one term on the Southern Ute Tribal Council 1951-54 in John Baker's place while he left to go to school. In 1954 I went back to cattle farming and stayed with that until I became a game warden in 1963. After that I ran the tribal shop and then went into Tribal Resources doing custom farming, which I still do. Pearl and I had seven children: Alvina, who lived in Gallup; Orian, who lived in Montana; Clyde, who died in 1967; Veronica, who works in Denver; Ernestine and her husband who still live here; Gregory, who lives here; and Karen, who lives at Towaoc where she is enrolled . J J "Pearl died in 1975 and I'm still working. I'm going to work till I drop. I dug ditches for a living when there was no other job. I've worked all my life since my dad died and I'm not going to stop now." J Shelby Smith, February 1980 J J J J J J J 15 � 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 Fritz Box Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1980-02 Subject The topic of the resource Box, Fritz; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Fritz Box based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the February, 1980 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 Box, Fritz 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/780577d48ff6c3d8c6950dd6b0bb9c4b.pdf 133c6b07a045355ce33e1732063723f5 PDF Text Text Russell Box, Sr. (Southern Ute Tribal Elder) My name is Russell Box, Sr. I was born here in Ignacio in 1935 where the old tribal building is. They called it Taylor Hospital at that time. The time when I was born was when most of the tribal members were still traveling on horseback. So, when I was growing up, before I went to school, a lot of the people who were visiting would bring a lot of-excitementto the family, because we were kind of isolated: W-e didn't live close together. S-o, if a family member traveled from La Boca clear up to Bayfield, it was a real treat for all ofus. The whole family was enthused about it, because ifwe knewa family member traveled from as far away as La Boca that meant that the person would stay overnight. Us kids were excited because we thought maybe we would hear stories from what the elders were talking about. Our grandmother was the one who told us that when someone was speaking we were not to say anything. When they came to visit, we had to be on our best: notte be rude, not to talk. A lot of these things seem to have dissipated now. Young people do not listen, and they don't seem to honor their parents and their grandparents. A lot of the elders that came to visit- a lot of their stories were oral, and were passed down to all of us. They were stories that would help us in our lives: how to canyon; how we should conduct ourselves. When I got to the age of six, I was taken to the boarding school down at the Agency. And, that was my first experience -of-going to school. · Atthe time-that I went to schooH did not speak English, I just spoke in the Ute language. The boys' dormitory was a two-story building. My first experience entering-that building felt like I was -entering a big tunnel because -of its long hallways. That first or second evening a lot of the young kids were taken down into the basement, down below ground level, and the older boys were given the authority to cut the little boys' hair. So, a lot ofus gathered around and everything was exciting, because of the lights and the water. Things that we saw-there were totally different for us. Back home-we ha-d-t-o -carry-our water from the spring for the household. That meant washing the dishes, to take a bath, and to wash our clothes. There was no -electric or butane stove~everything had to be taken care of. The older people had to chop the wood, and us kids had to bring the wood into the house. So, it was the young people's duty to bring those things in: the water, the wood, and even to start the wood stove. When the older people went to the store on the wagon to get groceries, it was our job to get the water and wood in and·to·have the wood stove burning by the time they got back in the evening, which was about four or five o'clock. We didn't have time, didn't have a clock in the house, but we kind of went by the wn. -So; when they got home-they didn 'thave to do ·all of that-it was in there in the house: All they had to do was start the cooking. My grandmother used to say if you want to eat you've-gotto do-all of these things. When I was in school we were excited about all these things that we saw: there was a washbasin, toilets, you'd step on a lever and the water would come out. To-us;·these wer-ethingsthatwe never experienced before. When we went down to the basement, the older boys told us what kind of haircut we wanted. At that time we didn't know that-theywer-e jokingwithus. So,·when we told them we wanted our hair to be cut a certain way is when they cut our hair completely off. Us young kids were traumatized. We didn't knowthe diff-erenrewhethefihey used hand clippers Of ,dect-ric -dipperS. �--------------- -------------------------- Page 2 of9 So, all of us, us young kids at the age of six, were all crying because her-ewe were-we had lost all of our hair. After that was done to us we were told to strip our clothes down, to get in the shower. We didn't have no privacy, everybody was all together. After we had our shower and dried off, they put powder on us. I guess a lot of this was for hygiene-some ofus kids had lice. Since we were young we didn't understand what wa-s-happening to us. Even going to the bathroom was kind of funny, because we'd sit on the bowl, and we were taught how to tear the toilet paper. Some ofus never had indoor-toilets, w to-flu-sh the-t-oilet we wtmdered wher-e it all went. So, some of-those things were good to experience and some of it bothered us in some way or another, especially when you tlidn'tknowhowtospeak in English. The first few months that we went to school a lot of us didn't know how to speak English. A few of us ~w some words, but some -of us totally did not understand. ·A lot -of-us didn't know how to say, 'I have to go to the bathroom.' So, some ofus had accidents in the classrooms. Where we slept, in the dormitory, there were about 60 kids. We had closets, but we had to share the closet with somebody else-maybe 3 or 4 persons. Notoniythat,-we-hadtoi:eamirow to make our own bed; how to take the mattress cover off; how to fold the sheets on the bed. When you are at age six that-is-something to experience. But, akogether, the dormitory life was good. And at that time I didn't know how good I had it, because at the boarding school, everything that we had was fresh. -We had fresh milk from the-dairy cows. We-had-a-gar-denihat a lot of the young students took care of during the spring and in the fall. We had a big cellar there where things were put after being harvested so that we could have fresh -things-during-the winter months. They had chickens, so we had eggs. We had milk, we had beef, and they had a bakery there. We had to learn how to make bread so that the students could have bread to eat. For some reason or another some ofus wanted to run away, we wanted to go back home. Some ofus lived about 10 miles away, 5 miles, or less than that. I remember there were several Navajo kids who lived with us, ho came all the way from Nageezi, Shiprock, or Farmington. And there were some Ute kids who came from Towoac. Sometimes we had arguments or got into a fight, or something like that. But, the majority of the time it was controlled real good. In the boys dormitory there maids were the ones who took care of our clothing-sorted them out. They sewed our clothes. Some ofus didn't have enough clothes at that time, so the government issued us cover alls. It was sort of like a jump suit: it had buttons down the middle, from the collar all the way down. So, when you had to go to the bathroom you had to unbutton all of the buttons to take off the top part and then sit down. We had to be in bed at about 6:00 in the evening. During the summer we were in bed when the sun was still going down. We had to get up, I would say, about 6:00 in the morning. We had to do our detail: make our bed, wash up before going to breakfast, and then wait until the buzzer rang. When the buzzer rang we all lined up to go to the dining room. Everything was like a military way. When I first experienced the dining room there were a lot of tables there. When we sat down to eat, most of the food was served at the table. A lot of us young kids did not eat good, because the older boys would take most of the food that was there. A lot ofus kids cried because we didn't get something that we were supposed to get. They did have prayer: everybody stood up for a minute or two and then sat down to eat. There was no certain way we were told to do it, �Page 3 of9 we were just told to do this. As the years went by those things started to change. Instead of the food being served at the table, they had cafeteria style. All of the students that went to the boarding school had to fix their bed, brush their teeth, and comb their hair. We had to take a shower two times a week, and our bedding had to be changed once a week. The rooms were always warm in the winter time-we had plenty of heat. I did that for 12 years in the boarding school. As we got older we participated in sports: played football, basketball, baseball. In fact, when I was at school there we had the best gym in all of La Plata County. I remember Ignacio had a gym, in fact, I think it's still there. I think they turned it into some type of garage now. Its ceilings were real low. Most of the schools we played had decent places to play basketball. But, over the years some of things began to change, too. I remember Bayfield: Bayfield had a gym on the second floor of a building on Main Street there. That's changed, too. We played with local schools in this area: Pagosa, Bayfield, Dove Creek, and we even went down to Gallup to play with some of the Native students there. And, they had tournaments for basketball and baseball. They had the regular season and they had tournaments. I guess a lot of this was to keep the students busy, so that we wouldn't get into trouble. The doors of the boys' dormitory were not locked at night. You could open the door to go outside, but it was locked when you tried to get back in. Some of us, trying to be ornery or just to experience something, would go out into the night. I remember there were some houses close to the dormitory, and I think they had raspberries. So one time some ofus went out at night, and crawled around their gardens picking and eating raspberries. But, before we did that we put rock at the bottom of the doorway, so that when we came back we could get back inside. If not, or if we made a mistake, we had to scratch on the window so that one of the kids would open the door for us. A lot of the roads in this area at that time were not paved. They were all dirt roads. When I was little, when we had snowstorms, I remember my grandfather would put skis on the wagon wheels. I remember playing down by the Agency, which is close to the Bear Dance grounds, and a lot ofus kids would go to the river, which would freeze to about an inch thick. But, we don't see that now. A lot ofus would play games on the ice using sticks and rocks for hockey. When I was in school I didn't know what Christmas was. When we were in school they would start decorating maybe a month or two weeks before Christmas-decorating the classrooms with ornaments. It was exciting to a lot ofus, because we didn't understand. In the gym they had tall Christmas trees that almost went clear up to the ceiling. I remember the first Christmas tree I saw in the gym was lit by candles-they didn't have lights. They lit the candles at certain times, as long as there was someone there to watch them. As time went by that changed, too. They got lights and started to decorate differently. The students would have parts in the Christmas play. Even when we had movies in the gym, they were always held in the evening. The movies were on Friday evenings, and some of the parents would come on horseback to come see the movies. I remember my grandmother coming to see a movie one time, and I think that was the only time she came. A lot of the parents, during the summer or during the fall, would camp along the river if they came to visit their children. I was a long ways home for them to go in the evening. �Page 4 of9 School would open in September. Some of us were fortunate that our parents cam after us during the Christmas holidays. Most ofus who didn't go home for the Christmas holidays stayed in the dormitories for Christmas. I think it was in the middle of May that school was over, and the school would always have some kind of game like baseball or softball, or hand games before we had our picnic. After that, if your parents were there fore the picnic you would go home. So, we went back home in the summer for three months. When you were small three months was a long, long time. It's not like when you are older and time goes by quicker. So, you might say I've seen a lot of change here. The roads: a lot of the roads are paved now. The side roads, I call them, or county roads are better maintained. You've got barred ditches that are maintained by the road department-some of them taken care ofby the County, some of them by the BIA So, there are a lot of changes that have happened, and a lot of experiences that we've had. When I was growing up, my grandfather died, and I didn't see the burial and the funeral. When I s~y my grandfather, at the time I didn't realize that he wasn't my real grandfather. My real grandfather passed on, maybe before I was even born. His name was Jacob, and my grandmother's name was Bertha. So, you might say, that the Southern Utes here are sort of all related to each other through marriage and through our relatives. After my grandfather passed on, I do not know how long afterwards, but my grandmother passed on. I was taken out of school and brought to one of grandmother's houses. She was there sick, but I do not know how long she had been sick. I guess she wanted to see the grandchildren. I remember being there and we went into the kitchen where she laid next to the stove in her bed. They talked to her and she didn't respond. You could tell that she was breathing; maybe she was in a coma or something. They told us kids to go outside and play. Later on, maybe an hour or two later, was when we heard the crying in the house. So, they called us kids to come into the house. The traditional way when someone passed on you would have to step over that person's body. At that time I didn't understand why they did that. I guess you might say they did that because she was an elder: you stepped over the person to honor that person. Some of these traditions are still carried on by some ofus, but not always. Like I said: there are a lot of things that have changed. When people were buried they didn't have coffins. At that time the person was wrapped, someone would dig the hole, and the body would be lowered into the hole. Now we've got all of these expensive coffins. But, when I was going to school (after my grandmother died) it seems like all of my relatives-my uncles and my aunts-it seemed like we all scattered. The reason why I say that is because my grandmother was the one who held us all together. And, when she passed on it seemed like we all started wandering around. We did not live in the same place when I was raised-we kind of moved around and lived with different relatives. I remember my aunt went into Durango and got a job there. I want to say I was about six or seven, maybe seven or eight, years old when we went over there. She got a job there at the COD laundry. I think the First National Bank is there now. It's up by the Durango High School. There used to be a COD laundry that burned down. Since she didn't have the money to rent a house, we lived in a tent down by the river; where the old fire plant is. They called it "Swinging Bridge" in Durango; that's where we lived. We lived there in the summertime. From the railroad tracks (the Narrow Gauge) to the Animas Rive there was hardly �Page 5 of9 anything: no buildings (like the Town Square) and all those buildings in that area now. Maybe a month later, or two weeks later, she told me to go back to Ignacio to pick up my mother and my cousin. So, I experienced the Narrow Gauge, because the Narrow Gauge used to run through Ignacio, La Boca, and I think Arboles, Pagosa, all the way clear to Colorado Springs. I went from Durango to Ignacio, and I was between six and seven years old when they put me on the train. I walked from the train depot south oflgnacio almost half way to Bayfield. That's a lot of responsibility for a young man, but I did it. When I got to the house, where my grandmother lived, I told my mother we were going and I told my cousin we better get ready for the next day to go back to Durango. Early the next morning we left the house on foot. We're not talking about taxi service, we're not talking about horseback. Because, at that time, there was hardly any people who had cars. We had no phone to call somebody and say, 'Can you take me here or there.' But, we walked roughly, I want to say, from today's Sun Dance ground-about three miles north of the Agency. You might say, altogether, from the train depot up to where we lived was maybe five miles. As soon as we got there we bought the tickets, and as soon as we bought the tickets here comes the train. It was about 1:00, so it took us all morning to walk there. We got off at the train depot in Durango, which is still there. They use it for the Narrow Gauge up to Silverton. From there we went along the railroad tracks until I knew where to tum and go down by the nver. There were a lot of little houses that were along the Animas Valley at that time, by the river. They were mostly Spanish people. Their houses were little frame houses. All those things are gone now. So that was one experience. And, the other experience-I don't remember how old I was, maybe eight-my aunt decided to go to Albuquerque. She had gotten a job there. So, the following summer when school was out we went to Albuquerque. That was the first time, you might say, that I really left the reservation. We got on the bus right at the BIA building. I remember the times it used to stop in Ignacio, in Bayfield, just about anywhere you would want it to stop. From there we went to Durango, from Durango we went to Albuquerque. As we were going to Albuquerque it seemed like the bus stopped at every trading post, every little town or whatever it was down to Albuquerque. By the time we left from here at 8:00 in the morning we arrived in Albuquerque about 4 or 5:00 in the evening. And, the highway from here down to there wasn't the way it is today. It was paved, but it was a very narrow two lane, and it had a lot of curves in it. Even Albuquerque has changed. When I first went to Albuquerque it was only two lanes, and now they've go t all those freeways there. Going back to Durango ... When we were kids, we wandered around in Durango-all over the place. In fact, we went on top of where the present Fort Lewis is now. There was nothing up there. There was a small airport and a large lake of some kind. There was no college up there at that time. I remember one summer, you might say, we did just about anything to make money. We collected boxes, we collected milk bottles and even iron ... metal, so that we could go to the movies. They had several movie houses in Durango at that time. Most it's gone now. Anyway, those are the things we did when we were kids. I remember one time we decided to go to 3rd Street, and that was considered to be upper call at that time., There was about four ofus, and we went from house to house asking if we could cut their grass, clean their yard, whatever. I remember one time a lady was telling us what to do. She had one of those push mowers; it �Page 6 of9 wasn't an electric or gas mower like you have today. One of the lids was doing that, someone else was raking, and the rest ofus did what the lady wanted us to. She was an elderly lady. So, when we were through, we collected all of the things that we used and put them into the garage. As we were in the garage, she had boxes of stuff all over the garage. To us, it was kind of exciting, because we saw all kinds of things in the garage. We saw boxes of comics, magazines, tools and stuff like that. One of us saw a box there, and we opened the lid. We saw that there cigars in it. I don't remember who started it, but one of us started taking the cigars and sticking them in our pockets. We didn't get caught doing that, and we got paid on top of it. Instead of going to another job, because we had the cigars in our pockets, we headed down to the river. There were four ofus sitting there down by the bank and we all lit up! We didn't even finish our cigars! · I mean, we got to where we were all green-our colors were changing. I remember we threw all of our cigars in the river. So, when my aunt came back from work my cousin was sick, and she wanted to know why he was sick. But, we weren't going to tell her. I just wanted to tell you that we roamed Durango. I remember the streetlights in Durango would tum off as soon as the sun went down. No stores were open-nothing like that. In other words, 'they rolled the sidewalk up' -that's what we used to say. Ft. Lewis wasn't there. The Narrow Gauge was there, but it was only used to transport people to certain areas. After Ft. Lewis came, the Narrow Gauge became more of a tourist attraction. When I went to Albuquerque, we lived on First Street. Central was the main drag, and, you might say, First Street was where all of the bars and lower class were. That's where we were. My aunt used to give us money and tell us to go get food to eat. When we were at the boarding school we had good food. But, during the summer months there wasn't enough food for everybody. So, each day, when we were in Albuquerque, we walked Central one block at a time. The first day we walked one block, then back to the hotel. The next day we walked two blocks. We walked until we went from First Street all the way to the park. When we saw the park we thought we were in heaven, because there were trees and grass there. So, I took my mother and my cousin's sister to that area to have a little picnic. Then, a month later (I can't remember) we moved to another area in Albuquerque on 4th Street they called, up by the Indian school. My aunt had rented a house up there. We didn't have indoor plumbing. We had only a faucet in there, and there was one bed in that house: a spring bed. So, when we got there we threw our coats and our clothes on the bed so we could have something to lie on. Now you can tell how poor we were. We got to know the kids in that area. After we got acquainted with them we started roaming the area. We went to Central, the zoo, the Rio Grande, all on foot, or if we had the money, by bus. Even Albuquerque has changed. By the time I went to school in 1941, and experienced all of that clear up to the 11 th grade, I went to Santa Fe (to go to the boarding school there). The reason for that was I was in Albuquerque at the hospital; where I had a hernia repair. There were a lot of kids already in school, and when I was out of the hospital I was going to try to go to school in Albuquerque. But, the administration said I couldn't attend, because I think, at that time, it was only open for the Navajo kids. They told me that maybe I would try Santa Fe. I took the bus from �Page 7 of9 Albuquerque to Santa Fe and got off at the school. I went to the administration there, and they told me they were going to take me in. They told me to go to the boys' dormitory and check in. I had just had surgery done on me and the suitcase was real heavy for me. I was struggling with my suitcase with my suitcase, and I remember one young man came and asked if he could carry my suitcase for me. He carried it to the dormitory. I met the boys' supervisor, and they told me they would get me a room as soon as I went to eat dinner. So, I walked down the sidewalk with some of the guys and I didn't know anybody. Because I was a newcomer, everybody was looking at me. They gave me a room with three other guys. So, that was my experience there for the first time. I was there for nine months, and while I was in Santa Fe I had to report to the probation officer down there. Because, I had gotten into trouble in Bayfield when I was a young man. I think I was like 13 or 14 years old when it happened. So, I went to school down there, and it was different because there were a lot more kids than in Ignacio. I learned a lot about Santa Fe and how that school ran. I kind of liked it, because when you were in grade school they taught you different trades: carpentry, farming, things like that. Some of the boys even got involved with home economics: learned how to cook, how to take care of your room. I guess they were preparing you for when you left the boarding school. In the senior year you pick a trade that you want, and that's the reason why I liked Santa Fe. But, I did not go back the following year, which was my senior year. I went back to Ignacio. We graduated; I want to say safely, with only 10 seniors in our class. And, I'm sitting here today thinking to myself, 'How many of those kids are still here, are still with us?' The only thing I can say is there are maybe three ofus left from that class. After going through all that (experiencing the BIA boarding school and learning to speak English), I don't think I went to many ceremonies. The only ceremony I remember from when I was small was the Bear Dance. Going back to before I went to school, my grandmother took me to the Sun Dance. And, that was the last time I saw that particular ceremony until I was between 14 and 16, when I saw the Sun Dance come back. After graduation, a lot ofus went into Durango to go into the service, to enlist. Because of my probation-trouble with the law-they couldn't take me. So, I went to Haskell Institute, in Lawrence, KS, for a post-graduate trade school. I was there for nine months and took auto mechanics (that was my major). I got into trouble there, too. (I didn't learn how to get out of trouble.) So, I stayed in jail there for a while. When I got out of jail, I went back to school. But, school was already closing by that time. So, I took my suitcase and, with one of my buddies, went to Kansas City, MO, which is just on the other side of the river. We looked for a job over there, and I guess we didn't have good luck. I was running out of money, so I asked my buddy about going back to Ignacio. I found some money here, and instead of staying around, we went to Chicago. So, we got a bus ticket all the way to Chicago. We finally made it to Chicago (it took us maybe two or three days), and we got a room at the YMCA (close to the "Loop," they called it). I guess they called it the "Loop", because the train went in a loop through the heart of Chicago. �Page 8 of9 We started looking for a job and went to the employment agency. We finally got a job several miles from there (south of Chicago). Our job was at a hardware store. We stayed at the YMCA, so everyday we had to wake up, eat a small breakfast, and ride the subway. So, that was another experience: riding the subway. It goes under the ground then above the ground. Our job there was to police the area: pick up trash and sweep the area. That was our first job, and it took us a couple of days to do that. Our second job was to sort all of the lumber. That's when I learned how long a piece was just by looking at it. We had the tape with us, and they told us to sort them out into separate piles: lx4s, lx6s ... Then, when someone came with an order we had to fill that order: put everything on a big truck (flatbed)-lumber, cement, plywood, whatever was in that order. It got to where it didn't take us very long to get certain items and put them on the delivery truck. I remember twice a month we had to go to the train yard with the flatbed. The man that was with us knew the number of the boxcars that we had to break the seal, open the sliding doors, and unload the lumber onto the flatbed. We then delivered it to the lumberyard and sorted it out. We were there for three or four months. (I was 18 at that time.) So, that was another experience away from the reservation. All of those places that we went to on the bus: there were no freeways there. When we were in Chicago, they were just starting to do some of the suburbs. That was between 1954 and whatever. After we did our thing up there, school was going to open again. So, I thought I had a chance to go back to school. When we came back to Lawrence, KS, we went to the administration and informed them that we were coming back to school then. They denied me of coming back in. But my friend, who was with me, they accepted him back into school. So, he asked me what I'm going to do, and I told him I'd find our later. He checked in, and I left campus, went back to Lawrence, KS; I guess a mile or two away. I got a room; I went to eat, went to my room and went to sleep. The next day I bought a bus ticket and went back to Kansas City, MO. So, I got a hotel room and the first day I just kind of wandered around the town. The next day I checked out ofmy room and asked if there was a YMCA close by. I walked over there with my suitcase (to the YMCA), checked in, and they gave me a room. I asked the people at the YMCA if there was any training for auto mechanics, and they told me where to go. I went in there, signed up for enrollment, and the next day I asked them if they could help me get a job. The classes were 6:00-10:00 at night, so during the day you needed some kind of job. They sent me to a couple of jobs, but they didn't hire me. The third job I went to they hired me. It was to do upholstery on automobiles. What you do is, when a vehicle comes in, you take all of the old seat covers off, and the costumers would say, 'I want this kind of seat cover and color.' Our job was to put the new seat covers on. Some people did custom seat covers-that means they did the designing and all the custom style work. It took me a couple of days to get the hang of it, depending on the customer. I did that for eight hours, go back and eat a quick lunch, then go to school from 6-10:00 at night. And, I did that for nine months. Then I came back. I got a letter from the Agency saying I had to come back. So, I quit the school, paid my bills and everything, and came back this way. I took care of the problem I had here, and instead of going back I stuck around here. So, my cousin and me stayed on the farm and helped my aunt and here husband. After a year or two, we both got into trouble and we both couldn't drive. So, I guess we were both down on our luck. �Page 9 of9 We didn't know what to do with ourselves anymore, so we decided to join the service. So, we went over to Durango and passed the test over there. After that our parents took us to Denver to do more tests: physical and written. We both passed with 'flying colors'. The only problem with that was they told me I had to go see someone upstairs, because of my record; that happened when I was 13-14 years old. The man told me, 'I'll sign the waiver if you go back home and have four affidavits signed by four people.' So, I was delayed one week, and my cousin told me he was going to go on. I assumed that we were going to be together for basic, because we both signed the buddy system. So, I came back, got the affidavits, sent them to Denver, and a few days later I got a letter saying for me to come in. That evening I flew to San Antonio, and my cousin went to California. We never saw each other for four years. I was at San Antonio, at boot camp down there for the Air Force. When boot camp was over, I got my orders to go to Las Vegas, NV. I came up here, because I had 15 days of leave before I reported to my next base. And, I was there for two years, I guess. Then I went to the Philippines, South Pacific, and I was there for about two years. I (!Ji,'re.w,W~ {!,,1. ~Vd(.~L 6 \).t-':.,1J'.\, wv<Z.U..~( W1l~«--1 Jtw. Hrli -ZV-CLL) � 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 Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. 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 Russell Box Sr. Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-01-11 Subject The topic of the resource Box, Russell Sr.; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Russell Box Sr. written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on January 11, 2004. 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 Box, Russell Sr. Extent The size or duration of the resource. 9 pages