21 10 216 https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/1a97a0e1b116e1b26aee6d756c2ce611.pdf 9422d22247b8fb1d5c48a3bda82e713d PDF Text Text ROY WILLIAMS Roy Hancock Williams was born in a tepee in the Florida River valley near the present site of the La Plata Airport on August 8, 1889. His parents were Price Williams, a Southern Ute, and Marie Capote from the Northern Ute Tribe, "My parents kept sheep, horses and some cattle and moved around to find good pasture. We always came back to the Florida. The river bottom was a good place to raise potatoes and corn. The whole area had deer and other game. There was no better river than the Florida, It was clear and full of fish and turtles. While I was still young, my parents built a two-room frame house in the river bottom. We had good neighbors, Nicholas and Peter Eaton lived nearby. It was a very god life. No boundaries and no fences. We could go to the high mountains or to the valleys to find pasture or to hunt without anyone to tell us no." "When I was ten years old, my parents sent me to the boarding school at Ignacio, It was pretty bad there at first, I spoke only Ute, After a while I began to learn English from the other children. I liked the holidays when I could ride our horses and be free. In the summers I herded the sheep for my Dad, There was good hunting around the sheep camps, I shot my first doe when I was 16. Some of the bucks we got were so heavy we had to cut them up or carry them on a horse." "I don't go to pow-wows any more, but I liked them when I was young. The tribe used to put on a real show. There were different styles of dancing, more than now. The Bear Dance was always the first dance of the season. In the 192O's the Sun Dance was started here. I think it came from Oklahoma." "I went only to the 5th grade at the boarding school. When I quit, I enrolled at the country school at La Pasta for a while to learn Spanish." "In 1918 I was ready to enlist in the army to go to the war in France, but before I got in, the war ended so I traveled around working at different jobs for a while. In 1920 I got to visit my grandfather, James Capote, in Ft. Duchesne. He told me many things about the LIies, but I have forgotten most of it. My father died in 1921. Soon afterward, we built a house north of Ignacio. I worked at the Indian Agency for many years plowing and running the thrashing machine." Roy married Labrara Radea. They had one daughter, Mary Suazo. Later Roy married Mary Bean. Their children are Mary Santisteven, Vonnestine Herrera, and Eileen Weaver. Roy remembers seeing automobiles around Ignacio as early as 1913, but he never owned his own car until 1939 when he bought a Mercury. He says, "We had a good life after the second World War. I had a good job and also made money raising sheep and cattle. We owned seven different cars and did some traveling around," Mary died in 1961. The only one of Roy's brothers or sisters still living is Belle Cutthair, Recently Roy moved from his home north of Ignacio to one of the apartments at the Senior Center, He is now 79, His vision is fair and his hearing is excellent. He says, "I never thought I'd live this long, but here I am." Shelby Smith -- September, 1975 174 � 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 Roy Williams Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1978-09 Subject The topic of the resource Williams, Roy; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Roy Williams based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 1978 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 Williams, Roy 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/811e36683b7e2b91fbdc955e3e6c2fcc.pdf 60eddc04b8c5de3fe9eecb20416d02b4 PDF Text Text LAWRENCE & MARGARET (Bowman) WISEMAN Margaret Summers Bowman was born ln Durango, Colorado, December 8, 1905, the third child of Thomas and Etta Bowman. The Bowmans lived at 760 3rd Avenue. Margaret has wonderful memories of this house, since she lived there until she was married. Just down the street across from Smiley Jr. High was the original Durango School. All twelve grades were in the one building until the high school was built. Margaret's older brother, Bill, was out of school and Lena, her only sister was in 12th grade. } ) ) ) ) ) ) J ) .J .J .J ..J _) .) _) ..) ~ _) J We didn't keep our own horses and buggy. Most everything we needed was close and the area had good public transportation, too. The town had a streetcar, which all the children loved to ride. We could go all the way up to Animas City, almost as far as the present location of the Silver Spur restaurant, for picnics at Animas Park. This was up the hill among the trees and rocks with a good view across the valley. Sometimes, on the 4 th of July and on other occasions we went to Brookside Park located on Main where the Chamber of Commerce Office is now. There were swings and slides and the creek where the children could play. If anyone wanted to go to Silverton or Telluride or Ignacio, they could ride the train which was without question the fastest and most comfortable way to travel. Whenever Dad needed private transportation, he would hire a "hack" from one of the livery stables. This included a d.river and made a good impression on visitors arriving on the train. Our family was greatly involved in church. On Sunday mornings we attended Sunday School and Church. On Sunday evening we went to Christian Endeaver. Then on Wednesday evening was prayer meeting. On Sundays there was no playing, no shows or other entertainment. We read our Sunday School Lesson or did something quiet. Occasionally, Dad took us to the Vienna Restaurant after church and once in a while he would take me for a walk. Otherwise, Sundays were quiet and rather unexciting." Both of Margaret's parents were immigrants into this part of the country. Thomas was born in Wisconsin in 1845. His parents were named Dibley. When both of them died, he was adopted by the Bowman family. Boys cannot stay away from exciting events. This was true of Thomas when the Civil War started. He just had to go and he had to practice a little deception to join the Union Army at the age of 16. Of course, Thomas had been taught never to lie. Before going to the induction center, he wrote the number 17 on a piece of paper and placed the paper in his shoe so that he could swear in good conscience that he was over 17. Thomas survived the Civil War; then entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he stayed until he acquired a Ph.D. degree in science. In the 1870's and 1880's opportunities were wide open in every direction in this developing country. Thomas chose to come to Colorado to work as a metallurgist. First he came to Silverton prospecting one his own and working for the mining companies. Later, he moved down to Animas City and went to work for the smelter. ~ ~ J ...) J 1 75 �In 1887 Thomas noticed a new girl in town. Etta Louise Summers came to Durango from Ohio to escape the damp climate of the East. She stayed with her sister, the wife of the Rev. Mr. James Coffman, who established the first Methodist Church in Durango. Etta taught school in Durango for one year. After Thomas and Ella were married, Thomas continued working at the smelter for a number of years. Before Margaret was born, they decided to open the T.E. Bowman Book and Stationery Store on Main Street right next to Penny's. The family operated the store until Thomas died in 1923. Durango is full of new businesses with new names, but a number of the old ones are still there. Among them are the Strater Hotel, Graden's Department Store, Parson's Drug, Richey's and Taylor-Raymond Jewellers. The New York Bakery was then called Purrung's Bakery and the General Palmer Hotel was the Savoy Hotel. Margaret had known Lawrence Wiseman since 8th grade. They were casual friends at school and in the years following she saw Lawrence now and then on the street. After finishing school Margaret attended business college in Greeley. Once while she was home, Sam Gilcrest called to ask her to go on a blind date. To her surprise the blind date was Lawrence Wiseman. From then on there was no one else. Margaret was offered a job at Pueblo, but Lawrence changed her mind. They were married in 1927. Lawrence was working at Durango Hardware for several years until it went bankrupt during the depression. After that he worked at whatever he could find. Suddenly, a totally unexpected opportunity appeared. Mr. Biggs who owned Biggs Hardware in Ignacio asked Lawrence to run the business for him. Lawrence didn't know how to figure a board foot, but was delighted for the opportunity. He rented a room in Ignacio and rode the train back and forth from Durango on week-ends. In 1932 Margaret and her mother moved lo Ignacio so Lawrence could stop the commuting. At first they rented the house where the Holts now live and later moved across the street. During the depression years Lawrence sold hay and grain which he had taken in as payments on bills. After living all her life in a larger town, Margaret was uncertain how she would like living in Ignacio. However, after a few weeks here, Margaret decided she was very happy with her new home. Today she says she wouldn't want to live any other place. In 1950 Lawrence bought out Mr. Biggs and changed the name of the store. Life in Ignacio was different, of course, in the early years. "We had to go to bed at 10:00 P.M. because the lights went off. I remember once we had a group of friends from Durango for a supper party. We told them they would have to leave before 10:00 because the lights go out. They laughed like they didn't believe it and decided to slay. Sure enough when 10:00 o'clock came, everything went black and our friends had a time of it finding their coats and hats." "Lawrence and I liked to travel. In fact, that was our favorite pastime. We took trips all over this country and a few overseas to Hawaii and Jamaica and Bermuda. Once we went to New York City lo see the musicals. My Fair Lady was going strong when we were there. Our favorite kind of trip was simply to go to the airport and buy the first two tickets available wherever it was. Going like this we never knew where we would find 176 �'1 '1 -i '1 -i '1 '1 1 l l ' ' ' ourselves, but we discovered some of the most interesting places. Arriving without reservations was uncertain, but we always had good luck." Lawrence enjoyed his work and especially enjoyed the people in Ignacio. After he sold the store to Tom, Lawrence continued to work for him part of the time. However, it also gave the Wiseman's more free time to travel or follow other pastimes. Lawrence died suddenly in February of 1976. The people of this area miss him very much for his friendliness and good spirit. And, of course, Margaret misses him, but she is fortunate because all her memories of Lawrence are good ones. ) We wish Margaret and her family many years of happiness and good health. January, 1977 - Shelby Smith ) ) ) ) ) ) "> ) ) ) ) ) ) ..J J _J J ..J _) .J ._} -.J .J ..) ._} ._} ._} ..._) ..._) 177 � 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 Lawrence Wiseman and Margaret (Bowman) Wiseman Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1977-01 Subject The topic of the resource Wiseman, Lawrence; Wiseman, Margaret (Bowman); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Lawrence Wiseman and Margaret (Bowman) Wiseman based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the January, 1977 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 Wiseman, Lawrence; Wiseman, Margaret (Bowman) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/e3bb4533135bb9fe432bb2bab98d39ac.pdf a5ee6245f83d649be4757f3e964f26a8 PDF Text Text LENA (Bowman) WITT Lena Elizabeth Bowman was born June 6, 1894, in Durango at her parents home at 760 Third Avenue, Her mother, Etta Louisa Summers, came to Durango from Ohio in 1889 to teach school. She stayed with her sister Margaret Coffman, whose husband, James Coffman, was the Methodist minister in Durango, In 1890 Etta married Thomas Bowman, a metallurgist at the smelter, Thomas, who was 19 years older than Etta, was a civil War veteran. After the war he obtained his degree in Metallurgy at the University of Wisconsin, then came west to Silverton to work in the smelter which was later moved to Durango, Thomas' first wife died of typhoid fever in Denver in 1889. When he married Etta, he not only worked at the smelter, but also owned a stationery store on Main Street in Durango. Lena, her brother Bill, and her sister Margaret all took their turns working in the store and all of them, as Lena recalls, took turns raiding the candy counter quite often. Lena started school at Longfellow in 1901 and graduated from Durango High school in 1913. Emory Smiley was the superintendent during those years, "When I was a child, we had to make our own pastimes," Lena remembers. "I can recall the long summer evenings when we'd ride our bikes under the arc lights on 3rd Avenue until late at night. One of our favorite pastimes was picnics. We'd walk up Junction Creek or Lightner Creek or ride the streetcar to Brookside Park. The first silent movies in Durango were shown outside at the park. Looking back I realize the pictures were not top quality and the movements of the actors were jerky, but we didn't notice that. We thought it was wonderful. Sometimes we rode the train to Tremble Springs 10 miles north of Durango, where we'd stay in the hotel, take hot baths and enjoy the good food. All the children in town liked the 4th of July because of the fireworks. My dad sold them at the store, so we usually had our choice of the rockets and Roman candles." Lena stayed home one year after high school, but in the summer of 1914 her parents sent her to a teaching institute in Silverton. The purpose of the institutes was to explain teaching careers to young people. Lena stayed with a family named Lamont. Mr. Lamont, she remembers, was a rather aristocratic man of English extraction. Along with the school, entertainments and outings were provided for the participants Lena and her group traveled north of Silverton to visit a mill and mine and to ride the cable car between them. The cable car turned out to be an ore bucket swinging along a cable over an enormous ravine. All Lena knew to do was grit her teeth and hang on, Lena attended teacher training at the college in Greeley, received her degree after two years and returned to teach grades 1-6 at Tremble Springs. Her wages of $65.00 per month were good for that time. The widow Schluter provided a room and marvelous meals for $15.00 a month. Lillian Thompson taught grades 7-10 in the same building. Though Lillian had lost an arm in an accident, she preformed her school duties well and drove her Model T to school every day. In spite of the good wages and pleasant living conditions, Lena says it was a difficult year. Some of the students, especially the older students in Lillian's room, were serious discipline problems. During the next two years Lena taught at Cottonwood School on Florida Mesa where she walked to school from the Gram's farm. Some of her students were Howard and Ray Self, Emily Cicily and the Perino and Gerardi children. She can still remember the school Christmas programs staged at the Florida Mesa Grange Hall. 178 �~ " '1 "l '1 '1 '1 ' ' ' ") ) J ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) _) ..J ....) _) _) ....) J J J While Lena was teaching at Ridges Basin, she met Ray Pierce, who owned a dry farm nearby. They were married and moved to Durango. Ray drove a big team hauling coal and Lena worked in Hunter's Music Store. The marriage did not last long. After they were separated, Lena got a job teaching grades 3-5 at Animas City. At a teaching institute at Mancos the following summer, Lena met the superintendent of schools from Yuma, Colorado. He needed a 4th grade teacher and hired Lena on the spot. Lena was settled in Yuma when her father died December 6, 1923. She resigned her job intending to stay home with her mother for several months. However the superintendent at Bayfield soon learned Lena was not working and convinced her to teach 3rd and 4th grades in Bayfield. While working in Bayfield, Lena met Jack Garrish, a World War I veteran. They were married on Christmas Day in 1925. They stayed in Bayfield until 1926, then moved to Ignacio. Jack built a blacksmith shop behind Mr. Anderson's filling station. When Jack's brother-in-law died, he and Lena moved back to Bayfield to help his sister operate a Silver Fox farm. In 1933 they moved to Durango for three years and then moved to Canon City where Jack worked as a guard at the prison and later worked as overseer at the prison blacksmith shop. Lena had an active, fun life in canon City with many friends. In 1940 Jack was very ill at home for three weeks. Lena took him to Fitzsimmons Military Hospital in Denver for treatment. Jack died the first night there. In January of 1941 Lena returned to school at Greeley for three semesters to update her teaching methods. In 1942 she took a job northeast of Wray, Colorado, at the Alvin School. Teachers were expected to stage a ;Literary' onGe a month. This was a program consisting of music, readings and plays. Almost the whole community turned out because there was little entertainment in the lonely sand hill country. At first Lena viewed these programs with apprehension, but later learned to enjoy and take pride in them. One of the most memorable ones featured a Steven Foster minstrel show. In 1943 Lena married Guy Doyle. In subsequent years Lena taught at Laird, Colorado, at Haigler, Nebraska, at a country school near Vernon, Colorado and at Iliff north of Sterling. Guy worked at various jobs during those years. About 1954 Guy and Lena decided it was time to quit working, so they settled at Wray. Guy had asthma pretty bad and in 1958 he died of a coronary attack. Lena moved to Ignacio in the summer of 1959. During the next 10 years, she worked as a substitute teacher in Ignacio and lived on Browning Street in the house next to Tommy King's house. Lena never expected to leave Ignacio again, but she became acquainted with Bill Witt and they were married on July 27, 1969. He was 78 and Lena was 75. Bill owned a nice home in a good neighborhood in northwest Denver. Bill died 14 months after they were married. Lena loved her home in Denver. She left only for occasional trips. One of her favorites was a trip to visit relatives in Washington State. While there Lena got to ride the ferry to Victoria, British Columbia, to see the world famous Butchart Gardens and to have tea at the Empress Hotel, one of the old hotels still following the English traditions. In 1978 Lena's sister Margaret Wiseman invited her to return to Ignacio so that they could spend their last years together. Lena moved in November of 78. Margaret became very ill that winter and died in January of 1979. Today Lena enjoys a pleasant association with her nephew, Tom Wiseman and Beverly and also has numerous friends and old acquaintances in Ignacio. We wish her many more years of happiness and peaceful life. J J J ....) J -....) October, 1980 -- Shelby Smith 1 79 � 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 Lena (Bowman) Witt Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1980-10 Subject The topic of the resource Witt, Lena (Bowman); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Lena (Bowman) Witt based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the October, 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 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Witt, Lena (Bowman) 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/ce88ed1ee303d6859ea58d297fb116f6.pdf 5a8b82d7c736f2755e672187391b718a PDF Text Text EVA MARIAN (Wright) WORFORD The girl, 15 and the boy 13, stood beside a tall pile of luggage, trunks, cases and boxes on the railroad platform. Suddenly, the boy ducked behind the pile and hissed at his sister to do the same. A tall man in blue pants and coat examined the luggage and the children closely as he rode by on a chestnut horse. The boy said "Don't you know that's a policeman?" Marian and Ethan had just arrived in Chicago with their mother. Everything was unfamiliar and a little frightening. Like many country people of that era the children were nervous and suspicious of town people. Their mother had left them to watch the luggage while she looked for a means of transporting it from one railway station to another across town. Moving was not a new experience for the Wrights, but they had never moved so far. The family had lived in many different places in Michigan. Now they were going to Colorado. Eva Marian Wright was born August 13, 1902 in Cass County, Southern Michigan. It was hilly, very green, forested country full of clear, flowing streams and "lots of bugs", Marian remembers. Her father, Carlton Eugene Wright and her mother, Myrta (Hogue) Wright moved frequently doing carpenter work and sales in various communities in southern Michigan. The home Marian remembers best is the country mill her father bought. The mill was four stories high. The upper two stories were for grinding flour and the lower two were for grinding feed grist for cattle and chickens. The mill was powered by a turbine fed by flumes running from the three streams in the valley. It was a beautiful place. When the children were not needed to work in the mill they were assigned to fish in the nearby streams to supply meat for the family. Marian and Ethan never became bored with this assignment. Since Mr. Wright was not licensed to grind flour, most of his time was spent grinding grist feed for animals. Most of his business came in the fall, but a few farmers came during the rest of the year. The Wrights acquired two prized animals with the mill. One was a horse which was especially good natured. No one needed to even touch the reins to get him to town. There was, however, one place he would not pull the buggy. He had fallen through a bridge once and he would not cross a bridge unless someone walked across before him. The other prized animal was a tiger striped mother cat and her litters. They were essential in keeping down the rodent population around the grain in the mill. One of the tomcats liked to go fishing with the children. If they were slow to catch a fish to throw to him, the tomcat would wade out into the stream, hook a fish with his claws and enjoy his feast. School was only about 1 and 1/2 miles away, but when the snow stood 3-4 feet deep, it was sometimes difficult to make the trip. Nobody seemed to know anything about skis or snowshoes in that area at that time. At 5 years of age Marian started to pre-school, which in those days was called primer class. Children weren't expected to learn to read in primer class but Marian was. Her father had instilled in her a love for reading from an early age. Coal was expensive in southern Michigan, so the Wrights chopped a lot of wood for the winter. On the land adjacent lo the mill, Mr. Wright raised oats and a little barley and wheat. Occasionally, he raised buckwheat for cakes. When the crops were ripe, Carlton would hire a steam powered thrashing machine and its crew. Marian and Ethan were 180 �"l """' '1 '1 '1 '1 ' ' '1 ') J 1 ) J ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J _) .) ..) ...) ...) ...) J ...) ..J ..J ..J J fascinated by the steam powered machinery and often would follow the thrashing machines from field to field to watch the crews at work. They can remember getting up at 3:00 a.m. one morning to stoke the steam engine for the crew. Always, Carlton had bees for honey and a good garden for produce. The mill and the garden provided for the needs of the family. A little extra cash, however is always useful. Ethan had a part time job which was the envy of other young boys in the areas. One of the neighbor ladies operated a bird farm. She had 200 kinds of unusual American birds, various game birds and exotic foreign kinds. The bird lady could not possibly fill all the orders she received. Ethan received one dollar per day for feeding, watering and cleaning cages. Occasional heavy rainy periods had caused floods which threatened the mill, but none did any real damage until 1917. A hefty flood that year destroyed all the flumes leading to the mill. Carlton said, "That's enough. We're going to Colorado." Colorado had been on their minds for sometime. Marian's mother had a cousin living at Tiffany who had been urging them to move out here. Carlton sold the place, boxed all their possessions and put the family on the train. Carlton himself went by auto by way of Wyoming to visit relatives before coming on to meet the family at Tiffany. The Wrights had never seen real mountains until they reached the plains east of Denver on the train. Marian still remembers that first day she saw them. "I couldn't keep my eyes off them. I loved the mountains from that first day I saw them and I still do." The family changed to the narrow gauge at Alamosa and traveled over Cumbres Pass to Chama and Pagosa Junction to Tiffany. Marian thought she knew quite a bit about farming, but one practice at Tiffany baffled her. Coming from the lush, green countryside of Michigan, she had never seen irrigation before. Mr. Wright bought Jake McJunkin's farm located just west of the present day slaughter house including his crop and animals. A year or two later Carlton acquired some ranch land several miles on west of Ignacio where Marian still lives. If you've visited Marian's house, you know it sits on a considerable hill. Her dad enjoyed telling visitors that their house originally was at no higher elevation than the surrounding area. They acquired an elevated view only because of the gumbo mud the Oxford/Ignacio area is famous for. Everybody who came to the house on a muddy day and cleaned their shoes, contributed to the building up of the hill on which their home is now located . Marian completed her sophomore and junior years here. The end of her junior year was disturbed by a dispute which seems quite ridiculous today, but which reflects the attitudes of that time. Marian and her classmates heard that one of their favorite teachers, Ravenna Groat, was being refused reemployment by the school board. Marian and Virginia Russell and others In their class met with the board to ask whether this was so. The board said yes, they had fired Ravenna Groat for riding a horse in riding britches instead of a riding Skirt. The junior class told the board they would not return to school if the board persisted in this action. The school board members doubted the students could afford to attend school in Durango, but most of them got jobs, saved their money and did manage to enroll in Durango for their senior year. Actually this was a wise thing for them to do as the Ignacio School was not accredited at that time. · ..J J ....) -..,,) 181 �Following graduation Marian attended a two week teacher's institute at Pagosa Springs and then took a stiff exam to receive a country teacher's certificate. This may seem like very little training (which ii was), but Marian says it was a stiff exam and many people had to lake the exam more than once to pass. Marian taught in various schools around the country. She loved the work, though conditions were often less than ideal. Some of the buildings were not insulated and had poor heaters. When Cedar Grove school was closed against Marian's objections, she started a "bootleg school" in her home on the ranch. "Some of the students were walking 7 miles to Cedar Grove. How could they go several more miles to another school? Some families would send one child to stay with me for a week and then they would take that child home and send another one to learn all they could for a week." The school Marian remembers with most affection was the school in Thompson Park just this side of Mancos Hill. "The students there were so intelligent and decent and nice. I really enjoyed the time I taught school over there." In 1928 the Frank Harmon family asked Marian to go with them to Michigan and to help take care of the Harmon children on the trip. Marian was very happy to do this since she had not been able to return to visit relatives of to see her birthplace since she had moved. On the return trip the Harmons stopped in Hamilton, Kansas, to see some of their family. There Marian met a young man named Bowen Worford. He spent quite a little time driving the Harmon kids around to see their relatives in the area and Marian accompanied them. Before she left, Bowen got Marian's address and wrote to her during that summer and fall. Bowen had lived in Montana for a while before returning to Kansas and was eager to return to the mountains. At Christmas time Marian returned to Kansas and she and Bowen were married. The following April they came out to La Plata County. Shortly after Bowen and Marian were married, Mrs. Harmon died. After a while the court asked Marian and Bowen to lake care of the two Harmon girls. The girls stayed with the Warlords until they were grown. Marian remembers with a chuckle the time their dog tried to "herd" Bowen's Ford Coupe. Bowen and Marian took the coupe over to Spring Creek to get a cow they had bought. Their dog, a shepherd and collie mix went along. One of them was driving the coupe and the other was out with the dog herding the cow. When the cow made a sudden turn lo escape, Bowen yelled "get her" to the dog. Somehow 'ale Shep's doggy brain got its wires crossed, apparently thinking Bowen meant the coupe instead of the cow. The dog made a ferocious leap and bit the tire of the moving car. Of course, he got thrown for a loop by the wheel and that was the last time old Shep tried to herd a coupe. Bowen died in 1967, but Marian slays on the ranch. It's in a remote area and there are times it's a little difficult to gel in or out, so many people have urged Marian to move to town. So far she has refused. She loves her animals and the wildlife and the peace and quiet of the land. Beyond that the place is full of memories of Bowen and her parents and of her first years here. For these reasons Marian's ties to the ranch are strong. We wish her many more years of happiness and peace. September, 1974 -- Shelby Smith 182 � 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 Eva Marian (Wright) Worford Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-09 Subject The topic of the resource Worford, Eva Marian (Wright); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Eva Marian (Wright) Worford based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 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 Worford, Eva Marian (Wright) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/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/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/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 https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/ef9747f447c50d48e2f9c7fde6dd017e.pdf 62ec3c749fcbae27664d373f5db4f14d PDF Text Text Pearl E. Casias (Southern Ute Tribal Elder) My name is Pearl Emily Casias, and I was born on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in the old Tribal Affairs building. At the time that I was born in the 40s it was called Taylor Hospital. It closed in 1957; it was a Bureau oflndian Affairs hospital. I was raised by my grandparents: Martha Tree and Felipe Lucero. We lived on an 80-acre allotment approximately two miles north of here [Ignacio]. At the time that I was growing up I recall the streets in Ignacio were gravel. There wasn't any pavement and there were gutters on the sides of the roads. But, it was an interesting community. We had a pool hall, and I recall my grandparents going to dances on the weekends at about four places that they used to have dances. So, t must have been a community thing to have social dances well before I was born and during the time that I was growing up. What is now the Ignacio School District bus garage used to be a dance hall. The kitchen appliance warehouse on Main Street was called Rebus Hall-they used to have dances there. It belonged to Mr. Rebus. Then, they had dances at what is now the Head Start building (it used to be the Ute Vocational School), and on some weekends they would have dances in the gym. After they built the T.P. Lounge, they used to have dances in there, also. So, there were four places where people could go to the dances. Most of the community, and from the outlying communities, would come and they would socialize with each other. Some of the tribal members had bands, so they played for one dance hall or another. Occasionally my grandparents would take me, but it wasn't very often. My grandmother would meet with some of the ladies who lived in La Boca and out in the Allison/Tiffany area. So, it was a social dance, but it was also a chance to meet with old friends and, possibly, to make new friends. I was telling an individual that had moved into this area back in the 70s, that I remember walking to Ignacio with my grandparents or with my aunt because we didn't have transportation. In the summer we'd walk, we'd walk two miles. Sometimes on our way back we'd catch a ride with someone who was going our way and they'd drop us off In the fall and during the winter my grandfather would go on the horse to get groceries, or he'd make arrangements with some of the neighbors and he'd ride into town with them. In the spring and early summer my grandparents would ride horses into town and we'd ride with them. We brought empty flour sacks or gunny sacks, put the groceries in them, then put them on the horses for the ride back. I remember the road 516 (that's the road I live on)-it goes from Highway 172 all the way to Bayfield-it was a gravel road. But, County Road 517 that comes right here in front of the Tribal Building it was just a dirt road. It didn't have gravel. After it rained and the people who had cars went over it, it became packed down. So, it was a lot of fun to take your shoes off and walk on the dirt road. There was a theater in Ignacio; it was called the Ute Theater. It's an empty building and an empty lot right now between the Sidekick Lounge and where a real estate office used to be. Mr. And Mrs. Preston (he was a farmer and drove a milk truck for the dairy farmers around the area) ran the theater with their family at night. I remember we'd come down after my grandfather bought a car-we'd come down on the weekends. My grandfather liked Westerns, so we got to see a lot of Westerns. It was real interesting, because you could buy a bag of popcorn �Page 2 of5 for 10 cents and a soda for a nickel. But, you know, those days are long gone. I go to the movies occasionally and for eight dollars you can get a large bag of popcorn and a soda. That's a far cry from the 15 cents for popcorn and a soda. Yeah, things have really changed economically and, I guess, the whole atmosphere of the small town. It's grown quite a bit. I remember they had two dress shops: part of one of the dress shops is part of the grocery store (the Shur-Value) and it also used to be a cafe. There's a place on Main Street called Nuuciu Bible Worship Church, I guess it's called, and that used to be a dress shop. Then, we had a drug store, which was a nice place to go. They had a soda jerk who wore white pants, a white jacket, and a white hat. His name was Mr. Brits; he worked behind the soda fountain and his wife worked on the dry goods side of the drug store. It was fun to go in there. I remember seeing the little soda table, or the little tables, and they had wrought iron chairs. They had stools at the counter, and you could get milkshakes, chocolate malt, or real ice cream (it wasn't ice milk or whatever). So, it was fun coming to town. I remember the bank: Ignacio State Bank. It was run by the Turners, and they lived a block behind the bank. Suzie Turner was Mr. Tuner's wife, and she was a very good friend of my grandmother's. She helped her balance her checkbook. It was fun going into the bank, because people knew each other by first names and it was very 'neighborly,' for lack of a better word. I remember Mrs. Turner was more than happy to help my grandmother, because my grandmother had a checking account. That was real interesting, because !didn't know of too many tribal members that had bank accounts. So, I always thought of my grandmother as being more progressive than some of the tribal members that I knew. A lot of the tribal elders that were her age or older preferred to speak in the Ute language. It was interesting to sit around and listen to what stories they had to tell. When we'd come to town my grandfather would visit with some of his friends, and my grandmother would sit in the grocery store and visit with some of her friends. So, it was real interesting to listen to their stories. It was a whole different era where children were seen and not heard. That was one of the things that we learned when we were growing up. But, Ignacio has gone through quite a change. For as long as I can remember Lawrence Wiseman owned the hardware store, and as he got older his son, Tom, took over. Saul Padia used to work for him, and Saul's wife used to work at the bank as a teller. She was very accommodating for all the people who came into the bank; she was a very nice person. I think Nelly Price was Postmistress when I was very young, and then later on Mr. Pierson became Postmaster. I grew up knowing them as U.S. Postal workers. Mr. Jones owned The Ignacio Chieftain and The Bay.field Blaze. He was the editor of the newspaper, and his shop was where the Dancing Spirit Gallery is today. The pool hall was right next door to The Chieftain office (or the print shop). It was owned by Dan Velasquez. Mr. Lopez (I can't remember his first name) used to manage the pool hall. When you walked into the pool hall there were pinball machines in the front and there was a freezer, so they sold ice cream cones. It was like a convenience store. You could buy canned goods, soda pop, bread, canned lunchmeats, and pork and beans-things like that. And, there was a dividing half; it didn't go all the way up to the ceiling, and behind that were the pool tables and �Page 3 of5 they had some card tables. They apparently played poker and had interesting card games back there. I remember when we were growing up my brother was a pinball fanatic. He always made outstanding scores in the pinball machine game. So, he hung out at the pool hall a lot just to play the pinball machines. And, of course, my grandfather liked to play cards a lot, so he'd take my brother and they'd go to the pool hall together. I have three children: I have two girls and a son. My oldest daughter works part-time. My son works at the casino; he's been there since before we remodeled and it became a casino. He worked in the restaurant before being converted to work in the casino. So, when he went to work in the casino he worked in 'The Cage', and he's been there for 10 years. He worked in the restaurant for about 14 years before that, so he's been working there for 14, going on 15, years. My youngest daughter works in Durango with the Tierra Group, with the Growth Fund. I had an older brother. He died when I was 16. My mother remarried-she divorced my father-so I had a half-brother, and he died two years ago. I don't have any other brothers and sisters. I just have my children and grandchildren. I have five grandchildren: four granddaughters and one grandson. My parents are deceased and, of course, my grandparents are gone, too. I just lost my aunt three years ago; it'll be four years this summer. So, I'm pretty much the matriarch of my family. I tell my children about the way things were when I was growing up. I've seen a lot of changes. Like I was saying, that family that came to live here, I would tell them that I used to walk to town. He'd say, 'Oh no, people already had cars' and 'That's impossible.' So, I would say, 'It might seem impossible to you, but things on the reservation were slower than in mainstream America.' It was in '54 and '55 that we finally had a water-well dug. We finally got running water and electricity and propane. So, it was the mid50s when we finally got the modem conveniences. It's interesting, because my brother and I both grew up hauling water and wood chips, and he had to bring in coal. As soon as we got home from school we changed our clothes and were busy until dinnertime. Then we had other chores, and then we had time for homework. You know, a couple of weeks ago (when there was a cold spell) my water pipes froze. You go from having no conveniences to the conveniences of today and then, all of a sudden, you can't tum on the tap water because the pipes are frozen. And, you think, 'How did I survive before?' I remember going to town after Halloween, and a lot of the townspeople had outdoor facilities, they didn't have running water. There were two places in town to get water. In one section of town all of the people would go over to where the elementary school is. There was a water pump there. So, they got their water there. And, I think, there was a water faucet at the other end of town. There were two places in town where you could get running water. The townspeople also burned wood and coal. After Halloween most of the outhouses had been turned over. Kids would pull tricks and turn over the outhouses. (Must have been chaos during that time!) I think it was during the early to mid-60s that the authors of Native American Programs made grants to rural communities. That's what provided the possibility of the town to receive funding so that they could put in gutters and sidewalks. I think it was in the late 50s, some time during the 50s, that they paved the roads. It's just been recently that progress has come to Ignacio. I think the Tribe has provided a lot of benefits to the community. Having grown up in �Page 4 of5 the community and with children from the two other ethnic groups, you develop friendships. So, the people that live here, I fell, have good relationships simply because they live here. Who knows? Maybe it's just the people that come here that change the atmosphere of a small town setting. I can walk down the street today and½ or¾ of the people I do not know. Of course, there're still the people that I know, who I grew up with. So, the community goes through some changes. During the summer they have the San Ignacio Fiesta at the end of July. It's to honor the patron saint: Saint Ignatius. What I remember when I was a little girl, we'd go to the church services and some of the tribal members would go and they'd help prepare the feast. The Indians and the Hispanics would have this big feast. We'd have what you would consider a huge potluck dinner. There was no charge. The tribal members would provide some of the supplies for this dinner. Some of the tribal men would assist in the cooking and what have you. Everyone would sit down and eat together, and they'd have games in the afternoon and Indian dancing. Some of the tribal elder men would come and they'd drum and sing for some of the young people. And, the young men would perform war dances. Everybody just king of got along together. I enjoyed taking part in the community. Then, in the fall, the Tribe would put on, and we still do (I think it's the 84th) Ute Fair. And, that's for tribal members. They'd have games for adults and children, alike. They'd have a baseball game, tug of war (women against women or men against women). It was a lot of fun to watch, and a lot of the tribal members participated. They brought all of their agricultural produce, livestock, and poultry. I saw turkeys, and rabbits, and chickens. I don't think I saw any guineas. The Tribe would provide prizes for First, Second, and Third. They'd have a big rodeo, and just recently they've started have a huge powwow. So it's kind of gone through an evolution. It's been interesting to see the evolution from what it was then to what it is today-it's dramatically different. Everybody came for the entries: from the west side to the east side of the reservation. They'd get people to come in from the community to judge the arts and crafts, the sewing, the canning, the livestock and poultry, and what have you. They'd have horse races and, like I said, a rodeo-everybody would participate in the rodeo. It's quite different from what it used to be; it's gone through a lot of changes. I remember we had a tribal member that was like the Chief of Police for quite a few years, and he worked really well with the Town Marshall. When we became teenagers we had some friends who owned cars; they came from middle class families, I guess. So, we'd ride around with our friends. There weren't any streetlights in Ignacio when I was a teenager. So, we'd turn the lights off on the car and play 'cat and mouse' with the Town Marshall. They would chase us around through the alleys. It was harmless; we weren't involved in vandalism or destruction of anybody's property. It was just playing 'cat and mouse' with the Town Marshall. I'm sure he knew who we were and the kid who owned the vehicle. They, for some reason, never did catch up with us. I went to school here at the Ute Vocational School until I was in the fifth grade. The Ute Vocational School was both boarding school and day school. Some of us were day school students and we were bussed. The Indian students that came from the Navajo Reservation and the Ute Mountain or Northern Ute Reservations stayed in the dorms. Those ofus that lived here were bussed to the school, and in the evening we rode home on the bus. �Page 5 of5 When I was promoted to the sixth grade, I asked my grandmother if I could go to Ignacio Elementary (I wanted to see what it was like to be in a public school). So I went and I enjoyed it. The following year, when I was promoted to the seventh grade, the schools in Ignacio were consolidated. The school closed down and all of the students went to the public school. So, even though they were boarding school students they went to the public schools. The Ute Vocational School became the Junior High School. It was a joint school. That's why it's called "' 'TI-JT So~ they urillzed ute-Ybcatibfial School for fue Junlor H{gii Sclro6lt ?111, 8th,., atl1ci 9111 grades. All of the elementary students went to Ignacio Elementary, and the high school students were in Ignacio High School. Because of the increase in students (because of the school district becoming joint) they received more funding from the State. They built a new high school. It benefited not only the Indian students it also benefited the district. That happened in '57. me At that time they also closed down the hospital. The government gave the hospital to the Tribe. And, so, the Tribe remodeled the building and converted it into offices. That's where we were located until last fall when they finished this building [the Leonard C. Burch Tribal Affairs Building]. My grandmother was Ute and my grandfather was Hispanic. When we were growing up we learned to speak Ute; that was our first language. Our second language was Spanish. When I went to school (I went to school when I was six years old) I couldn't speak English. Of course, my brother learned to speak English (he was two years older than I), because he was in the third grade when I started school. We carried on a tri-lingual conversation. When we'd get home from school my grandmother would speak to us in Ute, my grandfather would speak o us in Spanish, and we'd respond in English. So, they became familiarized with the English language. They could both speak English, but they weren't fluent or proficient. The more we learned the more they learned. (My grandmother was fluent in Spanish.) It's interesting: the first time I filled out an employment application, I said I speak one foreign language and that's English. Most people chuckle when they read my application or my resume and they see I speak a foreign language: English. Interviewed by Michael G. Miller (VISTA worker) on January 13, 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 Pearl Casias Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-01-13 Subject The topic of the resource Casias, Pearl; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Pearl Casias written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on January 13, 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 Casias, Pearl Extent The size or duration of the resource. 5 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/25d99f8b3b18bc4a91f7517106d26511.pdf f0f2fa1d2290e406eb0a52a3326ada58 PDF Text Text Neil Cloud (Southern Ute Tribal Elder) My name is Neil Buck Cloud; I'm the NAGPRO [Native American Graves Protection] coordinator for the Southern Ute Tribe at the current time. I was born at Towaoc, CO. At that time the Southern Ute Tribe did not have a hospital here [Ignacio]. So all the mothers had to go over to Towaoc to give birth; that's where a hospital was. We didn't have a hospital. A year or two later Taylor Hospital was built; which functions as the Southern Ute Tribal Building. It's an old building. Then, when I was born over there, I came back. We didn't have roads like this. It used to be gravel roads. It was winter and they said they had to deliver me. They walked part of the way, most of the way, through all that snow. Where the current BIA building is, there used to be an old building that was made originally out of wood. And, that burned down with all the tribal records. Finally, they built another one right under it. There's a tree still standing there that you will notice in old pictures. The museum currently has pictures of the Utes standing there. That was the old BIA building. When they built the new BIA building that was in 1940 ... somewhere in that area. And, when I was growing up, I used to play there; I remember that as a boy. We used to play, at that time Billy Rock and I, we used to play in the foundation; that's what I remember. At that time, our fathers were the Southern Ute Tribal Policemen. And, if you look right off north there, the jail is still standing there: the little cement building that you see. If you look north, it's still there. There were houses towards the south; those were the houses where our parents lived. And, there were a few sheds (warehouses) a little bit to the west ofus, southwest. Two buildings I think it was, or three ... huge: we used to all go to there and play. There used to be a whole mess of sheep pelts in there. During that time the tribe had sheep (we owned the sheep). Also, during that time, individual families had sheep and there was a Southern Ute Sheep Association, also, which we owned together. Every spring we used to take them up to Williams Creek and north ofVallecito Dam in that National Forest area. We had trouble with bears, and we had to have a quota [of sheep] for the National Fore st. We had to purchase 30,000 more. So, I don't know how many total we had, because there were several families. But, over the following ears, we kept saying that bears killed our sheep. Finally it added up and we had bucks. I guess they got old also, because they died. We had, I don't know 50 or 100 head of bucks, and we kept them separate. Well, that's my experience. During the time when I heard these stories, the Indians were still riding horses at that time. Well, there was a store there next to that office that burned down; where the Ute Park entrance is today. A little south of there was a warehouse. The Indian agents used to say that Hans Aspas was the one who had it, or one of them. And, over a period oftime (when he was in charge), the way the story goes, he used to get the wagons that were given to us by the United States Government. Over that period he accumulated a lot of money. And, that's how Ignacio became the little city of Ignacio. That part is just hearsay, you see. I just heard it and didn't see it for myself I just heard the people talk about it. �Page 2 of9 One thing is very important according to the story of how Ignacio was built. First, it was supposed to have been built in Tiffany, CO; which is about 15 miles southeast oflgnacio. And, something happened over there and they moved it to this area: the Pine River area. Well, there's a slaughterhouse where the Town is supposed to be, over the hill. I've been there, there's a lot of debris. The first one (I forget the Spanish guy's name), he was the very first guy to build a saloon. The pieces of wood that you find are part of the foundation of that saloon. And then, during that time, something happened. They moved to where the current Ignacio is, and he had to move his saloon back down. That's why there are pieces of debris there; I've been there. I don't know what condition it's in now. If you walk on over, there's a creek there. If you walk along, there's still trash from that period. There's a big question about that: how Ignacio came about and why they moved it. I never knew, never was told. That's why I say it is hearsay ... I wasn't really involved. It happened before my time, way before my time, about the time when the allotments were being created. But, I did see the Utes riding their horses right in front of that big building that they call the Legion Hall. Right across the corner from there was a drugstore, as I remember. And, I remember the druggist's name: it was Britt, and I remember that because he sold ice cream. Us little guys used to go get ice cream there. Every time we went to town that was the first place we went to. And, right across it was the Legion Hall; it's still standing today. That's where the Spanish people put on dances. That was the only big building and that's where they used to have dances (right next to the police station, where the hitching post was). That's where the Utes used to tie their horses and their wagons. There used to e a whole bunch of them where the station is today. Also, the Ignacio High School was built where the grade school is. It was a tall building: two stories. That's where the Anglo kids went to school and some of the Ute kids went there, too. I went to this one here (we had an Indian school, also). The boarding school. .. during the early days we lived so far from the school that we were all scattered all throughout this reservation. We didn't have no buses during those days. Some of them had to ride horseback when they went to school. Some of the Utes went to school over towards Mesa Mountains; which is about a good 10 or 15 miles from here. There was another country school over there. Some of them had to suffer every winter riding horses to get to school. And, there's another Indian school up over northeast from here, about 15 miles out. But, there's a little country school. .. some of those people went to that one. It was muddy and they had a rough time being out in the country. That's why the Bureau of Indian Affairs built this Indian school. According to my dad, who went to school here, this boarding school was ... I still remember it; it was functioning a few years back. But, they built an additional part to it and it got bigger. Whereas the old one was funny looking: narrow and long. It was divided: one side was the girls' section and the other side was for the boys. There was a sign there, when it was built, and I remember seeing it. I believe it said, '1889'; that's when my dad went to school, when he was a little guy. They said his dad came and got home and never told them he was putting him in school. According to his story, he just thought he was going for a ride with his dad and he was happy. But, he left him at that boarding school and he cried. When he was over �Page 3 of9 there, I guess he cried so much that when one of the girls got him, they calmed him down and took care of him. He was the littlest one there. That's the way he was healthy about telling that story; I remember that part. 'My dad did me wrong by not telling me,' he'd say. 'I'm still mad at my dad (which was Edwin Cloud).' I remember him [Edwin Cloud], too, vaguely. He had braids, but I really didn't know him too well. They just pointed him out and said that's my grandfather. That's how I knew him. But, I never did know him too well, because he lived down by Spring Creek and I lived where my mother lived ( down three miles south oflgnacio). My mother's maiden name was Buck: Molly Buck. My grandmother was married to Antonio Buck, Sr.; he was the son of Charlie Buck. Actually, 'Buckskin Charlie' was not his real name. His real name was Charlie Buck. That's where the misconception comes out. Not very many people know his real name. 'Charlie Buck' would have been his name in the Census, if there were any when he was born. That was way before the creation of this reservation. Well, he used to live in Colorado Springs. That's where most of the pictures came out of; they were taken over there. But, he was moved here. Some of the Utes didn't have no birth certificates, because they were born at home. While he was growing up, he also served as a scout with the Fourth Cavalry. The cavalry, the soldiers had to keep the Utes in the interior of the reservation, to isolate them (so the Government said). He did serve with the Fourth Cavalry. (I don't know where they were stationed). As a scout, I guess he used to kill deer for the soldiers to eat. He'd butcher them and skin them; he'd save the hide, and right then he'd start tanning it. When the soldiers saw him that's how his name was created: the soldiers called him 'Buckskin' and used his first name as his last name. I guess he liked his nickname. Being a scout is king of a prestige position, important. He felt he was an important guy, so he kept the name. I don't know how many years he served with the soldiers, and that's how he became 'Buckskin Charlie.' Only we family members knew his real name: Charlie Buck. The Tribal Council, for a while, continued to claim that the family of Charlie all died off But, there are still a lot of them living. They even have a newspaper clipping telling about his commission in the Fourth Cavalry. Now that's not the Fort Lewis ... I don't know if that's the same bunch. With the creation of the reservation we were moved so many times. When my grandfather was living in Colorado Springs there was still a spring over there. The Garden of the Gods: that's where they lived. He roamed the whole eastern Rockies, all the way up to Boulder. He was there when the first covered wagons came across the prairie. What they call west of Boulder, these big rocks, high hills, it's called ... they called them ... I'm mixed up about them. Well, there's a Ute trail up there. It's a high place and that's where he was watching the first covered wagons coming across the prairie. He had never seen anything like that, so he waited for it ... a whole bunch of Utes waited for it. At that time, looking east you could see way out across the prairie: 80 miles ... 100 miles out, I guess, from that high point. So, they waited all day. Finally, it came to the foothills where the Colorado University is. And, they came down to meet them (they were curious to meet them, I guess). While he was there he met the wagon master and told the wagon master ... he said (well, I guess through sign language), �Page 4 of9 'these things [wagon wheels] aren't going to make it through those steep hills (which were mostly horse trails).' Some were almost 45 degrees steep. He told the wagon master, he said, 'this is the end of your trip, your travels. Your wagons will never make it over the hill.' 'You might as well plan on staying here,' he told them. 'Make your home here and we'll protect you from the enemies that come around.' There were Sioux to the north, Arapahoe and other tribes that claim that that's their homeland. They could stay on one condition: he told the wagon master, 'if you're going to stay here you have to build a house of wisdom (is what they called it).' I wrote a composition about what I heard. So, that was the beginning. The 'house of wisdom' later became the University of Colorado. So that's why it's there; it was that mutual agreement during that first encounter. That was Charlie Buck in that area. Let's see ... Denver was being built at that time. And, during that time there was that militia, Colorado Militia, which was in authority. While Denver was already being built there was another little town southeast of Colorado called Centennial. All that San Luis Valley was nothing but creeks and was home to the beaver. And there was a trapper, a Canadian trapper I think, that came into that area. All that San Luis Valley clear up to Nebraska (the Platte River) was the home of the beaver. Also, according to his [Charlie Buck's] description looking east, that whole valley was just black specks. The way he described those black specks was they looked like the flies in the fall time. Those were the buffalo, as far as he could see. I remember that description. That's how he described it. In the wintertime, when it gets cold, the flies have a tendency to come into your home and land on your wall so that it's dark ... that's the way he described it. Also, according to that picture, Centennial was a small town. Well, during that same period the Colorado Militia was out. The Colorado Militia was sponsored by the City of Denver. They were, I believe ... according to the story, separate. And, they were the ones that created the massacres in that area. Of course, in that movie it depicts that other guy, and they try to decommission the one that was supposed to be in charge. So, there was a friction there. But, according to the story, later they add the one that was authorized to be the commander in San Luis Valley had a fight with the Colorado Militia commander. So, he was chased out of that country, because he killed people in cold blood. They saw that happen right in the streets of Denver. When a wanted Indian was walking in the streets, he shot him in the back. That was the turning point: the pioneers didn't like the style of his torture. When the man was trying to turn himself in and he just shot him in the back, is how he confronted him. Well, what brought it out was in Cripple Creek they found a lot of gold. First, that was where our reservation was big, and they discovered the gold in Cripple Creek. Well, they said, 'move the savages out West.' So, we were rounded up and we were moved. Our first agency was built down in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There were Spaniards in that Santa Fe area, also the Pueblos were too close. And, the Utes being hunters and picking berries didn't fell good being cooped up in a tight place. There was all that friction: the Pueblos were having trouble with the Spanish, too. A lot of things were happening down in New Mexico. The Utes didn't like it, and I guess we were moved to La Vida, back to La Vida. Well, we were there around Trinidad; there're Ute names in that area. I guess when we was there we were moved again, to Pagosa. Well, we were supposed to become farmers and self-supporting. �Page 5 of 9 Okay, Pagosa Springs is a high-altitude little town. That's when the Fort Lewis was built there, the first Fort Lewis. I believe the Fourth Cavalry, and maybe the Eighth too, that bunch ... Later I heard the Buffalo Soldiers were attached there, too. When we were there we complained to the government that we cannot grow food. Vegetables would rot. Besides, it was too cold for the vegetables. So, we were moved to this area where the Pine River is. Well, I've got to go back. When we was in the La Vida area, there was a river called 'Los Pines', which is still there today on the map. Okay, when we were moved from Pagosa to here, this Pine River Valley, it was called 'Los Pines.' So, today we have two Los Pines Rivers. That Spanish name followed us here; I don't know how that happened. It followed the Utes. So, today this Pine River Valley is known as the Los Pines River, but some ofus prefer to call it Pine River. Well, that's when the creation oflgnacio happened, because where I live (three miles north oflgnacio) there's that Spanish trail; it goes across my field. From Santa Fe all the way up, it goes across Ignacio Peak right there (that's where we call Cedar Ridge). I think it follows the railroad tracks here ... the D. & R.G. [Durango & Rio Grande0 that used to run through Ignacio (it runs quite a ways close to Oxford). It goes straight west, all the way to Weasel Skin Bridge. That's where the Spanish trail went. And then, from over there (the Weasel Skin Bridge is located on the Animas River), on the west side of the river it goes straight north; right where the Southern Utes are building the A-LP [Animas-La Plata Project]. Well, right where that [Home] Depot is ... the new store ... that Wal-Mart ... right south of there, there was a highway, and on the left side was a big rock as a marker for the Spanish trail. It went west, northwest, right where the A-LP is being built. And, it goes all the way west. Somewhere east of there it goes toward Delta, and then one goes south towards Towaoc. That's the way the Spanish trail went: it goes all the way up north to Grand Junction. And, as I was saying, there was a third route that cut west, a short cut they called it. The one that goes through Palisade, that was the short cut to the one that went to the gold fields of California. This one over here by Mancos Creek, we called it 'Target Tree' in the Ute language; that's what it translates to. There was only one tree. But, the way the elders came up with that they called it 'Target Tree.' So, that's what it's called today. Well, actually, when the Utes came through they always shot that tree. So, during that time it had a lot of arrows stuck up in it. When the Spanish words came to this area, the Ute language got mixed up with the Spanish. Like 'caba' and caballo,' and some other names. So, what we're speaking here is not Ute: it's colloquial, mixed, a hybrid language. We lost our language a long time ago. There's a bunch ofUtes up near Ouray that still speak the original Ute language. Eddie Box, he's still alive today, he knows some of that ... the old words. There are different words for the same things. There are a few here who are still alive. Clifford Eagle is another one that I know who might know some of those original Ute words. The ones over there at Ute Mountain have more speakers. But, the language has changed; the Ute language has changed its color. Today, according to the young generation (I listen to the radio, the Ute word of the week), parents don't teach their kids the correct way. I was involved with the language. The real Ute language is spoken softly. The suffix in a word is the tricky one. These words sound alike, but the suffix changes. So, when you hear that word you have to be careful with the tail: there's a little sound added to it. �Page 6 of9 *** My father's name was Julius Nash Cloud. He spent most of his time at this Indian school. And, this school during that time only went up to the sixth grade. So, he stayed here year-round, I believe, until he got to the sixth grade. From there he had to go to seventh grade, but there was no seventh grade school nearby. The only place there was a seventh grade was in Santa Fe: Santa Fe Indian School, and that's where he was transferred. So, during the early years he was so far away he had to ride a horse to come back. It wasn't as easy as today, when you can drive a few hours to get down there. But, during that time it took weeks, maybe, just to go the one direction. Well, he stayed there all the years. During the summer, when he didn't have school, they used to take him to the San Luis Valley to make spending money. Over there they used to pick beets. When he was there, that's when World War I broke out. So, during that time he was at the right age to get drafted ... he got drafted into the Army. He never cam home: he was too far away. But, the government made it a point for him to come home. I guess they had the automobile then. But, the government had him come back and say good-bye to his family. I guess he came back for a week, just to see his morn and dad because he was going. He went overseas. That's the part I translated for him, because the Ute Museum has a story on him. I didn't know what he experienced. I read what he wrote. Some of the things that he described weren't really the way he described them in his report. The real thing was that the feelings of the soldiers ... the farmer that he was with, the Anglo farmers, because he was drafted they were all bunched together and they had never been outside of the United States. It was the first time they had ever been in the East. And, they had that funny feeling about being moved over the ocean. They never saw an ocean that big before. Some of them cried and some of them didn't want to go. They were scared: they didn't know where they were going, nobody ever told them where they were going. They were just being herded onto that big ship, like cattle. Maybe, according to his story, it would have been all right if they were told. But, there was a vague idea there was a war going on with Germany, and a lot of them didn't know where Germany was, either. That's the way the soldiers were. That's why they were crying for their families. That's not the way it is today, because we have a lot of tourists. We go touring around the country, to see the country. In the early days it was so hard to travel, so we had to stay within our home area, within a three-mile radius, or five mile or ten mile radius of our homes. Durango was 20 miles away and that was kind of difficult, but the D. & R.G. (that little train that came through here) took some of the people to Durango. It also went all the way around to Alamosa. That was a big help to the families: the train. Yeah, I rode on it too, by the way. It was kind of a smooth ride, but all you could hear was the sound of the wheels: the clink-clink. Kind of neat ... it was better than riding on a wagon: all that rough riding. The train was real smooth, but all you could hear was the wheels all the way to Durango. The clink-clink and then the whistle: that's what I experienced. *** I finished here ... that's when it was called the Ute Vocational School. It was like home to me, because that's where I got adapted to that life. Yes, I did graduate from there. There were Navajos here, also. There was a day school for the parents, and then during that time there was a school bus. Some of those buses would come everyday to the school, but some ofus we stayed there. There were no school buses that went into the areas where some ofus lived. Not like today: now we've got a whole mess of school buses down in Ignacio. There were other kids, �Page 7 of9 Anglo kids, who were in the same fix. They had to come the hard way: they'd walk or they rode a horse in. Some of the lucky ones, if they could drive, had their parents bring them in everyday. It was the same for us up here: the buses brought some of us and dropped us off at the school, and some ofus had to stay; which was easy, because we didn't have to put up with those kinds of hardships. So, I just adapted to it, and that's why I say that it was my home. I got used to the routine. Well, I don't know, it wasn't cruel like what I've been hearing on the news with the other Indian schools in the United States that were really rough. The kids were roughly treated. That must have been before my time. Yes, we were disciplined. The best part of growing up is being disciplined if you can't behave, because there are rules to follow. As ling as you follow those rules, though, you're all right. Well, when I went to the service I had a piece of cake in the service. I went in '55; I was drafted into the Navy. Well, I was in Boulder during that time. I got six deferments. At first it was a police action [in Korea], but then the United States never declared war. During that period they never declared war officially ... not like in World War II. World War II was when I was over here and kids were disappearing. But, I didn't know there was a war with Japan; that's where they were going. And, a lot of the Navajo kids that were here were orphans. During World War II we had to go through their trunks. The matron was here; that's who signed as their parents. So all their belongings, when they got killed in the South Pacific, came back here. Greg Pinto was one that I remember; he was one of the big boys. Greg Pinto and several others never made it back. He was killed overseas and the only thing that came back was his trunk. But, I didn't understand those things really too well: why they [the trunks] were all coming back. That was during World War II. But, the United States declared war on Japan right after December 7th; that was official. That's how I perceived it: the United States didn't declare war on another country [Korea]. There was no chance for us to go over there and fight, because we had no alibi to shoot somebody. That's the way some ofus perceived it. I got on the U.S.S. Conway (aircraft carrier): Seventh Fleet, 10477. That aircraft carrier was a ship that never traveled alone. We had the whole Seventh Fleet, a whole armada; which was like a big city on the sea. We made it as far as the tip of South America going overseas. We got there on Christmas Day until finally we got the dispatch. Then, we had to go to the Philippines. So, we did an about-face. Well, I didn't exactly stay two years like I was supposed to. I came out after 18 months, because the government said we could be dismissed early. Well, I wasn't officially out: I had to be in the Reserves. I am classified A-1, which means I can still be called back. So, even today, I guess if they need me, I could still get in ... in case of an emergency_ I have a friend ... a colonel (retired), and that's what happened to him. That's how I know that the United States government is calling people back. Well, ifwe don't have to go through all that boot camp, then those ofus who are in good physical condition can still go back. According to our aptitude tests those who are up there have to train the others. �Page 8 of9 Well, with most ofus draftees (I was with a Texas Company), most ofus came out of colleges. When we got into the regular Navy, the career sailors just hated our guts. They felt like killing us, because we got in there and took that aptitude test for rank. For most of us we passed it: it was a piece of cake for us, and that was they reason they didn't like us. They wanted us out. Whereas, they had spent 16 years trying to make that same grade over and over. That was the friction. Then, the government says if we re-enlist we'd be given so much rank, be given so much money. It was on some of our minds. But, we would have never survived due to the condition, because that was how they felt [the career sailors]. We didn't want to stay. We'd rather come back home. Those ofus in college could make a living back here, not in the military. Besides, we weren't even at war. Now, that deal with the Marxists in the 60s, I didn't understand that too well in the beginning. The draft-dodgers were right. I came to my senses. If you get drafted, you have to go or spend five years in the penitentiary; which is better than feeling guilty. There was no declaration of war behind your back. We had no justification. If the United States had declared open war on another country, then we'd be justifiable ... have a justifiable condition to back it up. There was no justification for it, and a lot of them got killed for nothing. When I went in I didn't have no insurance, either. If you died at sea, which was supposed to be hazardous duty, you got extra money. I didn't get my G.I. Bill, either. A lot of us didn't get it. We were just there, and when some ofus got out we didn't have no insurance. Nothing ... not even a G.I. Bill. Today you've got to be crippled 30% to get any compensation. But even that much you can't get anything. The Agent Orange guys are creating big hospital bills, the kids are coming out deformed, and the government won't do anything for them ... giving them the run-around. The military is fine all right. The Navajos, the code-talkers, make it sound like it was a violent situation during World War II. But, there was a justification for that: the United States declared war on Japan. Whereas in our situation, there wasn't. So, why? And, besides, we were drafted; we didn't volunteer. That was the first time the Navy ever drafted. We still had to serve our six years. I finally got my discharge in 1961. Well, you have to be pretty tough to get up there on the aircraft carrier. I was in the S-1 Division, which was the backbone of the whole Fleet. I can go anywhere: Dispersement, Personnel. .. I was in the electronics part of it. The ones that really go through strict training are the submarine guys, because they have to know what to do. Well, we were trained the same way. We used to operate almost all the anti-aircraft guns. We had the '58-Dutch' anti-aircraft. I kind ofliked to operate that: the '58-Dutch.' Well, we had the regular anti-aircraft, too. It's funny .. .ifthe man on the radar got shot, we just filled in. That's the way it was. For loading, if one of the men went down, we just switched over and took his place ... until we all got wiped out [laughs]. Well, it was teamwork. I didn't have to be taught all that stuff over again, because I already learned it in the boarding school. I already knew how to wash my clothes. That's why I say it was a piece of cake. If one ofus messed up, we all got punished together. In the Navy, ifwe got punished, we had to go march at two o'clock in the morning all the way up to reveille. By that time we were so sleepy. Then, we were taught in a classroom with a screen, a projector; that's how they lectured us. Well, I tell people, for eight weeks I was a 'dumb Indian,' an 'idiot,' and some other �Page 9of9 Afto..- ts ~rarlna+1·on 1 bu"d "'"ill"'" On+ +l-..,+ nrnc, vvu~ O" 1v .p,....,. 1· ah+ nr.c>olrs uu 1., a11+l-.at r>hang d that'" nrhat vv tell these people. I'm not hot0headed ... I can take it (I took a lot of them). J.J_U, J. \..I~ • .J..IU.L, l,UJU,l, J.J.J.J .l.VJ. 0 V b 1-L VVVVJ."-- • LVJ. L J_ l,J..l. \..IJ..l J.J. 0 V .•• J_ ~ I experienced the military and the boarding school, but that other stuff about Ignacio is just hearsay; I didn't experience it myself People talked about it and I listened to them. Of course, when I was a little guy I didn't listen. I didn't think it was really important. But today, I would k11ow ifl had listened. I didn't do what I was supposed to ... I feel guilty. I though all the people I k11ew and saw were all still going to be alive, forever. That's the way I perceived it. All the people that I had contact with, I thought they were going to be around forever. I thought everything was going to be the same. Come to find out, they're gone. *** Interviewed by Michael G. Miller, VISTA worker, on January 30th, 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 Neil Cloud Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-01-30 Subject The topic of the resource Cloud, Neil; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Neil Cloud written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on January 30, 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 Cloud, Neil Extent The size or duration of the resource. 9 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/2a0d9045a3b07548f6ebf6f4d4aafa47.pdf 08ce23f4a3724c07aa8244ae8f78fa25 PDF Text Text Cleo Garcia Cleo was born in Blanco, New Mexico on May 1st, 1924. She moved to Ignacio, CO when she was four years old with her parents, grandpa, and aunts. She grew up on a farm about five miles from Ignacio, where her family raised cows, pigs, and chickens. "We used to come to Ignacio once a month, or maybe twice of month, to get groceries. The town wasn't very big then. My grandpa used to sell wood here to the Indians. I went to school in Ignacio for one year. We used to go to a farm school; it was like five miles away from home. A one-room school. I think I went there for four years, and then I went over here for a year in Ignacio. I didn't graduate [from high school]. We didn't move here [to Ignacio] until I was nineteen. I moved here with my aunts and my grandpa. We didn't have no water, no electricity, no nothing there [on the farm]." When Cleo moved to Ignacio she went to work cleaning houses. She said, "I didn't know very good English, and I still don't." Cleo's grandfather and aunts raised her. "I had a bunch of brothers and one sister, but they stayed in Blanco. I came with my parents, my grandpa and aunts over here. I don't know why, but I did. We used to plant a lot of corn and beans, make a big garden over there. It was dry land, but you know, it used to rain once in a while. So, we used to go about our things. We had chickens, and we had horses, cows, and pigs. They were just for our own use." Cleo married Frank Garcia shortly after she and her family moved into Ignacio. They had one daughter, Patricia, and Cleo has a grandson. "I remember there used to be a hardware [store] not tCXifar from here. And, I think we used to have one train station. But, we had to come here from the farm on a wagon, horses, because we didn't have cars then. We used to come to church on Sundays on a wagon, real early in the morning. It took us about a couple hours, I guess. We used to walk too, sometimes, or on horseback. My aunts used to tell me about the Great Depression, but I don't remember it. My uncle used to have one of those little cars, you know? We used to ride in the back, because they were small cars, real small. What did they used to call them? Model Ts. My uncle used to have sheep. I worked while she [Patricia] was little. I worked for farmers, you know, doing their housework. I was a dishwasher and a cleaning lady. My husband used to work for the farmers- out in the fields, bailing hay, stuff like that. My daughter went to school here, she graduated from here [Ignacio]. She has that little store up there [on Goddard Ave.], the thrift store. They also sell new clothes. Her husband works there, too. My grandson is working in Bayfield, he's working for some employer. They make buttons, but he's a receiver. I think he makes the orders, he orders things. �We used to celebrate San Ignacio. We used to come for San Ignacio. That used to be a lot of fun. Oh, they used to have dances, they used to have church in the morning. Sometimes they used to have a carnival. I worked at the Senior Center for nine years. I used to clean the place. Then I moved from there and went to the library. I worked there for about five years. I liked that job; it was nice. My boss and I used to get along good; she was good. She's no longer there. Then, I was old enough to get Social Security so I didn't work no more.11 \ Interviewed by Michael Miller (Americorps*VISTA volunteer) for the Ignacio Historical Society, December 15th, 2003. � 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 Cleo Garcia Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-12-15 Subject The topic of the resource Garcia, Cleo; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Cleo Garcia written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on December 15, 2003. 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