https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/238603d434631037ca4f1a913bb7cd40.pdf f160749ee230e17f4b6097b77b54ace1 PDF Text Text FRITZ BOX I was born on September 25, 1915, in the Pine Valley just south of Bayfield, west of the river. Soon after I was born my parents moved to an adobe house north of Russel Box's place. My father, Jacob Box, was a member of the Capote Band and my mother, Bertha Bent Box, was a member of the Moache Band. I barely remember my grandfather, George Bent, since he died while I was very small, but I can still picture his braids and his buckskin clothes. I remember my grandmother, Virgie Bent, much better since she lived until I was 10 or 11 years old. She was a tireless worker. She is the one who took care of us all. She kept busy all the time, tanning buckskin hides, making moccasins and leather clothes. She snared rabbits and prairie dogs and dried greens and berries for the winter. When she was not making clothes or preserving food, she did beadwork. I had five sisters; Marjorie, Florence (who died at the age of 10 or 11 ), Agnes, Ellen (Mirabel), and Mary (Chavez); and three brothers: David, Eddie and Clyde (who died at the age of 6). Our dad-was a good farmer. He raised wheat, oates, hay, chickens, pigs, turkeys, cattle, and horses. He had rights to summer grazing in Carbonate Basin north of Bayfield. Every summer we made a big herd of our cattle and those of several of our neighbors. We loaded the camp gear on the pack horses and headed up to the range. We stayed until the cattle were settled, then returned home for the summer. In September Dad and I and several of the neighbors went back for the roundup. Once they were started, they came willingly. The cold nights were telling them it was time to get out of the hills. When an infestation of poisonous weeds began taking over the range, we were assigned another range east of Tillawocket. I attended the Allen Day School with Joe Weaver, Harold Groves, and Jack Frost. They were pretty good boys. Sometimes in the winter Joe and I sneaked off to the river instead of going to school. We'd ice skate a while, then build a fire to get warm. In the afternoon we'd go home at the right time. When Dad asked us how was school, we'd answer, 'Just fine.' Then he'd say, 'You didn't go to school today.' I don't know how he knew, maybe we looked too happy on those days. Even though we skipped school once in a while, we did well in school. None of us had any trouble learning to read or do the other work. After 5 or 6 years at Allen Day, I was sent to the Indian School at Santa Fe with Casey Baker, Robert Weaver, John Williams, Charlie Spencer and Graves Gunn. We rode the train to Santa Fe with several Utes from Utah. II was like a military school with bugles in the morning and marching drills. In February of that year I was called to the office. I was sure I was in trouble. All they did was tell me I was going home. Until I got on the train with my sister, I didn't know that my father had died. One year shortly after we got back to Santa Fe, Graves and I decided to run away from school. It took us several days to walk to Antonito following the railroad track. For several days we hung around town sleeping wherever we could with no idea what to do next. One afternoon a nice looking man walked up and said he wanted workers in his potato harvest. He drove us to a farm northwest of Monte Vista where some Spani-sh people lived. The first three days of picking potatoes were very hard. Our backs were very sore from stooping and lifting but we soon got used to it. Our bed was a blanket in a straw stack. They fed us very well. When the harvest was finished, the man paid us off and put us on the train at Monte Vista. I don't remember what he paid us, but we thought we had a lot of money. We got off the train at Alamosa where we stayed in the best hotel, ate a fancy meal and played pool in the lobby. The next morning we took off walking along the railroad track toward Antonito. Four miles south of town we stopped to 14 �.- , """) """) """) """) 7 t t '") "') ) 1 ' ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ' ) ) ) ,) ) ) _) _) J J J J ..J rest. The traffic was passing along the road not far away. Suddenly, a pickup slowed down with the driver watching us. We thought it was the truant officer. There was no place to hide. Graves said, 'They've got us now.' The man walked up and asked, 'Where are you going?' When we didn't answer, he said, 'Why don't you come work for me?' He drove us way west of Alamosa toward that big mountain. We harvested potatoes for another week and a half. Back in Alamosa we stayed in the hotel and ate another meal. The next morning we decided to quit fooling., around and get home. It was getting cold. So we bought train tickets to Ignacio. The closer we got to home, the more nervous we got, because we knew someone would be on the lookout for us. At La Boca we got scared and jumped off the train. I walked up to my grandmother's place and told Graves to stay there until we found out whether anyone was looking for us, but he went right on to town. Just as soon as he walked into Ignacio, Harry Richards grabbed him. Harry was the Indian cop at that time and he knew we were going to show up sooner or later. He tried to catch me, but I kept on the move. Early each morning I rode out into the country and didn't come back till late. I was down i n La Boca the day Harry Richards putSxGraves on the train for Santa Fe. I waved at Graves as the train rolled by with him trapped between Harry and the window. I was laughing, but Graves didn't think it was funny. I spent two years out of school, hunting hauling wood, breaking horses, and doing a little rodeo riding. I joined a dancing club made up of young single boys with one older man who was our leader and teacher. He taught us the war dances and the songs for the sun dance. After two years of freedom I decided I better go back to school and make something of myself. I enrolled at Albuquerque with Mary Chavez, Joe Weaver, Harold Groves, Frances Pinnecoose and Nettie Frost. Later I transferred to Haskell Institute in Kansas where I finished high school in 1935. When I got out of school it was the middle of the depression. I worked at whatever I could find. My brother David was leaving a job in the BIA auto shop at Towaoc to go to school. He sent me to ask for his job and I got it. One year at the Ute Mountain Bear Dance I met a girl named Pearl Posey. I soon got acquainted with her parents. They made their living fro'] a herd of sheep. Pearl and I got married in 1938. I was drafted in 1945. They statione€1 me in Mineral Wells, Texas, Hawaii and Okinawa and sent me home in 1946. Back home the BIA rehired me and I stayed with them for eight years. I served one term on the Southern Ute Tribal Council 1951-54 in John Baker's place while he left to go to school. In 1954 I went back to cattle farming and stayed with that until I became a game warden in 1963. After that I ran the tribal shop and then went into Tribal Resources doing custom farming, which I still do. Pearl and I had seven children: Alvina, who lived in Gallup; Orian, who lived in Montana; Clyde, who died in 1967; Veronica, who works in Denver; Ernestine and her husband who still live here; Gregory, who lives here; and Karen, who lives at Towaoc where she is enrolled . J J "Pearl died in 1975 and I'm still working. I'm going to work till I drop. I dug ditches for a living when there was no other job. I've worked all my life since my dad died and I'm not going to stop now." J Shelby Smith, February 1980 J J J J J J J 15 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Fritz Box Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1980-02 Subject The topic of the resource Box, Fritz; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Fritz Box based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the February, 1980 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Box, Fritz Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby