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https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/4959f21e99c6159383421e1ba826f3ac.pdf
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MANUAL G. AND REGINA (Gallegos) CANDELARIA
It's a long way from Spain to Arboles, Colorado, especially by way of California,
Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico to Colorado; but that's the route which over several
generations Manual Candelaria's ancestors have come. His Great-grandparents
migrated to California from the Candelaria Valley in Spain. By the time Manual's father,
Joe was born, the family lived in Chile, N. M. In successive years they moved to Tierra
Amarillo and Caracas. Manual's grandfather with relatives and friends, scouted the
Dolores Valley and decided to move there, but when the time came to load up and go,
the rivers were too high to cross. Moving down the San Juan Valley they came to Rosa
and liked it well enough to stay.
It was a simpler and perhaps saner world into which Manual C. Candelaria was born on
Nov. 16, 1899. Rosa, New Mexico, just below the Colorado line on the San Juan River,
had a general store, a saloon and a few houses. Irrigation ditches had been installed to
make green farms in the valley and above were the ranches in the dry-hills. Everyone
had a few cattle and a horse or two. Joe and Faustina had two children before Manual
was born, but both of them died. In 1901 Manual's mother died. During Manual's infancy
and teenage years his father worked at various jobs in the area. Little Manual stayed
with first one relative, then another. There was plenty of work to do wherever he stayed,
but also some time for himself. He especially liked the summer when he could wade in
the river and fish for trout. The general store had many things tempting to children, but
Manual could only look. Ready cash was scarce for even adults. Children had none.
Manual never went to school.
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Sometime during Manual's early years San Juan County in N.M., the whole state of
Colorado went dry. The fact that Rio Arriba County was still wet and that Rosa was in
the extreme northwest corner nearest the population centers in Southwest Colorado
brought swift and drastic changes to the tiny town. Soon there were eleven saloons riproaring 24 hours per day. Characters of every description, farmers, sheep men,
cattlemen, railroaders, miners from Silverton and Telluride and dudes from Durango and
Cortez flocked to Rosa on holidays and weekends and any other time they could. All of
them were thirsty. Rosa was a fighting, gambling, carousing little town for several years.
Living with one relative, then another, was not easy. Manual felt he didn't really belong
anywhere. Joe remarried in 1911. Manual ran away when he was 15. One grandmother
lived at Kline and he headed there. He rode the train to Durango, intending to catch the
train to Telluride, get off at Hesperus and hitch rides to Kline. Manual didn't foresee the
trouble a boy who could speak no English could have at a depot. Somehow the ticket
agent misunderstood. As a result Manual found himself on a train headed north. When
he got off at Silverton, Manual had 35 cents. He didn't know what to do, but he was
determined not to return home. Soon he found a job in the kitchen of a boarding house
at a mine 9 miles north of Silverton. His wages were $75.00 per month plus room and
board. He washed dishes, helped the cook and did odd jobs around the place. Most of
the miners were Italians and Swedes. They couldn't pronounce Candelaria, so Manual
was known as "Candy". One big fellow who everyone called the "Big Swede" (Manual
never knew his real name) took a special liking to "Candy". Whenever payday came,
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�Manual would sign his check over to the Swede and the Swede bought Manual clothes,
shoes, or whatever else he needed. For two years Manual hardly ever went to Silverton
for fear someone would recognize him and let his dad know where he was. Finally, he
met one of his old friends, Joe Maez. For a change they decided to leave Silverton and
get jobs in Telluride. His last few days in Silverton, Manual spent with the big Swede.
He would always get drunk when he went to town. This time the Swede disappeared for
a couple of days. I didn't know where he was. Then I saw him coming down the street.
He was unshaven and had a black eye. I asked him where he had been. "In jail", he
said. After he got cleaned up, he took me to the bank and showed me my bank balance.
Every dollar of every check I had given him was there. Everything he had bought for me
was out of his own money. Joe and I soon left for Telluride and I never saw the Swede
again.
On the way to Telluride the boys did some shopping in Durango. Manual had a hard
time communicating. He thought he had learned English at the mine. Actually, what he
had learned was 5% English and the rest an astonishing conglomerate of Italian,
Swedish and Mexican. After working two years in Telluride, Joe Maez decided to go
visit his folks in Rosa and talked Manual into going too. "I didn't want to go, but I
decided maybe I should. Most boys change a lot between ages 15 and 19. Manual
certainly had. 'I looked different and I had a lot of nice clothes. About all I ever spent
money on was clothes. My step-mother didn't recognize me and my dad almost didn't.
He cried when he saw me." From this point on Manual worked away part of the time and
stayed at home part of the time. One reason he spent time at home was a pretty little
girl named Regina Gallegos. "She was a pretty girl. I would watch her walking home
from school. Some people thought I was interested in her because her folks were rich.
They owned a nice farm and a saloon in Rosa, but that wasn't why. I just liked her."
Regina, born Jan. 13, 1905, was only 15 when Manual first noticed her. Her parents,
Aneceto and Adela Gallegos, opposed their friendship at first. Regina recalls, "I had to
sneak out of the house to go on buggy rides and to dances with Manual." Once while
working at Gobernador, Manual heard about a basket auction at Arboles. He had a
good pacing horse and rode the 40 miles just to bid on Regina's basket. "Some of my
friends kept raising the bid on me. I finally had to pay over $6.00 for it." Manual and
Regina were married January 28, 1924. They lived in Rosa for a year, then moved to
Dolores to work in the Mcfee Mine. Later Manual got a job on a repair train for the D. &
R.G. "We lived in a box car. It was well furnished and warm and comfortable. Manual
worked on the steam shovel which moved up and down the Durango-Silverton line
repairing flood damage to the tracks. Our car would be parked on a siding hill as we
moved up to a new area. We never left the train from April to December. All our
necessities were brought in by supply trains."
In 1931 Manual and Regina staked a dry land claim on the mesa near La Jara. They
built a house, planted an orchard and raised some good crops. Government inspectors
tried to run them off, but Manual stayed till his claim became a test case in Albuquerque
and he won. Later they leased land near Arboles and then began buying it until they
acquired about 800 acres. The Candelaria's raised 7 children on the ranch. All of the
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children survive. Manual Jr. operates the ranch now. Manual says, "My son does most
of the work. I can do a lot yet, but when you get old, you get smart."
The Candelarias like to travel. They have made 3-4 trips to Mexico, once to Mexico City
and once to Acapulco. "I'd like to go again," Regina says. Last January 28, Manual and
Regina celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary. We wish them many more y,ears of
happy living on their ranch.
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Shelby Smith, March, 1975.
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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
Manual Candelaria and Regina (Gallegos) Candelaria Biography
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
1975-03
Subject
The topic of the resource
Candelaria, Manual G.; Candelaria, Regina (Gallegos); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado
Description
An account of the resource
Biography of Manual Candelaria and Regina (Gallegos) Candelaria based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith in March, 1975. 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
Candelaria, Manual; Candelaria, Regina (Gallegos)
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