https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/2bb60b490242449f311ee2924a071726.pdf ea97c817c7910dd1616eaf72fa0d6969 PDF Text Text CONRADO DESIDERIO (C.D.) CRUZ On a warm day about the middle of May a wagon came rattling along a rocky road. At the crest of a small rise the clear swift Navajo River came into view. The shouts of the children and the smile on their mother's face were signs almost as plain as the warmth of the day that the long cold mountain winter was over and once again the time of new life and renewal had begun. The wagon stopped on a grassy rise near the river. The mother gave swift directions. "Ben, unhitch the team. Conrado, unload the wagon. Manuel, gather some firewood. Lucio, get a pail of water right away." The Cruzes camped at the river several times a year for a very simple reason. When you can't take the river to the wash, you take the wash to the river. Bedding, quilts, mattress covers, clothing, curtains, and every other washable item in the household was brought the eight miles to the river several times a year, washed by hand in the rocky shallows on the washboard, dried, folded and carried home smelling sweetly of mountain air and sunlight. Each wash required 3-4 days. The boys fished, hunted, waded in the river, frolicked, ate like mules, helped with the washing chores when necessary and enjoyed the whole affair. Conrado Desiderio (C. D.) Cruz, 2nd son of Leandro and Rafelita Cruz was born in Chimayo, N. M., on February 19, 1914. The family moved to Chama, then to Haines north of Cuba and finally to Dulce where Leandro worked in a lumber mill. Leandro wanted land of his own. When he heard about a homestead available near the town of Edith, he took the chance and filed on 160 acres of dry land. Soon afterward the Cruzes settled on the land. Their neighbors came in force, chopped down trees, hauled logs and helped erect a well-constructed, warm log house. This same cooperative spirit prevailed during the rest of the year. "Our neighbors watched one another's fields. Wherever the wheat ripened first, the whole neighborhood would gather for the harvest. The wheat was cut with hand scythes and tied in small bundles. As soon as one field was finished, the neighbors would move to the next ripe field. If the moon was bright, the men often stayed with the job until 12:00 or 1:00 o'clock. Everyone enjoyed helping their neighbors and got a lot of work done together. I think people were happier then." The Cruzes raised most of what they ate - potatoes, beans, habas, squash, peas, fruit, wheat, oats and blue corn. Whenever they needed flour, they and their neighbors would take several wagon loads of wheat and corn to the mill at Bayfield or the one at Tierra Amarilla. It would take several days to reach the mills and then perhaps a week for the grain to be ground. Those who had money paid for the grinding. Those who had no money could pay the mill with grain. It was a good thing the Cruzes raised their own wheat. C,D. says with a family of eleven it was common to use up a 50 lb. sack of flour each week. Garden produce was either dried or kept in the cellar. Dried apples, apricots and peaches were apportioned out to the children during the winter. The children relished these fruits as much as any Sunday sucker. C.D. did not get to attend school every year and when he did, it was usually for only 2-3 months in the winter. He rode a burro to school 8 miles across the border in Colorado, carrying hay for the animal and lunch for himself in a 3 lb. lard can. "I wasn't any angel," C.D. freely admits. "Whenever, the teacher sent a student to the river for willows, it was usually me or Ben they were used on." When it came to throwing rocks, dipping a girl's pigtails in ink, getting into fights or playing hookey, it was C.D. involved more often than not. A girl named Margie Abeyta was a special problem to C.D. "She was a bookworm and a tattle-tale. Even when I hadn't done anything, she would tell on me and the teacher would always believe her." C.D. hated old Margie as only children can hate. He 40 �"l -, -, -, ., ., would never have believed it if anyone had ever told him that Margie would one day be his wife. ) ' ') ' ") -) ) -) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J J J ) J ..J _) _) ...J During the summers C.D. and Ben were assigned to herd the sheep in the hills near their home. C.D. "suffered" from a strange affliction which can only be called 'sleeping sickness'. "As soon as we'd get the flock over the first hill, I'd find a shady patch of bushes and go to sleep." Ben complained, Mr. Cruz threatened, but C.D. couldn't resist the lure of his siestas. "Dad caught me one day, took me straight to the house and told Mother to put me to bed and keep me there all day. I couldn't sleep a wink in the house. I guess that broke me." Over the next ten years Leandro and Rafelita slowly increased their flock until they had about 1,000 head. C.D. remembers November of 1931. "The lambs had been separated and taken down from the high country. The ewes were still there. No one expected 7 feet of snow that winter -- much less did they expect it to start this early. Overnight 3-4 feet fell. The herdsmen started immediately for their winter grounds in Gobernador Canyon. It continued to snow. We broke a trail for the flock with the horses and mules until their legs were sore and bleeding. Every day many sheep died. We finally realized the snow was as deep at Gobernador as it was in the mountains and just gave up. Only about 50 sheep survived. That winter just about wiped out everybody." One year C.D.'s cousin, who had bought 10 acres up on the Navajo River, hired him and Ben to clear the willows. They worked 15 days for a .22 rifle and a guitar; then another 5 days for a violin. Neither of the boys had ever played an instrument before, nor was there anyone to give them lessons, but they taught themselves to play and soon were being hired for parties, weddings and other celebrations. When times got hard in the 30's, C.D. joined the CCC and was sent to camp at Los Alamos, N.M. He was paid $25.00 per month. $20.00 was sent home and the other $5.00 was issued to the boys in the form of coupons for candy, cigarettes, etc. The boys were often given passes to Espanola or Albuquerque or Santa Fe for the weekends, but anyone who had not returned to camp by bed check was put on K. P. duty for 2-3 months. Conrado was on K.P. a lot of the time. When C.D. and Margie Abeyta (his old enemy from grade school) decided to get married, both sets of parents were opposed. Their reasoning was simply that a horse and a mule should not get married. C.D. was known as a hell-raiser and Margie was a school teacher and pretty much the same book worm as before; but in spite of the opposition, they were married in 1935. C.D. worked as a logger while Margie taught school. From 1939-48 C.D. herded sheep in Utah from spring to late fall and spent the winters at home. They had four children - Yvonne, David, Sofie and Deanne. Margie died in 1955. After working in the coal mines in Dragerton, Utah, and on the pipe lines near Farmington, C.D. moved to Ignacio and married Concie Keys - - - - - - (missing last page) . ...) November, 1974 - Shelby Smith ...J ...) ...) ,..) ,..) ,..) ....J ...J 41 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Conrado Desiderio (C.D.) Cruz Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1974-11 Subject The topic of the resource Cruz, Conrado Desiderio; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Conrado Desiderio Cruz based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the November, 1974 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cruz, Conrado Desiderio Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby