https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/0db9665e2a48b45e50b85ead13bd66ca.pdf 18cd0e0065773a004a12838b15590a0a PDF Text Text 'l ~ 'l J '> JOSE AND CAMILA (Casias) QUINTANA J J It was mid-morning when three riders descended from Middle Mesa and rode over the rolling country toward the railroad section house at Vallejos (later called Allison). In the 1890's the section house was the nearest thing to a town in this lonely stretch of Southwest Colorado between the Pine and the Piedra Rivers. The few non-Indian immigrants who were camped in the area came to the section house occasionally for news and to obtain water from the large storage tank. The three riders were members of a group of young men who came into the San Juan country to round up and sell the many wild longhorn cattle which roamed the hills and valleys. Every so often a group of wranglers from California showed up to buy the cattle and drive them west. On this day the riders had no reason to expect anything unusual at the section house. They had been here several times before, but today the place was unusually quiet. There were no horses in the corral and the door of the house was blowing open and shut in the wind. No one answered when the cowboys knocked or called. Then the men saw frightened eyes peering out of a nearby window. Inside were the section manager's three children ages 2, 4, and 6. They were nearly starved. The oldest one said their parents left after an argument and each had taken off in opposite directions. An intense discussion followed among the three cowboys as to what to do with the children. After much head-scratching each of the men took one of the little ones home to raise with their families. Neither parent ever showed up again. Jose says all three children grew up within 60 miles of Allison. '' ' ) ) ) ' ' ) .) } ) -) ) ) ) _) ) ..) _) .J .J J J .J .J J .J J .J J ...J J J 0 J A fourth member of the round-up crew (not present on the day the children were found) was Pedro Quintana. Pedro was born at Abiquiu, New Mexico. After working with the round-up for a while, Pedro got some land at Rosa, New Mexico, and started farming. He married Juanetta Lucero. The Quintanas had 14 children. Jose was number 12. He attended school at Rosa for two years and then had to stay home to herd sheep on the free range up on Caracas Mesa. It was a carefree life of riding horses, swimming in the river and roaming with the herds. "The sheep my dad owned," Jose recalls, "were on shares with a man named Ed Sargent from Chama. One other man, myself, and our dogs took care of 1,200 sheep . In 1922 when I was 16, my Dad decided to take his share of the animals and turn the rest back to Mr. Sargent. We drove his flock from La Fraqua 18 miles to Jewel Canyon and turned them over. By that year my dad was getting too old to work so hard, so he said to me 'As of today Jose, you are a free man. I raised you; now you take care of me.' That's what I did. I soon got a job on the railroad at Arboles under a foreman named Andres, Martinez. One whole summer I worked clearing and cleaning the tracks of mud and debris that washed down the many arroyos. We worked our way over to Ignacio. That's where I met Camila. She had come from Chama to Ignacio for her sister's wedding. We got acquainted at the dance. Another summer we worked to raise and reset the tracks unto a gravel bed for better stability. It was hard, heavy work. From 1924-28 I worked at the mines and on the railroad at Silverton ." In 1928 Joe began farming and raising cattle which he has done the rest of his life . When Joe and Camila decided to get married in 1936, he bought an 80-acre irrigated 137 �ranch near Rosa for $1,200.00. The wedding took place in Ignacio. Pedro Casias, Cristino Casias, and Andy Duran played their guitars and violins at the dance. Camila's parents were Jose Casias and Manuelita (Martinez) Casias. Manuelita died when Camila was five. Camila went to live with her brother Pedro and attended school in Ignacio. One of the pleasures of her young life was to sing in the choir at the Catholic Church. "We sang songs in Latin, in Spanish and in English and I really enjoyed the music. We have three children, Charles, Lorene and Mary Esther. In 1944 Joe bought the farm over by Arboles where we still live. For a long time we farmed the Rosa place and this place until the government took our place at Rosa to clear the ground for Navajo Lake. Joe made a bid on the old section house at Allison and got it and the bunk house for less than $300.00. He moved it over to our place and put a new roof on and worked it over inside and out. We've been here ever since." Neither Jose nor Camila are a,; strong as they used to be, but they still keep cattle, pigs, sheep and goats and raise all the hay they can. Recently, they donated some land for the construction of a new Catholic church al Arboles. They will be very proud when the "San Pedro and Santa Rosa Church' is completed. Shelby Smith 138 � 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 Jose Quintana and Camila (Casias) Quintana Biography Subject The topic of the resource Quintana, Jose; Quintana, Camila (Casias); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Jose Quintana and Camila (Casias) Quintana based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. 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 Quintana, Jose; Quintana, Camila (Casias) 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