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