Charles Burg tells stories from his father about his interactions with the Ute during a US Army deployment near Montrose, Colorado. He talks about settlers and ranchers of the De Beque area, including Dave Knight, a Cherokee from Oklahoma who utilized native plants in a traditional way. He describes a “garter” brand on a horse, horse breaking techniques for wild horses, the origins of the wild horse population in the Bookcliffs, stray cattle gone wild (including the locally famous Old Red and Old Spot), rescuing horses in deep snow during the Winter of 1919, the time he tried to rope a bear, a story from Teddy Roosevelt’s hunting party, area spots like Monument Rock Spring and Soda Spring, brawls and fights, De Beque’s oil shale boom and spurious products made from oil shale, and moonshiners. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
