Mesa County Oral History Project
The Mesa County Oral History Project began as a joint project of the Museums of Western Colorado and Mesa County Libraries (MCL) in 1975. The Oral History Project collected tape-recorded interviews with pioneers of Mesa County and surrounding areas, and interviews with the children of pioneers. The Central Library housed the duplicate audio cassettes and provided patron access to the histories. The Museum stored the master tapes and kept files and transcripts related to the oral history collection. The Mesa County Historical Society also contributed significantly to the Oral History Project by collaborating with the library and museum to select interviewees, and by providing interviewers and other volunteers. Mesa County Libraries no longer partner with the Museum in housing duplicate copies of tapes. But the library now works with the Museum to digitize interviews from the Mesa County Oral History Project and to provide online access to the interviews through Pika, the library catalog. The Museum continues to house the original audio cassettes, interview transcripts, and other source material for the project. The Library and the Museums of Western Colorado still record oral histories with residents who have important knowledge of the area’s history. Please note that some interviews contain language that listeners or readers may consider offensive. Mesa County Libraries does not condone such language, but has included interviews in their entirety in the interest of preserving history.
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- Interview with Anna (Nilsson) Alstatt
- Anna Alstatt talks about her life as a young Swedish immigrant in Kansas, and about homesteading and homemaking in Mack, Colorado. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
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- Interview with Anna (Weckel) Peck
- Anna (Weckel) Peck discusses the history of her family in early Fruita, Colorado, and social life and customs of the time. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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- Interview with Anna E. (Craig) Clark
- Anna E. Craig discusses her upbringing in Mesa, Colorado, including her social experiences, her father’s life as one of the few doctors in the area, the Mesa County Fair, her holiday rituals, methods of preserving food, and what it was like to own a hotel in Mesa. She also talks about an instance in the 1890’s when hundreds of sheep were driven over a cliff by cattle ranchers on the Grand Mesa, and other strife between cattle and sheep ranchers. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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- Interview with Anna Mae (Griffith) Underwood
- Anna Underwood talks about her childhood in rural Las Animas County, Colorado, including her participation in a literary society to which she belonged. She also talks about ranching sheep with her husband between New Castle and Glenwood Springs. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
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- Interview with Anna Pearl (Cable) Cunningham
- Anna Cunningham describes her family’s journey out West from Connecticut, and their pioneer life living on a homestead near Meeker. She also talks about her life living in Mesa County. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
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- Interview with Anne Louise (Look) Beauvais
- Anne Beauvais recalls friendships and games from her childhood in Grand Junction’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. She talks about attending the Lincoln Park School and Grand Junction High School. She remembers spending summers at the Lincoln Park Pool, playing outside at night under the streetlamps, roller skating in the basement of her house, and skiing at the Mesa Creek Ski Area during the winter. She speaks about her engagement to Lester Beauvais, attending college with him in Boulder, and his job at a firm that manufactured hospital equipment in Illinois. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado. *Photograph from the 1948 Grand Junction High School yearbook.
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- Interview with Antonio Clark: Social Justice Series
- Antonio Clark talks about growing up in Denver, Colorado, and the important role of youth sports in his upbringing. He speaks about his career in high school sports and about being a walk-on as a football player at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. He discusses racism that he experienced as an African-American on the CMU campus, but also his view that diversity on the campus has increased, and that some attitudes about race have changed. He talks about the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in 2020, his role in cofounding the organization Right and Wrong, coordinating local social justice protests, helping to organize the march on Grand Junction’s City Council on June 3, 2020, and initiating what he terms a long overdue conversation about race in Mesa County. He describes facing white supremacists at rallies and feeling disheartened by that aspect of community response. He also speaks about being encouraged by a groundswell of support for Black Lives Matter and for the local social justice movement, and his perception of racial attitudes in Grand Junction. He discusses being mentored as a young person by Denver CBS sports director Steve Atkinson, his own career in journalism at KREX, and his hopes both for his own future and for race relations. The interview was conducted on behalf of the Social Justice Archive in the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, Professor Sarah Swedberg, and Black Citizens and Friends.
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- Interview with Arline Mae "Susie" (Spencer) Cantril
- Arline Cantril talks about her childhood in Salida, Colorado. She speaks about her marriage to James Cantril, their subsequent move to Leadville, where her husband worked in the Climax Mine, and mining life. She remembers her move to the Starr District of Mesa County, near Loma, after her husband’s bout with pneumonia in the 1930’s, and describes their farm. She recalls returning to Lake County and mining life after the Federal Government mandated that her husband return to molybdenum mining during World War II. She describes their retirement to Grand Junction in 1958. She reminisces about the people of the Starr District and Loma, and about agriculture and farming in the Grand Valley. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
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- Interview with Armand de Beque
- Armand de Beque describes the early days of his father, W.A.E. De Beque, as one of the founders of De Beque, Colorado. He also talks about the cattle ranching business, local legends of the valley, oil rigs in the area, and sheep and cattle ranching wars. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
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- Interview with Arthur J. Tufly
- Arthur Tufly talks about his school years in Appleton, Colorado, his life as a farmer, and the sugar beet industry. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
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- Interview with Arvid Muhr
- Arvid Muhr talks about his family of Swedish Immigrants, about peach farming on East Orchard Mesa in Mesa County, and about the development of irrigation water in the Grand Valley. Mr. Muhr also discusses the Teller Institute baseball team, made up of American Indians that attended the school, and about working on a hydroelectric dam near Palisade. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society. *Photograph courtesy of the Palisade Historical Society.
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- Interview with Aubrey Fenton "Jack" Smillie
- Jack Smillie talks about writing the book Cowboys are People at the urging of his first wife, who wanted him to write his life story. He remembers his time in the US Army during World War I, when he was stationed stateside and achieved the rank of lieutenant. He recalls working on a ranch in Granby, where he met the artist Harold Bryant. He speaks about encountering extreme weather, how it affected travel, and working to clear snow. He talks about his parents, both Canadian immigrants, and about his brothers and sisters, whom he regards as successful. He reminisces about cowboying and the ranching life. He recalls helping a teenage boy to the doctor after his legs had been cut off by a train while he was riding the rails. He remembers being bitten by a rattlesnake while breaking horses, and others who were bitten. He speaks about an accident while hitching a pony that nearly killed him and about “night hawking”, or herding at night. He talks about songs that he and other cowboys sung. He describes calf roping in rodeos and teaching boys in Cedaredge how to rope calfs. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.