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 Don and Mary Roth
Don and Mary Roth discuss ranching on the Colorado National Monument and surrounding area, John Otto, and interactions with Ute Indians. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Interview with Donald Melvin "Don" Rogers
In a recording made for his son, Don Rogers talks about his family’s cattle ranch on Pinon Mesa in the 1910’s, about getting lost in the wilderness at the age of six, about an expert tracker named Avery Burford who led the search party, and about being found the next morning after he spent the night alone on a sandbar of East Creek. He recalls a gunfight between cowboys Louis Stewart and Blue, a shooting by a man named Pete Lapham, and tensions between sheep and cattle ranchers. He speaks about Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, and their gang the Wild Bunch, who, Rogers claims, often stopped at the Rogers ranch on the way to their hideout at Robber’s Roost. He remembers his mother Anna (Bowman) Rogers and her teaching career prior to marrying his father. He describes his family’s love for horses, his father’s response to an incident of animal cruelty, and trapping a grizzly bear that had been killing cattle. He speaks about deer hunting, incidents of poaching, and cattle rustling. He talks about a white Arabian horse that he trained and rode as a boy. He describes the log cabin his father and grandfather built on their Pinon Mesa homestead. 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 1928 Grand Junction High School yearbook
Interview with Dora (Pritchett) McPheters
Dora McPheters talks about being orphaned at an early age in Illinois, at a time when people looked down on orphans. She discusses the orphanage and various homes where she and her brother grew up. She also talks about her career as a teacher in Illinois, and in rural schools around Steamboat Springs, 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.
Interview with Dorothy (Hiskey) Evans
Dorothy Evans discusses growing up in Collbran, Colorado and receiving her business degree from the Hoel-Ross Business College in Grand Junction. She describes the social life in Grand Junction in and around Main Street, and recalls details about the prominent members of Mesa County, railroad workers, local business owners, and characters who lived and worked in the area. 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.
Interview with Dorothy (Martin) Tindall
Dorothy Tindall talks about the early days of Whitewater, Colorado as a rail center for cattle and stock. She speaks about the administrative organization of schools prior to the consolidation of Mesa County School District 51, her development of Mesa County’s first school hot lunch program at the Star School, games kids played at recess, about her work educating the children of migrant laborers who lived in La Colonia, and her role in the development of the school district’s special education program. She discusses her family’s ownership of the Gateway-Uravan Stage, and their management of the corresponding Star Postal Route. She elaborates on travel conditions for the stage line through Unaweep Canyon. She describes establishing the Migrant School for the education of children living in migrant labor camps, living conditions in the camps, and discrimination that migrants faced from some growers, school staff, and community members in Mesa County. Lastly, she talks about her travels around the United States. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Interview with Dorothy (Nichols) Kittle
Dorothy (Nichols) Kittle discusses life on her family’s fruit farm on Orchard Avenue in what later became Grand Junction, where Native American boys from the Teller Institute would help with work in the orchard. She also details the achievements of her father and first husband, and discusses other aspects of early Twentieth century life in Mesa County. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Interview with Dorothy Alveretta (Gordon) Mahoney
Debrah Mahoney talks about the arrival of her grandfather in what would soon become Mesa County, Colorado, early in 1881. She recounts the accomplishments of her uncle John S. Gordon, who built Gordon’s Ferry over the Colorado River at the confluence in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1883, allowing passage over the river, and who also built Gordon’s Toll Road, which went from the ferry up to the sawmills of Pinon Mesa. She speaks about her father George Gordon and uncle Edwin Gordon, who worked as cowboys at ranching outfits before purchasing a ranch in Gateway. She discusses the ranching history of her father and mother, May (Foy) Gordon, who purchased the 2-V Ranch on Glade Park in 1910 and the Picture Gallery Ranch in 1916. She remembers life on Glade Park, including schools and neighbors. She speaks about her father’s role in road building on Glade Park and in bringing telephone service to the area. 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 1935 Grand Junction High School yearbook.
Interview with Dorothy Elizabeth (Raber) Beard and Marjorie Agnes (Raber) Likes
Sisters Dorothy (Raber) Beard and Marjorie (Raber) Likes talk about the history of their family in Fruita, Colorado. They speak about Will Minor, the goat herder and self-educated photographer, author, and amateur lepidopterist who discovered the butterfly Papilio Indra Minori on the Colorado National Monument. They discuss homesteads that the Beard family owned in the canyons that comprise the current day McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. They describe what local kids did for fun in the early Twentieth century: Climbing Independence Monument, hiking around the canyons of the Colorado National Monument and what is now known as McInnis Canyons, and walking across the high girders of an old river bridge. They talk about early residents of Fruita, including the Nichols and Kelvies families. They describe the large and frequent floods of the Colorado River in the Grand Valley, prior to so much water being diverted from the river to reservoirs. Dorothy recalls the story of her husband encountering a buffalo in Monument Canyon prior to the advent of the Colorado National Monument, and recounts his other encounters with wildlife. She remembers having to liquidate their goat herd during the 1930’s, possibly due to overgrazing. She and Marjorie talk about encounters with Ute people and Native American artifacts. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado. *Photograph of Marjorie (Raber) Likes from the 1928 University of Colorado yearbook
Interview with Dorothy Ottman
Dorothy Ottman discusses her childhood in Grand Junction, fruit growing and agricultural industry in Mesa County, and the social life and customs of women, youth, and others in the Grand Junction area. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Interview with Dottie (De Hart) Wiley
Dottie Wiley, who homesteaded on the Grand Mesa with her first husband Richard Kilburn in the early Twentieth century, discusses the Surrender Tree, a tree where the Utes supposedly bound Arvilla and Josephine Meeker, wife and daughter of Nathan Meeker, following the Meeker Massacre. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Interview with Douglas Edward "Doug" Westcott Sr.
Doug Westcott talks about his youth in Southern California, and about playing music and making records with a band called the Esquires. He describes the deep US Marine ties in his family that led, in part, to his enlistment in 1960. He recounts his experiences as a Radio Relay Electronics Technician in the 7th Communication Battalion. He remembers training in jungle warfare techniques in the Phillipines, becoming an expert, and teaching jungle warfare at a guerrilla training school in Okinawa as an enlisted man. He speaks about his awards for Distinguished Rifleman and Expert Pistol, and becoming a 5th Echolon electronics repairman. He decribes coming ashore in Vietnam as part of Operation Starlight in 1965. He recalls being harrassed by people attending an antiwar rally on the day of his return to the United States from the Vietnam War, and his subsequent disillusionment as he realized that public opinion was largely against the war. He remembers his wife’s severe injury to her hip after a fall, breaking his own back during a game of “jungle volleyball” at the barracks, his wife’s heart attack after a plane flight, and giving his children to her parents to raise, since he was paralyzed from the neck down at that time. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Interview with Dr. Henry "H.H." Zeigel and Eleanor (Barr) Harris
Dr. Henry “H.H.” Zeigel and Eleanor Harris describe their experiences founding and operating the Plateau Valley Hospital in Collbran, Colorado. 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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