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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Lecture on the History of the Teller Indian School by Professor Don Mackendrick
Don Mackendrick, Professor Emeritus of history from Colorado Mesa University, talks about the history of the Teller Institute, or Indian School, of Grand Junction, Colorado during a presentation to the Plateau Valley Historical Society in Collbran, Colorado. He talks about abuses against Indian students, about the school’s philosophy and directives, and about ways in which the school was largely a failed educational venture. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society.
Lecture on the History of the Uintah Railway by Joshua Paul Britton and Charles Teed
In a Mesa County Historical Society lecture, Joshua Paul Britton and Charles Teed speak about the history, development and impact of the Uintah Railway, which had its headquarters in Mack, Colorado. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Lecture on the Uintah Railway and Mesa County's Interurban Line by William McGuire and Charles Teed
In a program of the Museums of Western Colorado, William McGuire and Charles Teed talk about the history of Mesa County's Interurban line, which transported people and produce between Grand junction and Fruita, with stops in between. They also discuss the history of the Uintah Railway. This recording is provided by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Lecture on train whistles and air horns by Robert E. Swanson
Robert E. Swanson of the British Columbia Railway, an inventor of air horns for locomotives, gives a talk on the history of North American train whistles. Swanson plays recordings of train whistles during the program. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado. *The first few minutes of the recording suffer from poor audio quality.
Lecture: Country School Legacy on the Western Slope of Colorado by Andrew Gulliford
Dr. Andrew Gulliford, head of The Country School Legacy Project (a survey of rural schools over eight states, funded by the National Endowment of the Humanities) presents information from the project in a lecture at the Museum of Western Colorado. The lecture includes reflections from rural school teachers in Colorado, including teaching techniques, discipline problems, infectious diseases, and issues with poorly constructed buildings. Teachers also offer opinions on education in rural schools, and the decline of said schools. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Letter to Josephine (Taylor) Dickey from Wayne Aspinall
A letter from US Representative Wayne Aspinall of Colorado written to Josephine (Taylor) Dickey, expressing condolences upon the death of her husband, William Wesley Taylor III.
Memoirs of Cordelia Evelyn (Hamilton) Files
In this recording, Alta Nolan reads the memoirs of Cordelia Files. Files talks about the history of her parents and maternal grandparents who homesteaded in the Fruita, Colorado area in the 1890’s. She describes the fruit growing operation on the homestead. She recounts seeing the Ute people and Chipeta when they came in the fall to dry fruit from the orchard. She remembers early Fruita, with its dirt streets and plank sidewalks. She speaks about the ravages of diphtheria and scarlet fever, which took the life of her sister. She talks about Doctor James Beard, his house calls, his attempt to treat cancer with radioactive material in the 1890’s, his use of uranium discs to create x-rays, and his home observatory where he was an amateur astronomer. She recounts the rivalry between Fruita and what was then the separate the town of Cleveland, which bordered Fruita on the southeast. She speaks about dressing toads in baby clothes, making dolls out of corn cobs, being watched after by a neighborhood dog, and their horse who liked to jump the fence and join parades. She talks about her study of the bible and search for an appropriate church as a teenager. She tells about working for Jay Nearing’s summer ranching operation near De Beque, about getting her teaching license, and about teaching at the Hunter School. She remembers being placed in a sanitarium in Pueblo for severe arthritis in 1921, and the disastrous Great Pueblo Flood from the Arkansas River that inundated the sanitarium and destroyed much of the city. She describes life in and around Glade Park, where she taught school and met her husband, Loyd Files. She talks about her marriage to Files and their life in the cabin he built on their homestead. She remembers the students at the Pipeline School and Sleeper School, how they were taught, how they learned, how they dressed for winter, and their Christmas pageants. She talks about raising sheep, growing crops, and her role as a homemaker and farmer. She speaks about the adoption of her daughters. She talks about the Dust Bowl conditions that, along with the Great Depression, made life difficult for many Glade Park farmers, and about moving to Fruitvale during the 1930’s because of those conditions. She recalls the house and salvage yard that they bought at 2028 North Avenue in 1940. She describes their purchase of the acreage that would later become the neighborhood just east of Lincoln Park, between North and Grand Avenues and 23rd Street and 28 ¼ Road. She speaks of the many people in need that lived with the Files family over the years. She discusses the many profitable business ventures started by Loyd Files. She recalls joining the Mormon church in 1960 and life in the church. She recounts Loyd’s role in starting the Grand Mesa Little League. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Music of Pioneers Recording of the Mesa County Historical Society
Citizens of the De Beque, Colorado community provide a program on the music of pioneers for the Mesa County Historical Society. Participants play exemplars of pioneer music, and talk about De Beque’s pioneer musicians and the music they played. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Naval and Air Forces in World War I: Lectures by Al Look and William Kirk Bunte
In his lecture Wooden Ships and Iron Men, former Navy seaman Al Look talks about the role of US naval power in World War I. William Kirk Bunte talks about air power in the war in his lecture Those Magnificent Men in the Flying Machines. Look and Bunte’s lectures were part of the Museums of Western Colorado’s series on World War I in 1982. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Nineteenth Interview with Al Look
Al Look talks about his role in helping to discover Fremont Indian ruins in what became the Look-Turner Site in Utah. He speaks about Hannah Wormington, the archaeologist who excavated the site. He also discusses a flash flood on Diamond Creek in which rancher Laura Turner was killed. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
Ninth Interview with Dudley W. Mitchell
Dudley W. Mitchell gives an account of the Lamar Bank Robbery of 1928, and discusses the role of Grand Junction, Colorado resident George Abshier in the crime. He also talks about his teenage years working for the Holly Sugar Company in Grand Junction and describes the process by which the factory made sugar from sugar beets. 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.
Ninth Lecture by Al Look: Natural History of Mesa County and Western Colorado
A lecture given at Regis College by Al Look, a Mesa County historian and amateur paleontologist. Look discusses the geology of Grand Junction, the Grand Mesa, and surrounding area. He also describes the multitude of dinosaur fossils found in this area. This recording is made available via signed release by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.

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