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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First Interview with Josephine (Taylor) Dickey
Josephine Dickey, an early African-American resident of Grand Junction, talks about her mother’s illness and stepping in to care for her siblings after her mother’s death. She remembers her mother’s doctor and other doctors that cared for the family. She recalls her father William Wesley Taylor III and how he worked to put his brother and sister through college. She talks about African-Americans as portrayed in television programs, especially the Jeffersons, and about race relations as portrayed on TV. She speaks about her early memories of Grand Junction, including parades on Main Street, a fire downtown, and a circus train unloading beneath the 5th Street viaduct. She remembers Handy Chapel picnics held at the Colorado River, and recipes handed down in her family. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
First Interview with Josephine Kate (Ramsay) Biggs
Josephine Biggs discusses her memories of Cross Orchards and owner “Colonel” Bill Cross, horseback riding excursions, and the LaCourt Hotel. She also talks about her work with the YWCA during a time when many young girls were “getting out of hand with all the boys coming home” from World War I, Lincoln Park and Lincoln Park School, her husband’s development of the Lincoln Park Neighborhood, and some details of the home they lived in there. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of the Mesa County Public Library and the Museum of Western Colorado.
First Interview with Josephine S. "Jo." (O'Quinn) Ferguson
Jo (O’Quinn) Ferguson talks about making meals for ranch hands and other aspects of ranching with her husband George Gibson Ferguson in Garfield County. She speaks about churches, clubs, and the social and community life of the area. She describes her education in Louisiana and Colorado and her long teaching career, with an emphasis on her work with Central High School students at the end of her career. She talks about the history of the Roan Creek area. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
First Interview with Julia Harris
Julia Harris discusses her family’s pioneer history and its move westward, including the journey of her grandfather, who was a member of the 1st Colorado Cavalry Regiment before homesteading in Western Colorado. She talks about early life in De Beque, Colorado, including social life and various places they lived, the railroad, sheep trails, De Beque businesses and landmarks, and her work in the local Republican Party. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
First Interview with Kenneth Wilson Thompson
Kenneth Thompson describes his life growing up on a farm on Glade Park, Colorado during the early 1900s. Kenneth also discusses the working conditions while employed for the National Park Service during the early days of the Colorado National Monument, the slow pace of life and the social aspects of living on Glade Park, hunting and killing a bear, and stories of the Indians who lived 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.
First Interview with Laird Key Smith
Laird Smith talks about his grandfather Frank Smith’s severe case of Tuberculosis that caused the doctor to move with his family to Grand Junction, Colorado. He describes the apartment next to a saloon where the family lived on Main Street, where drunken men would sometimes crawl in through the windows by mistake. He discusses his father Silmon Smith’s “spartan” upbringing, his camping alone on the Grand Mesa for long stretches when he was thirteen, and how he became an authority on water law by lawyering to ranchers. He tells stories of Frank Smith’s medical practice, including an amputation conducted with the aid of Silmon. He remembers his mother Lina (Brunner) Smith, and an incident when she threw his clothes out of the window because she tired of picking up after him. He speaks about the Pest House in Grand Junction, the standpipe at 7th Street and Ouray Avenue that delivered water, and the building of Land’s End Road. He talks about his father’s love of nature and how that love was passed onto him. 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 1936 Colorado College yearbook
First Interview with Laura (Bristol) Foster
Laura Foster discusses John “Peg-leg” Foster and his involvement in Telluride mining strikes, and her life as a pioneer woman in the Paradox Valley. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
First Interview with Loudene "Miss Loudene" Humeston
Loudene Humeston talks about her teaching career in the Collbran School, and about the fire that took the top floor off of the original building. She also discusses town dances, teaching Sunday school at the Collbran Congregational Church, the history of town buildings, and aspects of Plateau Valley history. This interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
First Interview with Lucille (Hunter) Mahannah
Lucille Mahannah, an early education and civic leader in Mesa County, describes her early life on the Hunter Ranch, a ranch established by her family in what later became the Hunter District. She also talks about her career in education as a teacher and as the Mesa County Superintendent of Schools. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado. Note: The Lucille Mahannah interview consists of two audio cassette tapes. Although MCPLD was able to digitize only the first of the two cassettes, the transcripts for both oral histories can be read in the Transcript field below.
First Interview with Lucy (Ferril) Ela
Lucy Ela discusses John Otto, the Colorado National Monument, and the settlement of Glade Park. 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 1936 Grand Junction High School yearbook.
First Interview with Luella Frances (Muth) Morgan
Luella Morgan talks about starting work in the National Bank in Glenwood Springs in 1916, when she was fifteen years old, and details the Boston System of banking (also known as the Suffolk System) and what it was like working in a bank. She also discusses working at the Palisades National Bank from 1922 to 1978, changes in local banking over the years, women in banking, and selling Liberty Bonds during World War I. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
First Interview with Mabelle (Gardener) Clymer
Mabelle (Gardener) Clymer talks about 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.

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