John Collier talks about his upbringing on a farm in Grand Junction, Colorado, on ranchland and farmland in the Redlands, and on a homestead in Pinon Mesa. He speaks about the history of the Sleeper and Ela family’s ranching operations on Pinon Mesa. He describes his Uncle Joe Collier, who served as the Mesa County Sheriff during Prohibition, and a bootlegger’s attempt to blackmail him. He discusses what he perceives as the effect of uranium prospecting near Gateway on deer migration patterns, and the arrival of more deer on Glade Park. He talks about aspects of ranch life such as securing water and supplies, and moving the cattle between seasonal ranges. He remembers riding horseback with a pillow as a saddle when he was around four years old and meeting the artist Harold Bryant at their family’s cabin near Enoch’s Lake. 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 1931 Grand Junction High School yearbook
