John Brach, the son of Italian immigrants, talks about his family moving from Aguilar, Colorado to Loma so that they could work in agriculture instead of the coal mines. He speaks about relying on ditch water for drinking water, using carbide lights, and a coal stove. He remembers people who came to Loma as part of a Federal resettlement program during the Dust Bowl, including the De Kruger, Bittle and Beede families. He recalls other residents and institutions of Loma. He reminisces about working on the family farm with his brother, irrigating and working on horseback, and farming wheat and bringing it to mills in Grand Junction. He talks about traveling by horse and by rail between towns. He speaks about growing potatoes, shipping them by rail and selling them in Denver, and about the beginning of the Potato Growers Association. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
