Vesta Fitzpatrick talks about her mother’s skill as a seemstress and how she made the family’s clothes. She remembers family life and entertainment during her youth, her parents reciting poems, and her father’s storytelling abilities. She recalls taking care of the family from a young age after her mother became ill. She speaks about seeing Buffalo Bill’s wild West show in Lincoln Park and going to chautauquas in Collbran. She remembers the De Beque family and dances at the Odd Fellows Hall in the town of De Beque. She talks about the lives of women in Collbran, their pregancies, their chores, and their marriages. She tells about her brother’s work on a Federal land survey near De Beque, early oil exploration that took place in the area, and what people used for fuel for their cooking stoves and heating. She remembers one of the Vulcan Mine disasters in New Castle, when many miners died. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
