Telluride Oral Histories
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Telluride in the 1980's/1990's in Craig Muhonen's words
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The image was provided by Craig Muhonen, via email, on 11/4/22. The title is "Last Dollar Texaco Saloon 1948." Here is an interesting email from Craig, about what Telluride was like in the 1980's/1990's:
"The airport runway was built in 1985 and it was the rage ,
( I have not found any news articles about the little girl that died in the hanger, 86’, 87’ ?)….yet..
but the “Gold Hill runway” had already seen thousands of Recreational Hang Glider take off’s and landings by the most accomplished pilots in the world. I mean Chuck Yeager flew here!😍
Telluride airspace became the most dangerous and crowded place to fly when powered flight came, sometimes 20 flights a day after day, all year round.
The “construction/destruction” boom of mountain village, had already created a
“Brown Cloud”
(all the ‘foreign’ workers, but that’s a different story I could tell about fellow Journeymen not speaking English)
between Montrose and Tride, and with all the new airplane traffic,
the “Cloud”….well it is still there in more ways than one.
Another “Cloud” that appeared, was the noise of beautiful aircraft flying overhead every day,
But sometimes, the sound of ugly crashing airplanes, and then the sounds of sirens of the rescue crews.
Then there is the ‘politicks’ “Cloud”, that came with “construction.
We went from liberal minded respectful conversations
to “billionaire talk”, and caught up to Boulder as a “very left” town.😆😆😆
I always thought Colorado was two states, East and West. Would have been better.
The only “Cloud” we had in the early daze,
was the coal smoke which totally blocked your view of Telluride especially on “inversion” days. 😮
We did replace all the wood/coal fireplaces (to the old timers dismay) and propane burners over the years (with a natural gas pipeline that froze up Nov 15th 2000, another story) and that cleared the air, but CO is still there, unseen and un-smelled.
Not to mention the, “Cloud” of all the ‘sex drugs and alcohol” we consumed.😂😁😁
(while we skied, and built, and skied and skied some more).❤ .. ha.."
--Taken 11/4/22 from Craig Muhonen's email.
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Tim Armstrong's Oral History
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An oral history interview, that took place on June 30, 1979, in which Joy L. Poole interviews Tim Armstrong about his life in Telluride, Colorado. This recording was taken from a cassette tape, at the Wilkinson Public Library.
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Tom Gonzalez's Oral History Interview
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An oral history interview, conducted 8/23/2018, by Gloria Chavira. Here is a summary: A history of Tom Gonzalez's life, growing up in Telluride, Colorado. Tom moved to Telluride when he was only 3 or 4 months old and grew up there. Mining was not so good in the 1950's, so his family had to move to Grand Junction; however, Tom continued to own a home in Telluride until the 1990's. Tom recalls the Telluride brothels and Big Billy. He also remembers the mining characters. His mother (Clara) worked as a cook at the Roma, the Sheridan and Pick n'Gad. He also remembers getting his tonsils out by Dr. Parker. He loves that he grew up with nature, in particular fishing, and a very well-connected community. He does not recall any tensions between ethnicities, but does remember particular ethnic groups living together on the same side of town and speaking their own languages. Finally, Tom discusses the enviromental changes in Telluride and the growth problem, as well as the historical buildings that are falling apart. He also recalls the Latino community that was very small, when he grew up.
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Troy Rose's Genealogy Survey
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Troy Rose's genealogy survey taken on 10/11/1999, after his wife (Lone Rose) and Troy Rose's oral history interview (which took place 11/09/1988).
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