Huerfano County,
Colorado
Oral Interviews
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Carrie Harney
Scanned by Dick Chenault
Edited by Dick Chenault
Q Mrs. Harney, when did you come out here?
A 21
Q 1921?
A Yes
Q How long have you been here then?
A 58 years.
Q That's quiet a while! What brought you out here to Colorado?
A Oh, my husband was out here and he came back to Oklahoma to
marry me. So I had to come out here with him.
Q Would you like to tell me how old you were when you first came out here?
A 22
Q How did people get along when you first came out here? How did they live?
A Well, they raised their own crops, they had a little acreage; they raised corn 'n beans and I suppose garden stuff too.
Q How different was the farming when you first came out here than it is today?
A Oh, it was just, you know, a good lot was just small—people had just small ranches, 160 acres, something like that.
Q What did they primarily raise on these ranches?
A Beans 'n corn mostly.
Q How did they get the other supplies that they needed?
A Well, in the early days, I suppose they went to Walsenburg.
Q Is that what your family did?
A No, my family didn't live out here.
Q No, I mean you and your husband and your children.
A Oh no, they had stores here!
Q They had stores here?
A They had 2.
Q What kind of neighbors did you have in the early days when you first moved out here?
A Just mostly Spanish neighbors.
Q Was there any type of prejudice when you came out here? Did you feel, did they feel any type of prejudice?
A Oh, I don't think so. I think this prejudice got started just last few years. We always got along together.
Q Neighbors got along—-they shared with what they had?
A Sure.
Q Did people quarrel very much?
A That I wouldn't know——I never did hear of it.
Q What kind of law was there?
A Well…..
Q When someone did something——What did they do to him?
A I never heard very much disobeying the law up here. Most of it around the mining camps when they'd go on strikes 'n things like that.
Q What do you know about that? Was your husband a miner?
A No. My husband was a saw miller.
Q Did he run his own saw mill?
A Uh huh!
Q When you lived down here, did you hear about the outlaws that were out here?
A No, I didn't. I never heard of any outlaws up in here.
Q Sounds like it was a quiet community?
A It was. It used to be a quiet peaceful community.
Q What happened?
A (Laugnter) I shouldn't tell ya' (more laughter) No--- people seemed to get along pretty good, till, oh, I'd say in the late 30's and 40's.
Q What seemed to change this attitude?
A The working conditions.
Q What do you mean by that?
A Well...this WPA started and you know, it's hard for ranchers to get help, because the wages was so much higher 'n what they could afford to pay.
Q Were the men going to the mines to work?
A Well, some of them, but they didn't travel from here to the mines. Some of them that was up here that come up here that did work in the mines, but they'd go down there. Bout the only transportation we had then was, horse n buggy or wagon n team.
Q Took a long time to get anywhere didn't it?
A Yes, it did.
Q Do you remember when you were young when you and your husband first moved out here about any legendary heroes that were around here? Who did the kids look up to most?
A Well, just characters in the movies, I imagine, that's all I ever heard of.
Q There weren't any outlaws around or heroes that the kids really attached themselves to?
A I wouldn't know.
Q You didn't go to school here, is that right?
A No, I didn't.
Q But your children did?
A Yes.
Q How many children did you have?
A 3.
Q Where did they go to school?
A Well, they went to school here in Gardner.
Q What was the school like in those days?
A Well, they had good teachers.
Q What were the kids most interested in learning?
A Well, (pause) their main subjects, I guess, would be reading and writing and arithmetic n' spelling n' geography, penmanship which they don't teach any more.
Q What were some of the games your kids liked to play?
A Well, I don't really know what they really would rather play because we lived quite a ways from town and there wasn't any children very close for them to play with.
Q What did your kids do in their spare time?
A Oh, they'd ride their tricycles n' of course, the boy, he's the oldest boy, he'd go to the timber with his dad.
Q And the two younger children?
A Well, the girl was the oldest, but the oldest boy.....the youngest boy; he was just six when his father died.
Q It must have been awful hard. How did your life change after that?
A Well, we had moved into Gardner to send the children to school, n' the little one was 9 years old, when we moved to Gardner and we had to get the 2 older ones into school. But they had very good teachers and they learned.
Q What did you and your husband do for entertainment?
A We just entertained ourselves the biggest part of the time, we'd get out and play ball with the kids n' (laugh) and we'd come to church.
Q Did the neighbors get together and do anything as a group?
A Well, you see we lived, oh I guess, the closest neighbor was 7-8 miles from where we lived and we'd get together, ya know, once in a while and entertained.
Q And what did you do when you entertained?
A Well, mostly eat! (laughter)
Q You must be a great cook. What were some of the foods that you used to like to put together when you had these get togethers?
A Well, we'd have fried steak and we'd have roast and we'd have fried chicken and just everything that'd go along with it.
Q What's everything else that'd go along with it?
A Well, it would be potatoes n' beans n' peas——some vegetables.
Q Do you have a special recipe you'd like too share with us.
A Not off hand, I couldn't think of any.
Q You said something about you'd come in and go to church, as a group. How important was church in the early days?
A Well, it seemed to be as important as anything else.
Q Did it seem to bring the community together?
A Oh, yes! We used to have quite a group here, a lot more than what we have now.
Q What happened to everyone?
A They moved out, see the children grew up and moved out.
Q Why do you think they moved away?
A Well, cause there wasn't anything here for them.
Q It's such a nice community.
A Yes it is. But after they're off n' gone, why they just think it's a terrible place to be from I guess. (Laughter)
Q When the people in the community got together, and celebrated your holidays, what holidays did you celebrate the most?
A Well, we'd celebrate anniversaries 'n birthdays 'n Christmas n' New Year' s once in a while.
Q And how did you celebrate these?
A New Year's?
Q Yes.
A Stay up all night 'n watch the old year out and the new year in, without a thing to drink, only coffee.
Q Sounds amazing!
A Well, we were just one of those families that just didn't believe in drinking.
Q What other holidays did you celebrate? And how did you celebrate them? Anniversaries——how did you celebrate them?
A Oh, we'd just have a few friend in of course as I say, a big meal. In those days, I usually like to cook n' bake cakes n' things like that.
Q What was your favorite thing you served at these dinners? What was your specialty?
A Well, fried chicken, I'd say, good n' hot and course vegetables n' all those were necessary and then we'd always end up with cake and ice cream.
Q Makes my mouth water. How did the young people get to meet each other in this community?
A Well, I'd say by dances 'n the church and.....
Q Where were these dances held?
A Well, over the top in this house (pointing to an upper floor)
for one place. (laughter)
Q Sounds like a good place to start.
A But we didn't own it at that time though. But they did have one in here after we moved down here. Yeah, the guy that we bought from, this fellow come and told my husband that he had rented this place for a dance and it was a - - they used to use it to have what they called Gallo Days.
Q Gallo Days?
A It was 2 days they had more or less like a rodeo, course it was a Spanish custom in those days to have a rodeo, and they'd always end up with a dance. And then, there was various places, there was the Redwing hall.
Q Did they have very many dances? Was it just a once a year affair?
A Oh no! they had them more often that that.
Q How often?
A I couldn't say. I didn't go, but I'd say 3 or 4 times a year. Bout Christmas time, they always celebrated Christmas with a dance. I never could see that.
Q When these young people got to these dances, did they have prearranged dates?
A I wouldn't know, as I say, I didn't go.
Q How about when these young people decided to marry, were their marriages pre-arranged, or did they have a free choice of a marriage partner?
A Well, I imagine they had a free choice. I didn't know of any arrangements.
Q How often did people go to town around here?
A Well, I heard of them a saying they used to go once a month and it'd take them 2 days, a day to go down and a day to get their groceries 'n get back.
Q How did they get there?
A Team n' wagon.
Q What did they do in the winter?
A Well, I suppose they had to lay in a supply then. We used to really have winters out here.
Q Did you ladies do a lot of canning and, preserving and drying of foods?
A I did. We raised our own garden and everything.
Q What were some of the things you put up?
A Well, beans n' peas and cauliflower and squash n' pumpkins n' all kinds of vegetables. I never did dry any, always canned them, and tomatoes.
Q Did you ever go outside of Gardner to get things you canned?
A Well, no. Not in those days. My husband was a running the mill the saw mill and people would come in up there, they used to bring tomatoes up there, 5O cents a bushel, and we'd usually can about 5 bushels, and I used to make sauerkraut and we ate quite a bit of sauerkraut and tomatoes in the winter time. There was a teacher up there. I'd make the first jar and she'd furnish the cabbage for the 2nd. We'd make them in a 10 gal jar, and we'd use about 2 of them a winter between the 2 families. And then a year or so after that I seen in the paper where some doctor in Pueblo said that if people would eat more tomatoes and kraut there wouldn't be so much sickness and. I said to this lady, I says, “And now he tells us after we been a doing that for years.” (laughter)
Q At least you were doing something right.
A Yeah, I guess so.
Q You stayed pretty healthy. When people got sick, what happened then? What did you do?
A Well, there was a doctor down here at Tioga, 18 miles, course he had a car. When I came out, some of them had cars, very few cars.
Q What were people more afraid of being sick from?
A Well, I suppose small pox and diphtheria and pneumonia, cause in those days, if you moved a pneumonia patient, they would invariably die, didn't make any difference if you'd get him to the hospital. And I asked the doctor one time about it and he said, “Pneumonia works on the heart and till we got these drugs or antibiotics, they'd lose pretty near every patient, if they moved him.
Q What were some of the drugs they would give them?
A Those antibiotics, they were like they are now, penicillin and sulfa.
Q Did people pretty much treat themselves?
A Well, I think they did, mostly years ago. I think a lot of them used sage tea and things like that. You know remedies that was handed down from generation to generation.
Q Have you ever used any of them remedies at all?
A No, I haven't.
Q What would you do when your kids would get sick or you would get sick?
A Well, we never got sick to often, but we'd go to the doctor.
Q Were there any particular remedies the people used beside the sage tea?
A This fellow told by husband if he would make tea out of this grease wood, this grease bush that grows out here, he'd never have a cold very long, and sure cure a cold. So I guess someone sure used that.
Q We talked about kids and how they were raised and what they did for entertainment. How were children brought up?
A Well, they had chores to do. They didn't have so much idleness as they do now, cuz you take children nowadays, they don't have any work to do. They have plumbing in the house, no water to carry, no wood to carry 'n they just don't have nothing to keep them busy.
Q What were some of the other chores kids did?
A They used to carry water and get the wood and coal, for the ones that used coal; of course, when we run the mill up there we, didn't use coal until after we moved to Gardner.
Q Did you have animals?
A We had some cows.
Q Did the kids milk them?
A Uh huh, yea, they learned to milk.
Q What did you do with the milk after you got it?
A Well, we had hogs. We always had 1 or 2 hogs and the kids sometimes would drink milk and then some of the people that was working for us would use milk. Course, I used a lot of rnilk, but I never was fond of drinking it, nor neither was my husband, but we expected the kids to drink it.
Q Did you make cheese or butter?
A Oh yes!
Q How did you make your cheese?
A Well, set it on the back of the stove and let it get warm, stir it occasionally and I'd always put it in. a bag, you know, a cloth bag, then hang it out on the line and let it drip. And in the summer time, I'd just put it through altogether and not even heat it on the stove.
Q How long would this take?
A Oh, I'd say 4 or 5 hours.
Q How much milk would you need to make a good batch of cheese?
A Well, I don't know, I'd make about a gallon clabber milk at a time. That would last for about 2 or 3 meals.
Q Did you season it with anything?
A No, just a little salt. Some of them put sugar on it, but I never use sugar on mine — 'n cream.
Q So you were living in Gardner during the depression, weren't you?
A We were living up at the mill, 10 miles up, the San Isabel Reserve.
Q What was it like then?
A Well, what do you mean?
Q What hardships came on to your family as a result of the depression?
A Well it was just hard to get a hold of the money you needed. You'd usually have to, if you'd sell the lumber, to take, like somebody building a store, houses or something, you'd have to trade part of it out in groceries and then of course we sold some to the county and different ones individually around here that needed lumber when they were building. Cause in those days the highest price you paid for plain lumber was $25, no $30. $25.00 just as it come from the mill a thousand (board feet). Nowadays, I guess, it's over a hundred dollars a thousand.
Q Did people trade things for the lumber and was it enough for your family to live during the depression?
A Oh yeah! We got by. As I say, those people used bring up tomatoes and they'd trade down part of them for the lumber.
Q Where did the tomatoes come from?
A Down in the valley, down below Pueblo.
Q Is that like going towards Rocky Ford?
A Yeah, uh huh, and then we traded a load of lumber for a load of apples.
Q What did you do with the apples?
A Well we just put 'em in the cellar and used them.
Q Make pies with them?
A Oh, yes. I didn't can them because we could keep them all winter in the cellar.
Q How did you keep them in the cellar? What did you do to keep them from rotting?
A Well, occasionally if any of them started to rotting, why we'd go through them and take the ones out that started to rot. We just turn them loose in the cellar, had one part of the cellar just put them in.
Q You didn't put anything on them?
A Huh uh.
Q What were some of the foods your, family grew and ate?
A Well, vegetables and we had our own meat.
Q Did your husband hunt at all?
A Well, he had the rifle, I think he went once or twice, but he never did get nothing, he just got what the little boy shot at.
Q Did you folks ever sell any of the things you raised here?
A No. I gave a lot away, but never did.......
Q How much money did you need during a year?
A Well, off hand I never did think of how much we needed or anything, we just usually had to have cash to pay our insurance and the taxes. Course the taxes in those days are not what they are now, by a whole lot. When I first moved to Gardner, I used to send the money down for taxes 'n I give them $10 bill and they'd bring me change back.
Q Doesn't happen anymore, does it?
A No it don't, and it takes a heck of a lot more that just $10 too, I'll guarantee ya.
Q What clothes did you make for your family? Did you used to make their clothes?
A Well, not for the boys, I made dresses for the daughter, but I bought the boys shirts, clothes, I might a made a few shirts but I doubt it.
Q How about their shoes? Where did you get them?
A Oh, I bought them at the store.
Q Were they very expensive then?
A Not to what they're compared to now. We used to get them for, I think the highest price we bought for the kids was $2.50, when they were small, when they was going to school.
Q What years though?
A Oh, you mean the year, well I'd say in the 20's and early 3O's. But you know, things didn't begin to raise so much until the last few years, I imagine you're aware a that.
Q Yes, I definitely am. Did your husband make tools for the family to use in the garden and around the house or in his work?
A Huh uh.
Q Where did he get his tools that he needed?
A Well he bought em!
Q Were they very expensive?
A Well, I imagine, the ones he had, he brought out here with him. See he was out here quite a long while before I ever consented to marry him.
Q Where did you husband come from?
A He came from Oklahoma to here. We were both born in Kansas; but neither one knew the other one was until we went to get the license.
Q Well, how did you two end up together?
A Well, he used to be, used to saw mill and thrash grain in Oklahoma, and he brought the separator into my shop to have fixed and therefore, I met him.
Q How old were you when you first ret your husband?
A Oh I guess about 16 or 17.
Q Was it love at first sight?
A Oh no! I should say not! I wasn't even interested in boys then.
Q Then how much longer after did you marry him?
A Let's see, I was 16, that be 6 years.
Q Did he court you in those 6 years or did he come directly out and ask you to marry?
A Oh, once in a while he'd come there but I'd always make it a point to have somewhere else to go, pretended like he'd come to see my father.
Q So you were married in Oklahoma?
A Oh, yes!
Q What kind of a wedding did you have?
A Oh, it was just a home wedding. I was the last girl to get married and my dad took it in his head that I had to be married at home, so there was just a very few.
Q What dress did you wear?
A Oh, I wore a, I couldn't tell you the kind of dress anymore, it's been gone so many years. I had it stolen, and it was, it wasn't satin, but it was a sort of Georgette, and it came down, not like they do now, not sweeping the streets. And then I had a veil with orange blossoms.
Q Were they fresh orange blossoms?
A No they weren't fresh, cause we didn't live where they had fresh ones and there wasn't as many florists as there is now.
Q Were you married by a minister?
A Yeah!
Q What kind of celebration did you have?
A Just a chivary!
Q What's a Chivary?
A What's a chivary, oh, where they come and raise heck n beat on tubs and it first one thing on another, make all the noise they can, and ring cow bells.
Q Sounds like great fun!
A They thought it was, and then you treat the men to cigars women to candy and the children.
Q Did people come from a long way?
A No, well, his mother came, but she'd been there, she came with him as he came there, several days.
Q What did you serve at your wedding dinner?
A I can't even remember. I was married at 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon, but I can't remember what was served, you shouldn't ask a question like that!! (laughter)
Q I'm just trying to tickle your memory a little.
A That's too far back!
Q Did you go on a honeymoon?
A I sure did!
Q Where?
A Went to Kansas City, Missouri.
Q Then did you go back home?
A Well we went back home, then we went over to see his people 'n then we went up to Kansas and he thrashed there. He had a little old engine and separator, he left there, he'd come up there to thrash, then we come up here, in September. ..married in June.
Q How was your 1st winter out here? Were you prepared for it?
A Well, I didn't mind the winter in those days, like I do now. I loved snow, we used to have deep snows, yep.
Q Seems a little bit different.
A Well we haven't had much snow the last few years.
Q We had a good one last year. Do you know anything about water rights in the area?
A No, I don't. I know I've read in the paper to where over water has caused more 'n one fella to be killed.
Q Anyone up here?
A No, the only one I even heard of, it might a been years ago. I don't know, but there was a fella down here not too many years ago down below Walsenburg, Aguilar, Trinidad, somewhere off down in there, where there's one guy got shot, killed over arguing over water.
Q Water's pretty important!
A You can say that again!
Q How much land did your family own around here?
A 647 acres.
Q How did you get all that land?
A Well he bought it from people that were selling out and wanted to leave. They all joined on what we had up there.
Q Do you still have it?
A No, I sold it!
Q Now what do you have?
A Just the place here.
Q How much land is here?
A Well, between this and down at Faustine's, it 1 acre!
Q You own part of Faustine's?
A No, No, you see, I own down to the fence, I'd say about 2/3 of the acre. Now that's just guessing.
Q What was the country side like around here when you first moved out here?
A Beautiful
Q What were the most striding features?
A Well the mountains:, I guess, you'd say, When I was a little kid I always said I was gonna go to the mountains or see the mountains, but I always wanted to go to the Blue Ridge Mountains, never thought about ever coming out here.
Q You never know where fate is gonna deliver you.
A No I didn't.
Q You kind of come in when there was a little bit of frontier type living and could you tell me what some of the dangers were
A Well, I say, there was a fort up here, not a fort but a trading post was off up Pass Creek, there just before you go you know, after you leave Malachite, aways. It was a fort, Chief Ouray used to come over and, and there was a man by the name of Mr. Costello, said that when they had the mill, we had a mill up here, flour mill, the people over in the valley used to bring their grain over, this pass over here, between Alamosa——no, no, I can't think of the name of it, it's over above Redwing, Mosca, they used to bring their grain over Mosca Pass, to have it ground.
Q How did they bring their grain over?
A Team, wagon, I imagine. There used to be a road that you could go over.
Q They used to come from Alamosa?
A And from that valley.
Q That was quite a distance!
A Uh huh!
Q Did you ever hear talk of the Indians other that Chief Ouray?
A No, I didn't.
Q Did you know Chief Ouray, yourself?
A No, I didn't. I think he died before I came out here.
Q You said something about your sister?
A My sister in law, but then she never came out here until she was just 11 or 12 years old, when she came out, but they never came out until several years after I came out here.
Q Who did Chief Ouray have on his knee?
A Oh, that was Mr. Sharpe. Lee Sharpe's father.
Q What did he do?
A Oh, he had a ranch up here.
Q How did Chief Ouray happen to come by here?
A Well, they used to go over to the, in the winter, you'd had picked berries. I mean in the Fall n' pick berries 'n then he'd do his trading. I guess when he was in the vicinity.
Q What did they trade?
A Well, I imagine, I don't know, I wouldn't have the slightest idea what they did trade.
Q Your husband did not work in the mines right?
A No.
Q Did any of your kids work in the mines?
A No.
Q Did you ever hear stories about the miners?
A Well, I heard plenty of stories, when I first come out here.
Q How did the miners, from the different areas get along?
A Well no, I never did know. I never did hear of any trouble they had, it was usually when they'd go on a strike, and of course, you know that was caused by the union.
Q What did you hear about the strikes?
A Well, there used to have, well that Ludlow. Was a coal strike down there, near as I could tell, about all I ever heard was a Ludlow strike. Course that happened before I came out here, and every year they celebrate, or have something in the papers about it.
Q Was the Gardner area affected by the strikes at all?
A That I don't think they were.
Q Do you think the strikes changed anything?
A No, I heard one Tipple boss at the mine when my husband delivered some car doors down there for him, say that the union was cuttin' their own throat, so I believe it. I don't know whether the union does or not but then the people that belongs to the union, they just bleed them to death, because when they go on their strikes they never make their money back that they lose.
Q How did the people survive when they had the strikes?
A Well, the union to a certain extent, I guess furnished them food, part of the time anyway, furnished them food, but how much n' what they were probably beans n' potatoes, stuff like that. They used to raise a lot of potatoes off up in here too.
Q What happened to the potatoes?
A Oh, some sort of disease in them and they just quit raising them, oh I imagine some people in the hills raise them yet for their own use.
Q Do you feel the politics had anything to do with the strikes?
A Well, I would know. . I wasn't much of a politician.
Q Do you remember who the politicians were in power when you came?
A No, I. couldn't even tell you what governor was in power then.
Q Did people take an interest in politics?
A Each politician, well now, you take the democrats, they'd from the county all come up here together and same way with the republicans, they' d all come up here and have their rallies.
Q What did they do during these rallies?
A Oh, bout the same as they do now, pledge you a whole lot and do nothing. (laughter)
Q Well some things don't change.
A No, but I don't think our county is as bad as what our national gotten to be, seems like each one's a little bit worse.
Q Did the people work with the county officials more than they do now?
A Well, I couldn't say as to that, I don't know. Cause as I say, we lived up in the hills. We never come to vote. And make up our minds who we were gonna vote for n' all that. He didn't know who I voted for, and I never did know what his politics were. Now that's just as far as our politicking went.
Q Well, how did you get to know the candidates?
A Well, we'd meet some of them you know.
Q They'd come up here?
A No, you know meet 'em, some of them you knew from here. Tim Hudson was one of them n Nick Wyatt run one year but I don't know if he got in there.
Q What were they running for?
A Well, Mr. Hudson was a senator. I don't know how many times, whether it was one or not.
Q How about Nick Wyatt, what was he running for?
A I think the same thing.
Q Did they have a newspaper in this area?
A No.
At This Point A Third Party Came In.
XX. This house (indicating her home) used to be a school house. The grades met down below and the high school up above, n' then, after they built this other building over here, then they sold this school building. We bought it from another fellow, it's been, 1928 when we bought it——1928, and they had dance upstairs after we moved here. It just sounded like a bunch of cattle milling around up there in slow motion
Q Who had the dance?
A Oh it was a Spanish dance. It was a Bill, oh heck, I forgotten his name.
Q Were they raising money for something?
A Oh no, it was during Gallo days, n' it was a dance after the last Gallo day.
Q Do you want to tell me about the Gallo days?
A I'm not familiar with them.
Mrs. Harney: Were you Evalyn?
Evalyn Baily: I went to one once.
Mrs. Harney: Well' maybe you can tell her about them.
Evalyn: You remember, don't you?
Mrs. Harney: Well I, I know they used to, now whether they did it here or not but I think they did. They used to bury up a chicken and, then they'd race by on a horse to see who could grab that chicken out.
Q Was it a dead chicken?
A NO!!! It was a live chicken. But the humane society I think, stopped that. Yea, they used to have Gallo here and it was always 2 days. I used to know for which saints, but I've forgotten.
E.B. Didn't it coincide with whose the patron saint of the harvest? Do you know?
Mrs. H. Ya got her studying (pointing to the interviewer).
E. B. It's not St. Augustine, its not St. Francis, well, I think Gallo days usually coincided witht that, at least here in Gardner, and that some of the Penetentes, they precipitated it. They marched down the, you probably remember seeing this.
Mrs. H. Yea, I know they had quit having 'em before we moved to town.
E.B. You moved here in '28?
Mrs. H. No, we bought this place in '28, but we didn't move here until '30, 1930-31, somewhere along there. Oh, was later than that.
E. B. Well, didn't they still have some of those parties after you came?
Mrs. H. Huh Uh. Not that I can think of.
E. B. They must have revived them cuz I can remember some.
Mrs. H. Well it was 1930—1937 when we moved down here. We bought the place in '28 but we never moved down here till 1937, because it was just before the children's father died.
E. B. Did you live on the ranch before?
Mrs. H. No, on the Reserve. We saw milled.
Q Why did you move down to the Gardner area?
A To send the kids to school, (laughter) isn't that a good reason?
Q Yes, a very good reason. You didn't have any schools up where you were?
A We did for 2 or 3 years.
Q Then what happened to them?
A Well, there just wasn't enough children up there to have a school.
Q How many kids were in this school in 1937 (referring to the Gardner school)?
A Let's see, there was, 2, 4, 7.
Q And how many kids in high school?
A Oh you means here in Gardner?
Q Yes, in Gardner.
A Oh I don't know what the enrollment was then.
Q Was it pretty big?
A Well it I think, it got to be where it was pretty crowded because they used a room over her at St. George's school for the high school.
E.B. Was St. George's open?
Mrs. H. Yeah.
E. B. So there really were 2 schools? There was a Catholic school and a public school.
Mrs. H. Oh yea!
Q There must have been quite an enrollment to have that many students.
A When I was cooking for the lunch room, we'd have a hundred or some odd from St. George's school, and then I don't remember just how many there was from the other school, but we had the four rooms there and there was quite a group.
Q Where did you cook?
A Where? We had the lunch room here before I went and moved here.
E.B. Then they come from the school?
Mrs. H. Yeah, they come over here, we had lunch room in the dining room was in there, where my living room is n' the kitchen was in the bedroom in there and the other bedroom was our grocery room. We had 4 helpers, course Floyd Sanders was the janitor. He was supposed to go off at 2 o'clock but he never did till we got through.
E.B. Did the WPA pay for that?
Mrs. H. The government. The WPA didn't. It came direct from the government.
Q Well, did they send you commodities?
A Oh yes, we had commodities. That's what they run on.
Q But they didn't give you money so you could order what you wanted?
A No.
Q What were some of the foods you used to serve?
A Well, we used to serve beans, rice and cheese, grapefruit, oranges.....
Q Did you serve fresh dairy products and meats?
A Well the meat we served, we had to buy.
Q Did you buy that locally from the farmers?
A No, we had to buy it from, the inspected meat, and we couldn't use the milk.. We coulda got all the milk, we'd wanted too, if we could have used it, but we couldn't use it because it wasn't pasteurized.
Q Then the kids didn't get milk with their lunches?
A Well, the only milk we had was powdered milk. I think it was just powdered, don't believe we even had any canned milk.
E.B. But you could make potato soup out of that, couldn't you?
Mrs. H. Oh yeah, and we had corn 'n carrots 'n most all vegetables we had, of course, they was all canned in those gallon cans.
Q Did you get any of the fresh vegetables from the farmers around here?
A No. And during Christmas vacation we'd have to spend it a making noodles. Every time the gal would come and 'ask us how many noodles we had made, why we got to where we lied to her. Cause every time we'd make up a big batch of them we think we'd have enough for the rest of the year, she'd take 'em to La Veta or she'd take em to Walsenburg so we got to lying about how many we had. When we had a lot of grapefruit left during vacation, we canned that to keep it from spoiling and doggone it she'd take some of that to La Veta.
Q How did you can your grapefruit?
A Well, we just put them in hot water and let them just so long and you could peel them real easy. Peel off all the white and then we'd fix them in the section and then we'd put them in sterilized fruit jars, and then we'd process them in water, put them in cold water, and bring them to a boil. We did that I think in boilers.
Q How long did you have to cook your grapefruit?
A I think it's about an hour. I think it was from the time it went to boiling.
Q How about your noodles? How did you store them?
A We just dried them real good. We had our dining room, it was all filled with noodles and when they'd get good 'n dry, why we'd take them off and put them in one of these big boxes that macaroni come in, the big cartons and we'd put clean papers in it, we had white paper.
E. B. That was when? In the late 30's.
Mrs. H. Oh no, that was in the 40's. That was after Archie and I were married.
E.B. That was after WWII?
Mrs. H. During WWII.
Q How did the war affect your living in this area? Did it change a lot?
A Well it's just that the young people from around, that is the young men, that's about all I can say that it done for it.
E.B. Was the Red Cross active up here during those years?
Mrs. H. We had Red Cross training. I took that though before then. We had it in club work.
E. B. Seems like there were a bunch of you that used to do things like roll bandages and knit all those things.
Q Did your life change a lot after the war?
A I can't say that it did.
Q Did a lot of the young men come back to re-settle in this area after the war?
A No, in fact those what was old enough after the war soon left. There wasn't no future here for young people.
Q What were they looking for, in terms of “future”?
A Well, for something they could make a living at. If they weren't brought up a cowboy, they never had a chance.
Q What about the young women in the area? Did the young men come back and marry them and take them with them or did they just....?
A Eventually they moved out. Some of them married and left.
Q Do you like living in this area now?
A Well, as well as I did anywhere.
Q What are some of the things that you've seen that have drastically changed since you first moved here to present day?
A Well, we used to have a lot of people here. Anymore we don't have many at all.
Q Do you think we're going to get people back in this area?
A Not unless they get something in here to bring them back.
Q What do you think would be a good thing to bring back?
A Well, if they'd just strike that oil up there and open it up, I think we'd have a pretty good sized town in no time.
Q How would you feel about a lot of new people moving back here?
A It wouldn't bother me in the least, as long as they were good guys, wouldn't bother me. I could let them alone.
Q It's really been interesting talking with, you, Mrs. Harney. Is there anything else you want to share with us?
A Can't think of anything more. Think I'm about to run out.
Q Thank you very much. I really appreciate your spending your time with me today.
A It's perfectly alright!
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