Herrera, Gilbert (Mora, NM), part 1

Authors

• 1140 3. 018.1

Document Type

Audio

Publication Date

8-1981

Comments

Family history about his grandfather and father joining the army in the late 1800s, marching and fighting Indians with the soldiers from northern NM to Pueblo, CO. His grandfather was in a platoon of 23 soldiers. More on Indian Wars, the young Indians used to raid small communities in Peñasco and Chamizal during the night. People used to travel on mules or donkeys. Horses were ridden 'a pelo' [unsaddled horses]. The government used to seize horses from ranchers for the military service at that time and his grandfather bought a buggy and horses to return home where he met his grandmother and married her, then he went out to search for a treasure. His grandfather was a man who had gold and never needed to work for somebody else. Additionally, his grandfather got a pension after he left the army. A story about the origin of the name Alamosa that his grandfather told him; Alamosa meaning place of a plaza or with placitas. People were very helpful and united in the past; they used to help each other with their farming and ranch work. The first motor vehicle he saw was in Peñasco, the fiestas del 10 de Agosto in Peñasco. He describes how the first cars ran in the dust roads. His grandparents' stories about money and their predictions on how money would bring about trouble and wars. He thinks that people would stop living on farming due to industrialization and urban development. How land grants and the Forest Administration curtailed the ranchers' possibilities to continue raising their livestock and farming crops in the area.

Recommended Citation

Anselmo Arellano collection (MSS 1140), Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections, University Libraries, University of New Mexico