by Charlotte Graham

 I am thrilled to share my column here in The Sopris Sun once a month, sponsored by the Mount Sopris Historical Society. My fans already know that when this column was published in the Crystal Valley Echo it tended to meander like its namesake into its featured story. That was back when it could spread out in a monthly publication.
Runnin’ in faster water now.  Thank you, Sopris Sun!
“Memoirs” will be briefer in the Sun’s print and online spaces. But the full story each month, with more photos, will continue on my Web site: marbledweller.com. Go check it out.

This month we learn about the national census – and sense of place – in Carbondale circa 1910.
Compared to the 2000 census, which registered 5,196 residents, Carbondale’s population in 1910 was 284. Some readers have that many Facebook friends these days!
1910 was the first 20th century view of Haley’s comet. Carbondale had barely installed electric lights by late 1910, ergo, there was zero light pollution. Fortunately, today, in most parts of the valley, our sky is still a perfect backdrop for viewing astral travel.
Whereas the census today is taken with palm-sized computers and digital GPS units, the 1910 census workers had to travel by horseback or carriage, and their records were carefully hand-scripted in ink. I found that the Glenwood Springs Ford dealer took delivery of seven of the first 1910 Model Ts. There is a photo on my Web site of one of the seven parked at the Redstone Inn. Was someone taking census perchance? Who was the owner? Does anyone know? A zippy 20 minutes today, how many days did that drive between Glenwood and Redstone take in 1910?
“Worker bees” dominated the town’s occupation list: farming, mining, railroad, merchants, carpenters, salesmen, servants. It appears that almost all of the heads of families of 1910 came from somewhere else. Some of their descendants are now the most deeply rooted natives in the Roaring Fork and Crystal River valleys. Even though the first indigenous people of this land, the Utes, were 30 years gone by 1910, looking back, there is a sense of close-knit (tribal?) living among the newcomers who found this rich “uninhabited” utopia in this part of Colorado.

When will a root stay rooted?

By 1910, Mid-western and Eastern farmers like Grubb, Holland and Holgate had come from Missouri, Illinois and Pennsylvania. They all carved out a piece of this fertile land to make a new hopeful life after the Civil War.
Some were single families, with many sons and daughters, tilling their own soil. Others were gentlemen farmers with several ranches who fed and housed all their laborers. Yanking on roots those days mostly pulled up potatoes, which became the main cash crop of Carbondale for decades.
In 1910, one Irish farmer, Thomas McClure, introduced a new variety of potato called the Red McClure. After nearly disappearing in the ’50s, the ruddy red was reintroduced by Slow Foods Roaring Fork at Potato Day 2009.
The French farmed (Herrin) as did the Swedes (Johnson) and Germans (Sievers, Pings). Don’t you just know those were beautiful farmers’ daughters?
Another German, Lieberman, was a baker. I even found a Graham family, Scotch-English, same as my dad’s. I feel so connected to this valley. Maybe we’re related?
Coal mining and railroad work was accomplished by Italians: Vellatti, Gallo; Greek: Papas, Malachiesco; Mexican and Spanish: Ruis, Raimeriz; Japanese: Johney, Kakuichi. These and many more laborers and boarders were all listed on the 1910 census.

Photo contest: No wonder she’s into roots, albeit via Texas! Charlotte Graham, 8, sits at one end of the family sofa, circa 1956. Her maternal grandmother’s grandmother, 80, sits to the far left.
But we all have family photos, right? Who has the most generations at one family sitting? Send in a photo of as many generations as possible – not just as many people as possible. The winning photo will be honored in the next “Memoirs,” and the winner will receive a personalized copy of Graham’s book, “Memoirs of a River…Up the Crystal, Vol. 1.” Submission Deadline: Feb. 15. Send dated copies of original photos via snail mail to: Genealogy Game, 795 Serpentine Trail, Marble, CO 81623. For info on sending digital photos, click “contact” at marbledweller.com.