Installment 4

Oral History Project

Installment # 4

The Loggers

By Sandy Everett Jones

Many farmers went to the woods in the slack season to fell trees for their own use or to haul logs to the mills for ready cash.  At first the mills wanted only logs that could be sawn into clear lumber. The loggers high-graded the tall, knot-free timbers and left behind high stumps and logging debris which contributed to the devastating fires of 1900.  With the creation of the Montezuma National Forest in 1907, conservation practices were introduced in both forestry and range management.

 

The First School

By Jan Koppri

 

Reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic were taught by 16 year-old Lizzie Allen in this little log school house built in 1878.  The first community building served as a gathering place for religious services, dances, debates, lodge meetings and other social activities. Rumors of Indian troubles prompted the construction of a stockade around the school yard; however, the gates were never closed as relations with the Utes were, for the most part, peaceable.