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Audio Recording Interview with Margarito Garcia and Trinidad Garcia about life in Mosquero Canyon, Mosquero, New Mexico, part 1

Interview with Margarito Garcia and Trinidad Garcia about life in Mosquero Canyon, Mosquero, New Mexico, part 1

About this Item

Title

  • Interview with Margarito Garcia and Trinidad Garcia about life in Mosquero Canyon, Mosquero, New Mexico, part 1

Names

  • Fleischhauer, Carl (Recordist)
  • Kalb, Laurie Beth (Research team member)
  • Garcia, Trinidad (Interviewee)
  • Garcia, Margarito (Interviewee)

Created / Published

  • Mosquero, New Mexico, August 30, 1985

Headings

  • -  Folklore--New Mexico
  • -  Field recordings
  • -  Interviews
  • -  Sound recording
  • -  United States -- New Mexico -- Mosquero

Genre

  • Field recordings
  • Interviews
  • Sound recording

Notes

  • -  Index data: Part 1 of a 3-part interview with Interview with Margarito and Trinidad Garcia, at their home near the courthouse in Mosquero NM: about life on the homesteads in Mosquero Canyon (first established circa 1890-1918); when the canyon community was active, school teachers would go there in wintertime, today the school is no longer there and it doesn't snow very much anymore; Margarito Garcia goes in the wintertime and works with 50-55 cows in herd, the snow was disruptive in 1918, Garcia's herd is smaller than what it used to be, same acreage; about the need for water, digging wells, setting up windmills, many homesteaders ran out of water, Margarito Garcia's father dug a well in 1918 when Garcia was 8 years old, when digging, Garcia's mother pulled the rope and dumped dirt in a wagon, it took a month to dig a well, some lined wells with stone, some don't line wells and use windmills and boards instead; to construct a windmill, you have to buy machinery, but local people made their own windmill towers, Margarito and Trinidad Garcia raised their tower with a steel rope without help, a cable went from top of the tower into a tree, the towers are made of 6-by-6-inch lumber, you put the motor on first, the Garcias found a supplier in Amarillo, their well is 45 feet deep, another on the ranch is 35 feet deep, some dig wells that are 60 or 65 feet deep, when digging, Margarito Garcia would hook buckets and fill them, diameter of the well was about 4 feet, Garcia used a bar to break up soil, his windmill provides lots of water, about a spring and water at 60 feet, (how well diggers made) more money when the well was deeper, about the significance of prairie dog towns, prairie dogs dig for water, when people dig, they hit rock about 4 or 5 feet down, water is underneath, prairie dogs wouldn't dig underneath the rock, about the windmill motor and wheel size; about crops, in the old days, they farmed beans, corn (maize), milo (red colored grain sorghum), "hi-gear" (grain sorghum also called hegari), watermelon, they didn't buy feed for the cows, some had goats and sheep, Trinidad Garcia comments that goats and sheep were raised for food, ranchers sold weaner calves and steers, today the Garcias haul cattle to auction themselves, of the crops, only beans were sold, about five dollars for a 100 lb. sack; discussion of stores in the area (with side remarks about a clock), stores (spellings uncertain) included Shallenbergers, Kingsburys, McCloughs, Crossways, about one big store, first building with big windows, merchandise ranged from lumber to wedding dresses, Trinidad Garcia bought her dress there, about stove and fireplace, Trinidad Garcia's grandmother made her own fireplace using weeds and mud, Trinidad Garcia's paternal grandmother is Native American, Margarito Garcia's mother's surname is Sandoval, family connections to Gallup NM; about Mosquero and its relationship to the canyon and the railroad that came in 1901, then the town started, Shallenbergers was built around 1937, but there were other stores before that, when the railroad came through the mountains, that's when the little towns started, there were no automobiles, there was a windmill in the middle of town, for a long time no water, people had to go wherever there was water, they had to pump water for the horses, some people came to town from the canyon (for supplies) every 15 or 20 days, some every 6 months, depending on how much they could haul in their wagons, flour, sugar, and beans.

Medium

  • audiotape reel, 7 in.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • MBRS Shelflist: RXA 7248
  • Field project identifier: NM-85-LK-R7
  • Call number: AFC 1991/032: SR07

Source Collection

  • New Mexico Folklife Project collection (AFC 1991/032)

Repository

  • American Folklife Center

Digital Id

Online Format

  • audio

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that some of the materials in this collection are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions, and are therefore free to use or reuse. For example, the fieldwork in this collection is in the public domain in the United States.

However, the Library has obtained permission for the use of other materials, and presents additional materials for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law. For example, some of the recordings contain copyrighted music, and not all of the performers and other individuals who were recorded signed releases for public use of their work.

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Credit line: New Mexico Folklife Project collection (AFC 1991/032), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Fleischhauer, Carl, Laurie Beth Kalb, Trinidad Garcia, and Margarito Garcia. Interview with Margarito Garcia and Trinidad Garcia about life in Mosquero Canyon, Mosquero, New Mexico, part 1. Mosquero, New Mexico, 1985. Audio. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1991032_sr07/.

APA citation style:

Fleischhauer, C., Kalb, L. B., Garcia, T. & Garcia, M. (1985) Interview with Margarito Garcia and Trinidad Garcia about life in Mosquero Canyon, Mosquero, New Mexico, part 1. Mosquero, New Mexico. [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1991032_sr07/.

MLA citation style:

Fleischhauer, Carl, et al. Interview with Margarito Garcia and Trinidad Garcia about life in Mosquero Canyon, Mosquero, New Mexico, part 1. Mosquero, New Mexico, 1985. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc1991032_sr07/>.