Another Time in This Place
Historia, Cultura y Vida en Questa, New Mexico, USA
Tessie Rael de Ortega and Judith Cuddihy
An Introductory Note
…first-person accounts of Rio Colorado [Questa] have been included to give a first-hand view of what life was like here over the years.
Table of Contents
Front Matter From Our Hearts and Minds From the Record The Cycle of Birth, Life & Death Everyday Life in the 1920’s to 1940’s Appendix
Our Water
In the 1920s to 1940s, very few people had wells. They drank water from the the Red River, Cabresto Creek, or the ditches, whichever was
The Ortega Family
Ortega Family Juan De Jesus Ortega—great grandfather Jose Dolores Chavez—great grandfather Margarita Trujillo De Ortega—great grandmother Maria Antonia Gonzales DeChavez—great grandmother Agapito Ortega—grandfather Teodorita Chavez
John “The Pathfinder” Fremont Comes to Rio Colorado
“…who loves to be told of his greatness…” and “jealous of anyone who may know as much or more of any subject than himself…”
The Railroad Comes to Northern New Mexico
The 1870s brought more surveyors for the railroad that would come eventually through just north of Rio Colorado. By 1876, rail for the narrow-gauge Denver
Before the Spanish Entrada
Evidence of Clovis, Folsom, and Oshara/ Upper Rio Grande Cultures in Questa Area
Holidays
They had valerios for the dead and they would sing hymns called “Alavados.” Also velarios for the Santos. These alavados were a little different. When
Old Questa Murders
…a posse of eight men… went up Red River canyon… caught Conelly in a cabin and brought him down to the justice of peace.
El Oratorio de Doña Estefana
There on the outskirts of the village of Questa, by the side of Cabresto Creek just south of Highway 38, under a cluster of old