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

Los Hermanos, La Morada y el Calvario
Every year during Lent and Holy Week, newspapers and magazines all over the country contain an article of one kind or another about Los Hermanos

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

Vecinos on the Northern Frontier
Don Francisco Laforet (his last name has many spellings, including La Forett, Laforee, Laforey, and Laport) is said to have come to live in the

Rael family history
“It is very certain, or almost certain, that only one Rael came to the New Continent and that he came as a soldier from Spain and that is how the name Rael originated.”

The End of the Trail for Horse and Buggy—J.P. Rael
Bad roads were an obstacle to the industry. Every time a Model T went over this road on its way to Taos it made an awful racket.
Petitions to Validate the San Antonio del Rio Colorado Land Grant
Mining would play an increasing role in the life and economy of Rio Colorado/Questa. The first Rio Colorado connection with the copper and gold rush

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

Petitions to Validate the Cañon del Rio Colorado Land Grant
As with many of these early private land claims, the U.S. Land office was hesitant to confirm the grants because of the vague wording of