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
Women’s Work
Things sold at the store were flour, sugar, salt, kerosene for the lamps, matches, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and vinegar.
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
Work and Play in Questa
We played Las Iglesias. We played kick the can, baseball, marbles, hide and seek, and tell stories.
The San Antonio del Rio Colorado Land Grant
A second group of settlers petitioned for a land grant on the Rio Colorado early in 1841, essentially for land that is now Questa proper.
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
Preface & Acknowledgments
This project started quite appropriately over ditch business—Judy Cuddihy was installing a head gate and Esther Garcia, one of the ditch commissioners, came over to
Floyd Hamblen
The boy that grew up in Questa, who was an integral part of the community, merchant, farmer and a prosperous business man. – by J.P. Rael