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

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

The Indian Threat Ends
For almost a century, settlers in Rio Colorado had been subjected to the raids of Indian tribes. By the end of the 1870s, these raids


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.”
Additional Reading
Abert, Lieutenant James Willian. Expedition to the Southwest: An 1845 Reconnaissance of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1999 Arny, W.F.M.

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

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.

Before the Spanish Entrada
Evidence of Clovis, Folsom, and Oshara/ Upper Rio Grande Cultures in Questa Area
