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Another Time in This Place

Tessie Rael de Ortega and Judith Cuddihy

By 1840 San Antonio del Rio Colorado was well established and new settlers were continually arriving and more houses were being built all along the

J.P. Rael’s poem Los Pobladores de Questa (The Founders of Questa) is probably the first written history of Questa.

Soap was made from the fat of lambs or pigs. The fat was mixed with lye and crushed rosebuds were added to give it a

Water was and is the basis of everyday life in this high mountain desert. Acequias were often built even before the houses or church in

The “Alwasiles” sheriffs were very strict. If they found a girl or a boy talking to each other out in public they would take them

We played Las Iglesias. We played kick the can, baseball, marbles, hide and seek, and tell stories.

Questa’s first homes were made in a U shape. That way when the Indians came to attack them, they closed the gates in the plazuela

San Antonio church is the biggest treasure our forefathers left for us. It was built with a lot of faith and sacrifice. They brought the

…a posse of eight men… went up Red River canyon… caught Conelly in a cabin and brought him down to the justice of peace.

The arrival of the U.S. Military and the increased traffic on the Santa Fe Trail had served only to increase the anger of the Indians,