Jack Bowes, a retired third-generation farmer in the Louisville area, talks about his family’s long history with coal mining, farming, and ranching after they arrived in the area from England in the 1880s. Initially coming to the area to mine coal, they quickly transitioned to a homestead at 9182 Dillon Road, where they raised hay, grains, and livestock. He describes his childhood on the farm, both his early days and how, after his father died when Jack was 13, he had to help his mother with the farming. Jack discusses ways in which farming has changed since his childhood, from the days of horse-drawn farming. Much of the water for their homestead came from the South Boulder & Coal Creek Irrigation Ditch, and in the 1990s Jack became president of the ditch company, as his father and grandfather had been before him. He describes the changes in the job responsibilities since his father’s time, and also changes in how the ditch was operated. He talks about his grandparents’ and father’s memberships in local fraternal organizations, his aunt telling stories of seeing Native Americans camping on Coal Creek in the 1890s, family picnics and parties in the apple orchard, the sale of part of his family’s property to Boulder County Parks and Open Space and Louisville Open Space, and the death of many of the apple trees. He closes with a story his father told him about being 13 years old in 1914 and watching the Colorado militia get off the train to deal with conflicts between mining companies and striking miners in Louisville.
Topics discussed include: 4H, Apple cultivars (Wealthies, Yellow Transparents), Boulder Apple Tree Project, Bowes Properties, coal mining, dairy farming, Denver Interurban Railroad, ditches, farm equipment, farming, Dowdy Draw, Hecla Mine, Hodgson-Harris Reservoir, homesteading, Improved Order of Red Men, Kite Route, Louisville, Marshall Reservoir, mining strikes, Oddfellows, orchards, Red Men Lodge, Rock Creek, South Boulder & Coal Creek Irrigation Ditch Company, Indians of North America. People include: James Harris, Robert Bowes Sr., Robert Bowes Jr., Ruth Bowes, Sarah Davidson Harris-Hodgson, Thomas Hodgson.