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Views of fruit trees.

This folder contains two issues (three copies) of The Irrigation Era, published monthly by The Irrigation Era Publishing Co., Denver, in the State of Colorado.

This interview is part of a series on the history of apples in Boulder County. The oral history opens with Bert Tolbert recounting briefly his youth on a farm in Idaho, attending college at the University of California, Berkeley, and working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). He came to Boulder in 1955 to take a faculty position at the University of Colorado. He purchased property in north Boulder, which was still somewhat rural at that time. This interview’s focus is the trees he raised on his property. He mentions Chinese elms, then discusses various fruit trees, especially apple trees. There were three old apple trees on the property when he bought it, and he planted several more over the years. Tolbert describes his use of the apples for making apple pie and applesauce. He also reminisces about neighborhood pressing parties to make cider. In addition to fruit trees, Tolbert planted spruce trees, one of which he estimates grew to a hundred feet tall. Finally, he comments on how his neighborhood has changed since his arrival. Bert’s wife Anne and daughter Margaret also participate briefly in the interview.

This interview is part of a series focusing on the history of apples in Boulder County. A longtime resident of Longmont, Beth Wintroub discusses the land on which she has lived since the mid-1970s. She gives particular attention to three apple trees located on the plot. In addition, she discusses other fruit trees on the property as well as her vegetable and flower gardens. Wintroub talks about the Johnson family, the original residents who built the late-nineteenth-century house in which she lives. She describes modifications that she and her husband, Tim Schabacker, have made to the house and its surroundings over the course of their time in Longmont. She also talks about differences in the varieties of apples that her trees produce, techniques she uses to care for them, and ways in which she has processed their fruit. The interview ends with a discussion of changes in Boulder over time.

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.