Letters from time past
Correspondences
In January 2023, as I was busily beginning my new adventure as the Garfield County Clerk and Recorder, I stumbled upon a time capsule of correspondence letters addressed to and from former Garfield County Clerks, Mr. Walter J. Frost, Mr. Charles S. Keegan, and Ms. Ella Stephens, dated as far back as 1923.
To my delight, I was able to share this collage of letters with former County Clerk Jean Alberico. We enjoyed reading these letters, we appreciated the history, and some of the family names were familiar. These letters were a window to history and the communication tool from long ago and to our surprise a lot of the issues being addressed in these letters continue to be the same today.
The documents span three tenures of Garfield County clerks, including Walter J. Frost (1918-1948), Charles S. Keegan (1949-early 1970s), and Ella Stephens (two terms following her predecessor, before she became treasurer). They demonstrate interesting bygone writing styles, such as frequent use of “energetic” when describing a person that they’re writing in support of. The letters are cordial and respectful, and many convey that they are friends or at least acquaintances of one another. All are typed or handwritten in cursive and give us a glimpse of government communications during that time.
The following are some highlights:
From a March 19, 1947, letter from Steven J. Kish, a World War II Navy veteran based in Alameda, CA, to Walter J. Frost, inquiring about purchasing 20-25 acres of land in Garfield County:
“I have approximately 10 years of farming experience in Illinois, but Colorado has always been my idea of being next to God because of its beauty. Please believe me that I’m not looking for any sympathy, just a nice, quiet little place close to a small friendly town, and Mr. Charles O’Kane tells me that Glenwood Springs is just that.”
Frost then replied just a week later, on March 26, 1947:
“Well, Mr. Kish, I do not believe that you could find a nicer place to live than you would find here near our town. We have a wonderful climate, good water, fishing and hunting within a few miles, have good schools and churches. But the greatest trouble is to find a place like (you) describe near here at the present time and real estate prices have gone sky high.”
He goes on to suggest looking in Grand Junction and “in between are the towns of Rifle and Grand Valley” and to come on out for a visit to see for himself.
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Another letter from Rifle resident Carl H. Bernklau from January 19, 1954, lamented that he did not receive the correct requested license plate number:
“I am sorry, but the little note on the end of my letter to you is just not satisfactory to me. I reserved Number 157 for my car as well as my truck and it is inconvenient to me in my business to have different numbers on my vehicles.”
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A handwritten letter to Ella Stephens from Nigel and Katherine Peacock, on Sept. 1, 1976, sought confirmation that they were registered to vote in the upcoming election. It was sent from Penrhos College, in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, UK.
“Dear Madam,
Would you please confirm that our names are on the register to vote in the November election. … Thank you for your assistance. Please also let us know the precinct number in Carbondale.”
A note on the letter states that a response was mailed to the Peacocks on Sept. 13, 1976.
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A March 14, 1940, handwritten letter and application from Mrs. Belle Schmueser (New Castle) to Frost expresses her interest in being a counting judge for the general election in precinct No. 10.
“I would appreciate this office very much and will do all I can to electioneer before time for the Democrats, as I am one and want to see the party win again,” she wrote.
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An invoice from the Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City from March 10, 1955, for 150 license plates shows that they cost $0.11 apiece. Total bill? $16.50.
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An April 27, 1960, notice from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission – Grand Junction Operations Office, informs the clerk’s office that explosives are going to be detonated underground near Rifle at an oil shale mine. This is a likely precursor to the Rulison Project.
“The purpose of the high explosive experiment is to obtain information useful in predicting the effects of a possible nuclear detonation in oil shale, a proposal which is under study by the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory as part of the commission’s Plowshare Program to investigate the peaceful uses of nuclear explosives.”
It explains that one 1,000-pound charge is being detonated at the bottom of a 115-foot-deep sealed hole, and another 5,000-pound charge is being set off in another site at 125 feet.
“A minute amount of Krypton-85, a radioactive tracer, will be placed in the holes to trace any gas migration resulting from the explosion. The Krypton-85 is a gas which is chemically inert so that it will not react with water or materials of the earth and presents no known biological hazard. There will be no nuclear explosion involved.”
Roughly nine years later, on Sept. 10, 1969, Project Rulison took place, during which a nuclear explosion did occur underground, 6.5 miles south of Rulison.
So now it is my time to add a few letters to this Clerk & Recorder collage of letters and hope in 100 years from now they may be enjoyed and bring some wisdom and laughter, too. It has been a pleasure to share some clerk & recorder history with you.
Jackie Harmon
Garfield County Clerk & Recorder