Jack: You hear a different language being spoken around you that you don't understand, and ah. . . you become suspicious. What are they saying about me?
BH: Um hum.
Jack: It was such a funny story that the Beckers used to use. When they would gather cattle, down there to. . . you know, for sale. . . of course, they could talk to their Mexican help without any problem, and ah. . . and every time that the. . . any of the help said anything about the cattle buyers or the strangers or whatever, they. . . why, they could understand them better. And of course, when they would talk in English with. . . with whoever, this was fine, because the help could understand that too. But what used to frustrate them—the help—was when the Beckers didn't want them to know what was going on, they'd switch to German. And. . . Marie's mother told me one time, said that they always. . . the help always, "What are they saying about us?"
They wouldn't be talking about them at all. You know, I thought that was so funny. Because everybody's suspicious of everybody else's language.
BH: Yeah. When you can't understand it. That is a good one. They're. . . it made me think of another question—it made me think of a couple. Um. . . down in the Zapata Ranch, there's a five—sided building, and this goes way back to the 1860's. They say it was an old church, and that there was an old Spanish settlement there? Do you know anything about it?
Jack: I had heard that there was an old Spanish settlement there, and I. . . and the name just flicked across my mind, and I'll have to think about it. Um. . . it would make a great deal of sense. Because first of all, you equate it to the name—Zapata.
BH: Um hum.
Jack: How this name came to be. . . I don't have any idea. I've heard. . . different versions, but I don't. . . I just haven't heard anything that makes sense. But it was. . . ah. . . let's see, it would—it had to have been a part of the original Urraca settlement. There's just no other way to look at it, because of the name. There's a lot of Spanish names in there, and it wasn't English speaking people who went in and settled there. There had been, I understand, some history done on the Urraca thing, but I don't know how far back it goes. You can't get too far back in that cemetery—I don't remember seeing any—any graves there that go back well into the—far into the 1800's. I think the oldest one. . . I'm not sure, but it seems like 1890 something.
BH: Might be. . . I think they settled that area in 1880's—late 80's.
Jack: Anyway, where to go. . . I don't know that Adams State has anything on that or not. I know that. . . that ah. . . that Glen's dad, Luther Bean, was interested in it, but whether he ever wrote anything on it, I don't know. Now there was ah. . . there was a fellow there that taught at Adams State that was quite a historian.
(Break in tape)
Jack: Spencer was ah. . .
(End of side 1)
Jack: Where is it. . . (Unintelligible). But I can't help but think that in the archives at Adams State, they've got stuff that probably he put together. And. . . that's not it.
(break in tape)
Jack: No, I. . .
BH: When did you find that meteorite?
Jack: Nineteen thirty. . . seven.
BH: '37.
Jack: Yeah, down around Spring Crick.
BH: Really?
Jack: Yeah. Yeah, we were down there gathering cattle, and ah. . . I think. . . saw this unusual dark stone there. Got off and looked at it, and dropped it, it was so heavy. But that was at a time in my life when I. . . was bringing rocks home. And I'm so glad I did.
BH: Did you have any idea what it was when you picked it up?
Jack: No, no. We had it identified—they identified it in Denver. They said it was 96% nickel,
4% iron, and I'm trying to think who the. . . guy at the Denver Museum of Natural History that identified that. Somewhere I have it written down. He also. . . he was also a paleontologist, and he identified a Bison taylori bones that we picked up up there, some pieces. I got these odds and ends around that I will one day give to the Dunes, if they want 'em, for their archives.