Niwot Historical Society looks at the roots of Latinos in Boulder County

On Wednesday, Oct. 26, the Niwot Historical Society (NHS) held a lecture at the Left Hand Grange, featuring the Boulder County Latino History Project.

Presenters included Marjorie McIntosh, a distinguished professor of History Emerita at the University of Colorado-Boulder; and Linda Arroyo-Holmstrom, a Boulder native, retired educator in the local public schools and a committee member of the Boulder County Latino History Project.

NHS President Kathy Koehler said the two speakers centered their talks around “their years of research of the Latinos living and working in the Longmont area for farming and food production.”

They also looked at the the Latinos in Lafayette who worked in coal mining and as field laborers, and those working for commerce labor and the University of Colorado in Boulder.

One of the most prominent Latino members in the Niwot community in the early 1900s was Juan Apodaca. Apodaca was transferred to the Niwot area from Trinidad around 1920, by the railroad he was working on.

“We were honored to have the three living grandchildren of Juan Apodaca come to the lecture,” Koehler said. “Granddaughters Dora Montoya Mares is 90 years young, Delia Montoya Hammons is 89 years young, and they are both still great story tellers. Their brother, John Montoya, was born in Niwot and proudly shared many tales of growing up in the Niwot community.”

Montoya noted the family had a good life growing up in Niwot and had close ties with the Dodd family. He was appreciative of all the hard work the Dodd brothers helped with in the fields and on the farm. Montoya especially thanked Nancy Dodd Hinman, whom he has known since being in class together at the Niwot school.

“The Montoya family visits the Niwot Cemetery often,” Koehler explained. “Nancy said that if you visit the Cemetery near Memorial Day it is easy to see that the family has been there because everything is trimmed so well on their family plots.”

Working in the fields was a family affair. Mares and Hammons shared how they would follow their mother through the rows of sugar beets, trimming and thinning plants to make room for the remaining beets to grow to their full capacity.

“Another story shared was about how the boys would put orange peels on the bottom of their shoes, which made it easier to climb inside the three-story fire escape pipe tunnel at the old Niwot school and then slide down the three flights,” Koehler said.

Montoya also shared about a small “hot spring” near Haystack Mountain, where workers would go for a warm mud bath to relax after a long day’s work. Because no one had bathing suits back in those days, and to avoid embarrassing moments, a flag pole was put up so people would know that whenever the flag was raised someone was in the mud bath.

Answering the question of whether the hot spring was still there today, Donlyn Arbuthnot, whose family homesteaded at Haystack, said the site was destroyed when some people were trying to expand the hot spring.

The next Niwot Historical Society Now & Then lecture will be on Raptors Over Niwot, on Wednesday, February 22, 2017. “The lecture will recount the raptors that were in the Niwot area and the feathers used by the Native American tribes, and highlight the raptors in the area today,” Koehler said.

For more information on the Niwot Historical Society visit the niwothistoricalsociety.org.