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Oral histories serve as record, resource
Shortly after Douglas County TV, Channel 8 began in 1996, crews began roaming the county in search of the history stored in the memories of longtime residents.
By By: Sean Hadden
Shortly after Douglas County TV, Channel 8 began in 1996, crews began roaming the county in search of the history stored in the memories of longtime residents.
The infant DC8 had two goals: to create a permanent historical county record, and to build a library of video clips to use in original programs, said Jess Stainbrook, the station's manager.
"We wanted to document Douglas County's history from the perspective of individuals," he said.
Seven years, and more than 70 interviews later, DC8 has compiled a living history library filled with the descriptions and anecdotes from days gone by.
Many of these colorful stories have been sculpted into programs such as those in DC8's running series, "Legends and Oddities," Stainbrook said.
"That's how 'Legends and Oddities' got started," he said. "We kept hearing the same stories from a bunch of different people who lived in the same area."
The first interview was with Cherokee Ranch and Castle proprietor - now deceased - Tweet Kimball.
During the hours of videotape DC8 crews shot of her, she talked about the building of Cherokee Castle and the oddity of being a cattlewoman in such a male-dominated industry.
And she remembered several times that prairie rattlesnakes thought it might be nice to live in a castle.
One slid right into her bedroom and under the door of her closet.
"We didn't know where the devil he was," Kimball said.
And an interview with Dorothy Roerig described what life was like for the people who built Cheesman Dam.
Roerig said she and her family took a two-wheeled cart pulled by a horse to visit her grandfather where he was working, building the dam.
At the time of the interview, Roerig was spending her 92nd summer at her family's cabin in the Nighthawk area, which is 10 miles north of Deckers.
In a 1997 interview, Joe Winkler described the history of how his family came to possess the GE Ranch, and the difficulty of keeping a cattle ranch operating during the late 20th century.
In his interview, former owner of Prairie Canyon Ranch Bob Schulz described artifacts, such as a hayfork, weather vane and fur traps for catching small animals, which he found on the property after he bought it.
To preserve the ranch, Schulz sold the artifacts, except for the weather vane, and the rest of the ranch to Douglas County in 1999.
Stainbrook said the interviews are coordinated through the Douglas County Historic Preservation Board.
In the late 1990s when word got out that DC8 was interviewing longtime county residents, it became such a popular and desirable thing to do that the station had to set up a schedule.
The station now tapes about one interview per month, Stainbrook said.
The infant DC8 had two goals: to create a permanent historical county record, and to build a library of video clips to use in original programs, said Jess Stainbrook, the station's manager.
"We wanted to document Douglas County's history from the perspective of individuals," he said.
Seven years, and more than 70 interviews later, DC8 has compiled a living history library filled with the descriptions and anecdotes from days gone by.
Many of these colorful stories have been sculpted into programs such as those in DC8's running series, "Legends and Oddities," Stainbrook said.
"That's how 'Legends and Oddities' got started," he said. "We kept hearing the same stories from a bunch of different people who lived in the same area."
The first interview was with Cherokee Ranch and Castle proprietor - now deceased - Tweet Kimball.
During the hours of videotape DC8 crews shot of her, she talked about the building of Cherokee Castle and the oddity of being a cattlewoman in such a male-dominated industry.
And she remembered several times that prairie rattlesnakes thought it might be nice to live in a castle.
One slid right into her bedroom and under the door of her closet.
"We didn't know where the devil he was," Kimball said.
And an interview with Dorothy Roerig described what life was like for the people who built Cheesman Dam.
Roerig said she and her family took a two-wheeled cart pulled by a horse to visit her grandfather where he was working, building the dam.
At the time of the interview, Roerig was spending her 92nd summer at her family's cabin in the Nighthawk area, which is 10 miles north of Deckers.
In a 1997 interview, Joe Winkler described the history of how his family came to possess the GE Ranch, and the difficulty of keeping a cattle ranch operating during the late 20th century.
In his interview, former owner of Prairie Canyon Ranch Bob Schulz described artifacts, such as a hayfork, weather vane and fur traps for catching small animals, which he found on the property after he bought it.
To preserve the ranch, Schulz sold the artifacts, except for the weather vane, and the rest of the ranch to Douglas County in 1999.
Stainbrook said the interviews are coordinated through the Douglas County Historic Preservation Board.
In the late 1990s when word got out that DC8 was interviewing longtime county residents, it became such a popular and desirable thing to do that the station had to set up a schedule.
The station now tapes about one interview per month, Stainbrook said.
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