Cruz Salas Oral History, Part 1/5, Immigration And Early Globe

Descriptive

Part OfCruz Salas Oral HistoryIntervieweeSalas, CruzInterviewerMcBride, JoyceBrowse TopicBusiness and IndustryCommunity GroupsEducationImmigration and MigrationLaborLand, Environment, and Natural ResourcesMilitary and WarNative AmericansRace and EthnicityReligion and PhilosophySociety and CultureSubjectOral historiesArizona History 20th CenturyGlobe, ArizonaGila County (Ariz.)MiningRailroadsHispanic Racial DiscriminationHoly Angels Catholic churchSan Carlos Indian ReservationDescriptionRosalio and Maria Salas lived in Zacatecas, Mexico with their 3 children during the time of Poncho Villa’s revolution in the late 1890s to 1920s. Rosalio worked in the mines and played a tuba in the town’s band. Every time the Federales came to town, the band would play to welcome them, but also, every time Poncho Villa’s army came to town, the band would welcome them as well. Finally, someone mentioned to Poncho Villa what the band was doing. He lined all 40 musicians up and shot the first 5, then warned the rest that the next time he heard that they had played for the Federales, he would shoot the rest of them. Rosalio Salas had been the 6th man! When the Federales returned, again the musicians were called up. This time they were conscripted into the army to both fight and carry the weaponry and supplies. First chance he got, Rosalio escaped and the Salas family fled to Juarez where they crossed the border. There was work in Lordsburg but Rosalio was unable to gain employment, so they went to El Paso and obtained green ribbons, signifying a work visa. Their youngest little girl caught the flu and died. The family then took the train to Globe and settled in the Buena Vista area on the creek near Ruiz Canyon. Rosalio worked with explosives in the Old Dominion Mine. An accident with an unexploded stick of dynamite partially buried him. The breadwinner now permanently disabled with a family of six girls and 6 boys (including Mary’s 3 sons, Salvador, Cruz and Carlos,) the older girls quit school to go to work. Cruz gives a brief history of the Holy Angels Catholic Church, of Father Genevrier, an Italian priest who organized the Italian stone masons who had come to build the Roosevelt Dam to build the church from tufa stone donated by the San Carlos Apache tribe. In 1936, Father Genevrier commissioned Rosalio and 11 other faithful men to construct and plant Globe’s cross up on the hill. Carlos was born that year, and after the cross was placed, his mother changed his name to Cruz, (“cross” in Spanish.) The cross remains significant to the Hispanic community to this day. Cruz then shares some early railroad stories, stories about growing up in Globe while his mother worked for the Richelieu Café and of the Chinese community. He closes by remembering the semi baseball leagues that played in the area, and of the building of the concrete bleachers when he was a freshman at Globe High School. Audio Length00:21:17Date Original2008-01-25Date Range1900s (1900-1909)1910s (1910-1919)1920s (1920-1929)1930s (1930-1939)1940s (1940-1949)1950s (1950-1959)TypeSound- NonmusicalOriginal FormatOral historiesLanguageEnglishContributing InstitutionGila County Historical MuseumCollectionOral Histories of Globe High SchoolRights StatementThe opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and interviewer only. They do not represent the views of the Gila County Historical Society of Globe High School. Please contact the Gila County Historical Society Museum, located at 1330 North Broad Street, Globe, AZ 85501; call 928-425-7385 or email [email protected] with questions concerning content or the use and reproduction of this resource.

Geographic

City or TownGlobeCountyGila CountyStateArizonaCountryUnited StatesGeoNames URIhttps://sws.geonames.org/5296013

EventImmigration and Migration in ArizonaOral HistoryCruz Salas

Administrative

IdentifierCruz Salas Family Immigration and Early Globe, Part 1.mp3Date Digitized2008-01-25Digital FormatMP3

34.mp3

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Cruz Salas Oral History, Part 1/5, Immigration And Early Globe