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•The Lightning C Ranch: An Era
of Rodeo Culture in America |
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The Lightning C Ranch: An Era of Rodeo Culture in America In
1937 Everett Colborn, a prominent rodeo producer in Idaho, moved
to Texas and with the support of some financial backers, bought
the successful Johnson Rodeo Company in south Texas. Colborn moved
the operation to Dublin, Texas, established the Lightning C Ranch,
and began a 23-year career of producing major rodeos throughout
the country. His Madison Square Garden and Boston Garden shows
were the climax to each rodeo season that began with a local rodeo
at Dublin. During his tenure as a rodeo producer, Colborn saw
major shifts in the rodeo business. Cowgirl performing roles changed,
the cowboy competitive events began to lose the center stage at
the rodeo, and professional actors and singers from television
and the movies began take over the show at the rodeo. Entertainment
gradually replaced competition as the most important element in
the rodeo. This documentary captures the essence of ordinary people
who lived the western life and the entertainment world that eventually
left them behind. VHS 30 minutes. Website classroom resources
available for teachers at release. |
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Unwilling Refugees: Japanese-American Internment in World War II At
the turn of the century, a young Japanese man, eager to make a
new life for himself, left his homeland and traveled to California.
There Yotaro Arimura found work and began his life among the other
farmers in the rich agricultural region near Fresno, California.
In 1912 Arimura returned to Japan to marry and soon returned to
California with Aya Nakamura where they began a family that soon
numbered ten children. This documentary tracks the story of the
large Arimura family as they carved out their American Dream in
the years before World War II. With the coming of the war and
the attack on Pearl Harbor, the family fortunes took a different
turn. With paranoia running rampant as the nation reacted to the
Pearl Harbor disaster, Japanese-American families were rounded
up and placed in detention camps. The Arimuras were bussed to
Fresno where they spent six months in the detention center and
later boarded a train for transport to Arkansas where they lived
first in the camp at Jerome and later at Rohr. Their wartime experience
was typical of Japanese-American families and after a half century,
the surviving nine children tell their story of growing up in
California, the drama of living in the camps, and the lasting
legacy of the wartime racism on their family. VHS 58 minutes.
Website classroom resources available for teachers at release.
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Cokedale, Colorado: A Model Company Town In
1907 the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) built
a company town in Reilly Canyon, about 12 miles west of Trinidad,
Colorado. Anxious to mine the coal in the local canyons, ASARCO's
new town of Cokedale attracted hundreds of families to move into
the southern Colorado area to make a new life for themselves.
Many of the new comers arrived from eastern or southern Europe
with few possessions but were determined to make themselves a
new life. Most immigrants were convinced that hard work and a
thrifty outlook would insure that the American Dream was theirs
for the taking. This film is the story of people--people who came
to Cokedale and lived out their lives in the misery and struggle
that proved to be the norm for miners and their families in the
early part of the twentieth century West. In 1947 the Cokedale
story came to a close as the nation turned to other fuels to supply
the growing industrial output of post-war America. Between 1907
and 1947, thousands of men, women, and children battled against
the realities of living in a company town. This is their story.
VHS 30 minutes. Website classroom resources available for teachers
at release. |
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Primero, Colorado: The Life and Death of a Company Town Colorado,
Fuel, & Iron Company (CF&I) began construction of Primero,
Colorado in 1901. Primero was positioned about 15 miles
west of Trinidad, Colorado at the site of the most promising coal
deposits in the region. While CF&I built other towns and opened
other mines, Primero quickly proved to be the wealth producer
company officials hoped for. During the first twenty years,
Primero set new production records as coal miners and their family
struggled to survive in the hostile environs of coal country.
In the 1920s coal production fell off markedly and in 1928 the
company closed the town and the mines down for good. For
a quarter century thousands of citizens lived and worked in Primero.
In 1913-14 miners struck against the company and suffered through
one of the most severe winters in Colorado history. In the
good years John D. Rockefeller, Jr. built a church, a clinic,
schools, band stands, and supported other community activities.
In the end the mines played out and the people moved on.
Today the north wind blows down through the canyons and frequent
rain and snow storms have their way on the foundations that remain.
The ruins are silent now. The people are gone. An
important look at labor history and the human drama that played
out in the canyons of southern Colorado in the first quarter century
of America's modern era. Economic and social history.
VHS 30 minutes. Website resources available for teachers
at release. |
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In 1915 Lieutenant
George S. Patton, Jr. arrived in El Paso, Texas to begin his service
at Ft. Bliss and along the border with Mexico. Soon Patton was
riding patrol from outposts near Sierra Blanca, enforcing American
boundaries, and protecting Texas farmers and ranchers in the isolated
region to the east of El Paso. At Sierra Blanca Patton came face
to face with the Old West and gunfighters such as Dave Allison
and local desperados who preyed on their victims in the harsh
desert country of West Texas. |
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