Welcome to the Memory Oasis
A series of interviews were held in recent years with an exceptional
group of men and women who have early family ties to the Great
Sand Dunes area. As children, many of these people were raised
in sight of the dunes where they spent countless mornings in the
shadow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Others grew up on nearby
ranches and earned a living despite the exceedingly harsh climate.
A few worked for the National Park Service during the middle part
of the 20th century. The wealth of their knowledge speaks of the
joys and struggles experienced by the entire family of Mankind.
Sample the richness of their stories here* by selecting the links
at top-right. Each story is unique, yet together they echo with
an uncanny similarity those stories, told and untold, by people
everywhere.
What are your stories? What do they teach you and others? Students
may also contribute interviews to this web site. See Classroom
Activities for more details.
Eventually, all things merge into one, and
a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great
flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some
of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the
words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.
Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It
