Museums of Western Colorado. How did people make cookies using a wood stove? Curator Matt Darling shows us the wood stove at Cross Orchards. Then, volunteer, Sandi Pittenger makes her delicious applesauce cookies using applesauce made from Cross Orchards apples! You don't need a wood stove to make these cookies! Applesauce Cookies
1c shortening
4c flour
2c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2c applesauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1c raisins
2 c chopped walnuts
Cream the shortening, sugar and eggs. Then add the remaining ingredients. Drop on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 11 minutes

Museums of Western Colorado. Warning Content Note: George Washington's Recipe included alcohol. Teacher may want to preview the recipe using the video but not share with younger students. This recipe is non-alcoholic. Eggnog has a long history in the United States. Join Erin Schmitz, Assistant Director/Curator of Collections and Archives for the Museums of Western Colorado and Cross Orchards, as she discusses George Washington's recipe and makes her own! Erin's Eggnog Recipe
12 egg yolks
16oz heavy cream
4 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
Cinnamon to taste
Nutmeg to taste
Combine egg yolks and sugar and beat to combine. Bring milk, cream, nutmeg, and cinnamon sticks to barely a simmer. Ladle hot milk mixture in to eggs and sugar slowly to temper the mixture. After about half the milk mixture is added, transfer back into the rest of the milk mixture and cook on low until slightly thickened. Remove and chill. The mixture will thicken more as it cools.

Cross Orchards is a part of the Museums of Western Colorado. Curator of Cross Orchards Matt Darling, tells us a bit of the history behind what was once the largest fruit and land company in the valley. He takes us from the 1890s when Walter and Elizabeth Cross began their venture all the way to what Cross Orchards is today. The Red Cross Land and Fruit Company was established in 1899 and operated a massive orchard on the site until 1923. Today it is a living farm museum open to field trips, local events and historical demonstrations. Field trips are welcome.

Museum to the West is a part of the Museums of Western Colorado. Curator Dave Bailey takes you back in history to the time of the Little Bookcliff Railway. A narrow gauge railway operating in the Grand Valley from 1889-1925.

Documentary from the early 1980s close to when The Museums of Western Colorado purchased the Cross Orchard site and turned it into a living museum. The documentary shows early community involvement in activities at the museum including historical recreations of early pioneer life in the Grand Valley. The documentary itself is an artifact or primary source of the early 1980s in Grand Junction.

Cross Orchards is a part of the Museums of Western Colorado. Cross Orchards Curator Matt Darling tells us the history of the Uintah Railway. The Uintah railway ran from Mack, Colorado over the Bookcliffs to Dragon, Utah. It was the steepest most crooked railroad built in all of North America. It was a narrow gauge railroad with rails only 3 feet apart. A standard gauge railway has rails 4ft 8 inches apart. It hauled a mineral called Gilsonite. Gilsonite is a solid hydrocarbon used for making asphalt and paint.

Cross Orchards is a part of the Museums of Western Colorado. Our volunteer Kathy explains the origins of Victory Gardens and the place they can have for us today! A Victory Garden was a small food garden planted for defense and survival at private residences or public parks during WWI to help ensure people had enough to eat during the war.