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Oral History Interview with Stuart Mace, 1991 November 8, 2006

 Item
Identifier: AHS-C79A

Abstract

Stuart Mace describes his family background and education, his love of nature and artistic influences growing up. He describes his many transfers in the army after being drafted in 1941 until he was joined with the 10th Mountain Division. After the war, he describes moving to Aspen and Ashcroft, starting the guest lodge and material used for it. He gives a history of the area and the people who lived there , the difficulties in educating his children... from a remote area, movies made using his sled dogs, and his past and future views on the Castle Creek Valley.

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Dates

  • 1991 November 8
  • Digitization: 2006

Creator

Digital Repository

Oral History Interview with Stuart Mace

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Any attempt to circumvent the access controls placed on this file is a violation of United States and international copyrights laws and is subject to criminal prosecution.Copyrights to this resource is held by the Aspen Historical Society and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be downloaded, reproduced, or distributed in any format without written permission of the Aspen Historical...
Society.

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Biographical / Historical

He was born March 31, 1919 in Denver, Colo. His father died when Stuart was 4 1/2 years old. He was an only child. During the depression era and he was shuffled around a lot. He first went to live at his English grandmother's home and then at his German grandmother's home. His mother later remarried a German man, Michael Schmidt, who was a skilled mechanic. They moved to Estes Park when he was in high school. They then moved to Littleton where... his step-father worked for the Colman Truck Factory. Stuart went to Grinell College to study botany, married Isabel Mace and then was drafted in WWII in 1941. They moved to Aspen in 1948, starting their famous dog sled operation in Ashcroft. They raised their five children Lynn, Alan, Kent, Bruce and Greg at Toklat where he also ran it as a guest lodge, restaurant, and an art and furniture gallery. He was an avid photographer and sold his work at the gallery. Then in 1974 he sold his dogs and started the Malachite Family Farm on the eastern slope of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado. The farm became a teaching school in 1983 for self-sufficient farming. Stuart passed away in his Toklat home August 4, 1993 due to complications from cancer.

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Extent

From the Collection: 0 Linear Feet

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