People

: Dudley Willits Mitchell; Born in Basalt, Colorado, he attended school in Leadville and Cardiff (a division point on the Colorado Midland Railroad) as a young boy. His parents divorced when he was still at home, and he was on his own to a large degree from the age of 14. Dudley went to high school in Grand Junction, but failed to graduate. He knew Dalton Trumbo well as a fellow student. After Trumbo moved away, they corresponded over the years. While in school, he unloaded sugar beets for the Holly Sugar Company and unloaded coal for the Book Cliff Railroad Company for a wage of ten cents a ton. He also worked at Stanley Miller’s Candy Factory, where he was the self-described "ribbon candy expert", and played the piano and did other jobs at the Lyceum Theater. He started working for the D&RG Railroad in 1921 and worked there for fifty years. His positions for the railroad included: call boy, seal clerk, car carder, and car distributor. He retired as the Chief Clerk (who was responsible for assignments and maintenance of the trainman's board, as well as the switchman's board). He was a prominent railroad union member. Mitchell also was involved heavily in Democratic Party politics on the Western Slope. He headed up campaign committees for Democratic candidates for the Fourth Congressional District, advertised on behalf of politicians such as Wayne Aspinall, and lobbied railroad union members.