Many residents of western Colorado recognize the Grand Mesa as one of the dominant landmarks in the Grand Valley.  It rises to over 10,000 feet in elevation and contributes to the overall beauty of our region. The Grand Mesa National Forest was established on March, 11 1924 but it didn’t always go by that name. In […]

The Man in the High Castle is one of Philip K. Dick’s  most well-known books. In 1963 it won the Hugo Award for Best Novel. The book is an alternate history in which World War II lasted until 1947 and the United States is ruled by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in present day 1962. […]

The Archaic time period ranged from 6,500 BC to 200 AD and Western Colorado was home to humans during this era. These people lived after the Paleo-Indians but much earlier than the Utes, who were in Colorado as early as 1500 AD. Much is not known about the Archaic cultures when compared to the Ute. […]

Daily Sentinel issues from 1897 and 1898 are now available digitally on the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. This collection contains over 200 newspapers published between 1859 and 1923. Over 690,000 pages are available to search and browse, making it a great resource for history enthusiasts and researchers. Check out the Sentinel articles here. Other Mesa […]

The name Garmesa sounds made up but it is derived from the border of Garfield and Mesa County.  Garmesa was a corporate ranching community that operated from 1911 to 1920. For it’s time it was state of the art with funding from the Quaker Oats Corporation. In order for the ranch to succeed it needed […]

With a Mesa County Libraries card you can now check out a backpack with binoculars, educational materials, and a pass to any of the 42 state parks in Colorado! Our library is participating in the brand new Check Out Colorado program. The backpacks can be checked out at the Central Library for 7 days. It is a […]

Quite a few residents of Western Colorado know about the ghost town called Carpenter. Some people might have actually visited the site of the old mining community. What is not as well-known is that Carpenter was officially named Poland Springs from 1892 to 1897. It was frequently misspelled Polen or Pollen Springs by locals and […]

In 1776 the Dominguez-Escalante expedition traveled through the Canyon Pintado region just south of Rangely, Colorado. The goal of the expedition was to find an easy route to California. However, the individuals on that expedition were far from being the first human inhabitants of the area. The Fremont Culture and later the Ute people had […]

On Sunday, September 20, 1925 the residents of Grand Junction must have been excited about the upcoming week. Monday would mark the beginning of classes at the first college in Grand Junction and the newest institution of higher learning in Colorado. Grand Junction State Junior College opened it doors to students at 8:00 AM on […]