The Grand Valley has a reputation as a small, rural area, despite the fact that it’s actually quite urban and populous. As of 2020, Mesa County sports a growing population of 155,703 people, the vast majority of which live in the Grand Valley. With over 10 different communities, it’s the only true metropolitan area in […]
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Starting Your Genealogy or Local History Research
Do you have a burning local history topic that you’d like to investigate, or a family history mystery that you want to solve? Mesa County Libraries and other libraries have some great resources for the beginning researcher. Patrons often come in looking for an article about a family member or ancestor. If you have a […]
Continue readingNifty Names: Geography of the Grand Valley
Colorado is a state with a rich history, and one of the best ways to see that reflected is in the diversity of names found in its towns, streets, natural features, and landmarks. In this new series, we’ll take a look at some of the interesting names found around Colorado and nearby areas, and explore […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: Ute Removal and the End of the Colorado Frontier (Nathan Meeker, part 2)
Read part one, “Temperance and the Colorado Frontier.” Content Warning: This story describes racist attitudes towards Native Americans during the 19th Century and includes some graphic depictions of violence. Reader discretion is advised. As Nathan Meeker departed from Greeley to the Indian Agency on the White River, he reflected on his past experiences in self-sufficient […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: Temperance and the Colorado Frontier (Nathan Meeker, part 1)
Read part two, “Ute Removal and the End of the Colorado Frontier” When you think of the Old West, what comes to mind? For most people, it’s images of saloons, drunken cowboys, and whiskey flowing like water. It’s usually assumed that most pioneers had a strong appetite for alcohol, at least outside of Mormon country. […]
Continue readingLocal History Halloween Special: The Cursed Dread 107
On certain quiet evenings, late into the night, it is said that you can hear an eerie whistle noise on the old narrow-gauge railway tracks between Grand Junction and Gunnison. The track begins to rumble, the air turns a sickly color that fills you with dread as the whistle squeals louder and louder until it […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: Splitting the Atom, Project Rulison and Project Rio Blanco
When you take a core of enriched uranium-235 and start flinging neutrons at it, something very special happens. First, the neutron strikes the nucleus of a single atom of uranium-235, causing it to split into fragments. Then, these fragmented atoms release neutrons of their own, which strike the nucleus of neighboring atoms, causing a cascading […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: Peaches and Pioneers, an Early History of the Palisade Peach
It’s August, which can only mean one thing on the Western Slope; it is now peach season! If you’ve spent any time around the Grand Valley during late summer, you’ll know that we can get a bit crazy over our peaches. Everywhere you look, it’s peach cobbler, peach jam, peach wine, peach ice cream, or […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: Betty the Monkey’s Escape from Grand Junction’s Lincoln Park Zoo
Sometime in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s, a monkey named Betty escaped from the Lincoln Park Zoo. The Lincoln Park Zoo was a small zoo that was located in Grand Junction’s Lincoln Park in the early and mid-Twentieth century. According to William “Bill” Ela, who grew up to become a Mesa County District […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: Butch Cassidy’s Ride to Hell
It goes without saying, but Butch Cassidy was a real fascinating character. Despite being one of the Old West’s most notorious outlaws, he’s almost talked about as a sort of folk hero. Unlike many other outlaws and gangsters of American past, like Jesse James and Al Capone, Butch Cassidy is firmly established within an almost […]
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