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As a world-wise newspaper man, certainly Daily Sentinel publisher and owner Walter Walker could not have been ignorant of the Ku Klux Klan’s campaign against immigrants, Catholics, African-Americans, alcohol consumption, “impure morals,” Jews, and just about anything else the Klan insisted was tearing at the fabric of white, Protestant America. Yet, according to several […]
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Back in early 1900s Grand Junction, the scene on Main Street was exactly what you may expect for a town in the Wild West. Gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging weren’t uncommon, and a popular fellow named J.W. “Big Kid” Eames decided to join in on the action. J. Walter Eames moved to Grand Junction from […]
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St. Mary’s Hospital and Community Hospital have both been valuable parts of our community for many years, beginning in 1896 and 1946 respectively. But did you know that Mesa County had a hospital that existed earlier than 1896? The Grand Junction News August 25, 1883 edition mentions that the Mesa County Commissioners were looking for […]
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Michelle Boisvenue-Fox, a library administrator with a two-decade record of driving innovation and creativity in library settings, has been selected as the new director of Mesa County Libraries. The Mesa County Libraries Board of Trustees made the announcement today. Boisvenue-Fox currently serves as director of programming, outreach, and collection services for the Kent District Library […]
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Walter Bigelow Cross seems to have been a man of mystery to the people of Mesa County, Colorado, a well-off person who kept largely to himself and shared few details about his life. They were well aware that he owned Cross Orchards, one of the largest fruit growing operations in Colorado in the early Twentieth […]
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One evening while eating at a steakhouse with my grandfather, I noticed him gasp at the price of sirloin and mutter, “Why, in my day, you could buy a whole cow for $5.” I used to just think he was just being dramatic, but his comical and curmudgeonly attitude wasn’t farfetched: prices have raised significantly […]
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About 100 years ago, a winged monster frequently roamed the Grand Valley region. The flying terror seemed to sniff out farmers who were living happily off the land, growing apple and pear orchards. It would swoop in and wipe out once-flourishing crops in what felt like no time. The apples and pears were feasted upon […]
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Carl Howelsen came to Steamboat Springs from Norway in 1913 and spread his love of skiing and ski jumping. The town memorialized his important contribution to local skiing by naming their municipal ski area after him. Howelsen may have pioneered skiing in the Steamboat Springs area, but who actually built the first ski runs there? […]
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“When my father reached this country, this little valley, to him it was the ideal place, the land of his dreams and he always said, and I quote: ‘This valley is a little bit of Heaven on Earth.” – Lucille Mahannah In 1895, Lucille (Hunter) Mahannah was born in the southeast corner of an adobe […]
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Elvin Urquhart was a code breaker who helped the United States Navy break the Japanese Navy General Operational Code, or JN25, during World War II. Captain Joseph Rochefort handpicked Urquhart to be part of Station Hypo, a code breaking unit of the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence based in Pearl Harbor. In an interview with […]
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