Since long before I was a young whippersnapper, there have been some interesting slang expressions thrown around the Grand Valley region. The Mesa County Oral History Project is full of interviews with original settlers to this area. Indulge in a listen, and you may pick up on some ways of speech that inspire confusion, […]
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The Mesa County Oral History Project recently digitized interviews with Lebrado “Lee” Serna and Anna (Garcia) Gallegos, descendants of the long-standing Hispanic community that still exists today along the Colorado-New Mexico border. Spanish-speaking peoples first came north to Northern New Mexico in the late 1500’s and up into Southern Colorado not long after. There, in […]
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In Grand Junction, Colorado, we have a street named Chipeta Avenue. As a kid, I had no idea what that signified or who Chipeta was, nor was I taught in school. Yet there was a time when Chipeta was famous in Colorado. She played an important role in the history of the Ute people and […]
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November gets a lot of recognition for Thanksgiving, but a different reason to celebrate this time of year is National Native American Heritage Month. Mesa County and its surrounding areas were once home to multiple Native American cultures; one of the earlier cultures was a group of Native people known as the Fremont. The Fremont were […]
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The recently removed Ute Indians loomed large in the imagination of Grand Junction’s early settlers. The Utes allowed the U.S. Army to remove them peaceably to the Uintah Reservation in Utah in 1881, and in historical retrospect, it seems there was no real risk that they might threaten the town. Some Utes stayed behind and […]
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Do you like things that go “bump” in the night? As a kid, did you read so many ghost stories before bed that you had to sleep with a nightlight on until you were 14? Did you ever ask for EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) equipment for Christmas, then scoff when your mom got you a […]
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Residents of the American West are no strangers to the idea of flash floods, but having one actually crash down on you while you’re camped in a canyon is different altogether. On August 28, 1939, cowhand Merle Winters was camped in the Utah Bookcliffs in a canyon of Diamond Creek. Winters was working for the […]
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According to an article written by Katie Nodjimbadem for Smithsonian.com, “Few images embody the spirit of the American West as well as the trailblazing, sharpshooting, horseback-riding cowboy of American lore. And though African-American cowboys don’t play a part in the popular narrative, historians estimate that one in four cowboys were black.” One such man was Charlie […]
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In addition to being a mayor of Grand Junction, Monroe (M.L.) Allison was an influential and connected person, at the very least he was well regarded by the town founder, George Crawford. Along with C.B. Rich, he was named an executor and trustee of Crawford’s will and estate. The Delta County Independent issue from February […]
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Tucked back behind the prominent sandstone face of Mt. Garfield and the sprawling Book Cliffs of Mesa County, there lies a place of desolate solitude called the Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Range. Although it is certainly lacking in human dwellers, the dry and dusty landscape is home to a band of wild horses who […]
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