Place Names from the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition

In 1776 Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante set out on an expedition to find a route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to the coast of northern California. Dominguez and Escalante were Franciscan priests who were traveling along with 9 other companions. Part of their expedition took them from northward from New Mexico through […]

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Local History Thursday: Renaissance Man Al Look

What didn’t Al Look do? In his life, the longtime Grand Junction resident homesteaded near Dove Creek, Colorado, worked as an advertising manager for Durango and Grand Junction newspapers, wrote a popular column for The Daily Sentinel, became a knowledgeable amateur archaeologist, geologist and paleontologist who was involved with important dinosaur and Paleo-Indian digs in […]

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Mesa County Oral History Project interviews are now available for listening online

More than 60 audio interviews with historical figures of Mesa County are now available online for easy public access as part of the new Mesa County Oral History Project digital archive. The Mesa County Oral History Project is a joint effort of Mesa County Libraries and Museums of Western Colorado. The 60-plus interviews available now […]

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Ceratosaurus drawing Brooke Safken

Dino Dreamin’

If you’re a girl like me, you grew up playing with dinosaurs. When your sister tried to force you to play with her little Suzy dolls instead of dinosaurs, you made your T-Rex figurine bite Suzy’s arm off within a matter of minutes.  My fascination for paleontology and dinosaurs began early and took off like […]

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Grand Junction’s History in “Firsts”

Every town has its firsts: the first baby born, the first death, the first editorial shaming of a woman for riding her horse through town in inappropriate dress (see news clipping). The firsts of many towns and cities are mired in the haze of pre-history, when no one thought to make a note about the […]

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