Early Mesa County settler Zelma (Jones) Parkes collected over 200 kinds of barbed wire, could “witch for water,” and knew De Beque, Colorado like the back of her hand. After her marriage to Elwood Parkes, they moved to a ranch on Clear Creek in 1939 and proceeded to dwell in De Beque for thirty one […]

In these days of quarantine and online schooling, parents of antsy, hyperactive kids everywhere are wondering how to provide discipline that works (my own kids have interrupted me several times as I write this blog post. Fun!). Discipline has always been a concern of classroom teachers, but interviews from teachers and former students in Western […]

Researching accurate historical information is one of the most fun and fascinating elements of writing the Local History Thursday blogs.  A wonderful free resource I use often that’s especially helpful if you’re stuck at home is the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.  This online resource offered by Mesa County Libraries features articles written all the way […]

Working at libraries, particularly those with vibrant historical collections, you meet all kinds of artifact hunters. Occasionally, they let drop a hint or two about how they go about their business. While I cannot vouch for the man in Denver who claimed to be following plans for the recovery of buried treasure (supposedly passed from […]

It appears that in every nook and cranny of Mesa County there exists an amazing hiking trail and better yet, an amazing hiking trail loaded with fascinating history.* Riggs Hill in the Redlands area of Grand Junction is one such trail.  As described on the detailed sign posted at the beginning of the hike, the […]

If you came down with a highly infectious disease in the late Nineteenth or early Twentieth century, you were likely to end up quarantined in Mesa County’s Pest House. The Pest House resided in the old Mesa County Hospital building, located just over the Colorado River from Grand Junction on the rise up to the […]

In the dusty heart of the desert near Grand Junction and the Colorado-Utah border lies a little town called Cisco, Utah (last I heard, population: 1).  Current Cisco dwellers are no strangers to isolation, but that hasn’t always been the case. According to long-time rancher William “Bill” Cunningham, one of the earliest settlers of the […]

Within the first few months of moving to Grand Junction, I went out for a cloudy day drive on Highway 141 up to Gateway, Colorado. This day trip had been recommended to me by many locals for its incredible beauty, and those recommendations were 100% accurate.  With sweeping canyon views, verdant sagebrush fields and plentiful […]

If you have ever taken the Durango Silverton or stopped in Silverton for a rest during a nail biting and beautiful drive on Highway 50, you may have come across the Grand Imperial Hotel, an old and intriguing building that thrives with tourist traffic. Is the Grand Imperial Hotel haunted? It might be, according to […]