Sometime in the 1910’s, Indian Henry, a Ute raised by white settlers in the Paradox Valley, was shot and killed by his friend, the Finish immigrant and miner John Keski. The shooting took place in a boarding house in Bull Canyon that was owned by W.L. Cummings and run by Laura Foster (who had been […]
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Local History Thursday: Historical Books by Local Authors
The population in Mesa County has grown almost 50% since 2000, and here at the library we see more new patrons come through the doors every day. Each geographical area in Mesa County has a unique, plentiful history all of its own. If you or someone you know would like to further your knowledge of how […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: How U.S. Veteran Patrick Metoyer Became An Activist For Mental Health
Since moving to Grand Junction in 1985, Patrick Metoyer has contributed greatly to the civic life of our Happy Valley hamlet. Like prior Mesa County Oral History Project interviewees Al Look and, more recently, Evelyn Kyle, Metoyer is a jack-of-all-trades, a renaissance man whose accomplishments include creations and awards in several areas of the arts, […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: Early Glade Park Settler Kenneth Thompson
He crawled in an occupied bear den for fun, cared for thousands of sheep, and helped build Rim Rock Drive on the Colorado National Monument. This week’s early Mesa County settler spotlight is on Kenneth Thompson! Kenneth saw a great deal during his days of early Mesa County living, all spoken upon during his 1977 […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: Bucky the Neutered, Tame Deer
Wolves have not been seen in Western Colorado since ranchers and government hunters finished killing them off in the 1920’s, so the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s recent announcement that a pack of wolves may be living in Moffat County is exciting news […]
Continue readingOld West topics to highlight history presentations
History enthusiasts can get their fill of Old West tales during January and February at Mesa County Libraries. Topics such as bank robberies, train heists, ghost towns, and frontier economics will be the subject of several public presentations at library locations in Grand Junction and Fruita. All presentations are open to the public at no […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: The Grand Mesa Ski Club
It’s been snowing in Mesa County, and I know a certain bunch of locals who associate snow with one thought – POWDERHORN! With the abundance of fresh snow the Grand Mesa has received in the last few weeks, it feels appropriate to share a bit of the area’s winter-themed history. A prior Local History Thursday […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: Fruita Town-Founder and Poet William E. Pabor
Mesa County locals may know William E. Pabor as the person who founded the Fruita Town and Land Company and thus, the town of Fruita in 1884. But did you know that Pabor also began writing poetry at a young age, and became a nationally-known poet before embarking on a lifelong journey of town building, […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: The Plateau Voice
In the early days of Mesa County’s Plateau Valley, specifically the town of Collbran, Colorado, there existed a newspaper called the Plateau Valley Stockman. The newspaper began in 1901, changed its name to the Plateau Voice in January 1905 until 1929, and lastly went under new ownership and became the Plateau Valley Voice until October […]
Continue readingLocal History Thursday: The Story Of Lee, An Alcoholic
The Mesa County Oral History Project contains some unexpected recordings, such as a meeting of the Last Squad Club (a group of World War I veterans), the True Epics of Western Colorado radio plays that aired on KREX in the late 1950’s (and announced in part by Solon Gray, who later became a TV reporter […]
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