Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Grand Junction
Grand Junction
Grand Junction
Ebook204 pages1 hour

Grand Junction

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

The Ute Indians were hardly out of western Colorado when their land was opened to Anglo settlers. It was on September 26, 1881, when George A. Crawford, William McGinley, R. D. Mobley, M. R. Warner, and others went to the junction of the Gunnison and Grand (later renamed the Colorado) Rivers to claim 640 acres. In the semiarid confluence of the two rivers, a city developed, fruit orchards were planted, and a college grew out of the seeds of a single-room school with a dirt floor. Several newspapers opened, providing news and information to a business community that included coal mining, railroads, dry goods, and even a toffee factory whose products have graced the tables of royalty. How Grand Junction was able to develop into a progressive community of entrepreneurs, educators, and community-minded citizens is a story best told in a small sampling of pictures. None of the founders are still here, but their legacy, stories, and pictures have survived to speak for them.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 3, 2010
ISBN9781439625057
Grand Junction
Author

Alan Kania

Author Alan J. Kania has written extensively about Colorado history, including books John Otto: Trials and Trails and Arcadia�s Colorado National Monument. The images in Grand Junction have been culled from the rich archives of the Museum of Western Colorado, Mesa State College, and the people who have preserved the legacy of the founders of Grand Junction.

Related to Grand Junction

Related ebooks

Travel For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for Grand Junction

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Grand Junction - Alan Kania

    folks.

    One

    COWBOYS AND INDIANS

    The following text was found in Prof. Richard E. Tope’s Objective History: Grand Junction, Colorado. Western Colorado was occupied by the Ute Indians, who were divided into bands that roamed over the vast mountainous territory:

    At the time of settlement, authorities estimated there were no more than four thousands of these Indians, and the government was arranging to remove them to an established agency smaller in area. The Utes lived off the regions and had no vision of any further development than just to live. They were not tradesmen in any sense, nor were they interested in the least in agriculture. They had no fixed habitation, just roamed the forest areas, lived on fish and game, dressed to some extent in the furs of the animals they killed for food. They had one skill: that of making a good bow, thong and arrows, and chipping a very fine flint as an arrow tip. Many chipping spots are known. They knew how to prepare the skins of animals for clothing and for their shelters.

    The Utes were never interested in the Grand Valley or the site of Grand Junction . . . They had no vision or constructive imagination. The great rivers that joined here meant nothing to them. Crossing places were few and far between, a hindrance to their migrations. They never dreamed of transportation or highways or railroads. They did not care for horses; any possibility of the use of the soil for producing food never entered their minds. Their stage of civilization had reached its full height and they were stabilized in their own kind of culture and economy.

    When they moved about over the area that they claimed as their own, they skirted around the high elevations within the edge of the timber where there was coverage and shade, where there was fresh water from the springs and mountain streams, where the fishing was good, where good wild game could be caught and where they could rest to their heart’s content. So the only thing the Indians ever did for Grand Junction was to look upon the site with a vacant meaningless

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1