The Lunch Box Journals

Our journey south from Craig continues to flow up and down the foothills west of the Rocky Mountains until we reach the White River at the town of Meeker. Near here the White River Agency had been established by the US government in 1879 to provide the Utes with food and supplies with the goal of forcing the tribes to abandon their long-established horse culture and become farmers. The policy was disastrous as the government and Nathan Meeker, the local agent, were unable or unwilling to provide sufficient supplies and in September, 1879, the Utes rebelled and killed Meeker and eleven of his employees. The resulting conflict resulted in the Utes being forcibly removed from the area which was then opened to white settlement. The small town of Meeker was founded in 1883 on the north bank of the White River west of the old agency site. Then, as now, the town was the jumping-off place for all kinds of outdoor activity and the region became known for hunting. President Theodore Roosevelt visited the town in 1901 and 1905 in pursuit of bear and mountain lion.

Today Meeker is a small town of around 2,000 people and continues to be the starting point for those interested in exploring the surrounding Rio Blanco County which consists of 75% public lands. The historic town center is a block north of the highway and focuses on the square containing the Rio Blanco Courthouse, built in 1935.

South and west of the courthouse the surrounding street is lined with historic commercial buildings, most built in the late 1890’s.

Directly across from the courthouse is the 1896 Meeker Hotel.

The lobby reflects the rustic heritage of the area.

East of the courthouse is the 1890 St. James Episcopal Church, the first church in Meeker.

North of the courthouse is a residential area with homes from around the early 1900’s.

Heading south from Meeker we again plunge through the rugged foothills of the Rockies. The land is lush and green due to recent rains.

A glance to the east shows that the Rockies brooding in the smoky haze. Smoke from the forest fires further west has settled across the area.

Our path hits the Upper Colorado River and Interstate 70 at Rifle before turning west down the Colorado River which traverses wide valleys and narrow canyons on its way through the Western Slope towards the city of Grand Junction.

We emerge into a broad valley area with dry bluffs on the north and green orchards to the south.

The valley, approximately 30 miles long and 5 miles wide, is bounded by the Book Cliffs on the north, the Grand Mesa to the southeast, and the Uncompahgre Plateau to the southwest. The river running west through the valley was originally named the Grand River but in 1921 it was renamed as the Upper Colorado River. The valley continues to be known as the Grand Valley. The Gunnison River, the first major tributary of the Colorado, comes into the valley from the southeast and joins the Colorado near the town of Grand Junction. The valley is a major fruit-growing region and is the most densely populated area on the Western Slope.

Many of the orchards have given way to suburban development but memories of earlier times are preserved at the Cross Orchards, a branch of the Museums of the West in Grand Junction. In 1883 George Pabor arrived in the valley and planted apples, pears, cherries, apricots, plums, grapes and peaches. All thrive in the temperate climate when given enough water. Over the years an extensive irrigation system formed in the valley and it became a major fruit producing region. Isabel Cross purchased land in the Grand Valley in the early 1890’s and established the Red Cross Land and Fruit Company in 1899. The company managed over 22,000 apple trees on 243 acres of orchards until 1923. Today the Museum of Western Colorado holds 4.5 acres of the original site, operated as a living history museum. During the season guides demonstrate how life on the orchard was in the early 1900’s. I am here after the season has ended and so pretty much have the place to myself. The large parking lot at the entrance showcases transportation from the time.

A large building houses antiques vehicles as well as a wide assortment of historical items.

Household items includes a 1908 Thor washing machine

The prize structure on the site is the original 1890 packing shed.

There was no refrigeration in the early days of the orchards in the valley and so farmers stored their crops underground until ready for shipping. A 1,600 square feet cement cellar lies under the packing shed, accessed by a ramp on the south side.

In addition to the large room used for packing the fruit the shed also housed a wood shop and horse stables,

A cluster of smaller buildings surround the packing shed.

An antique apple press stands in splendid isolation.

A house used as a bunkhouse for workers sits in the middle of a lush garden surrounded by a remnant of the original apple orchard.

Today, of course, the Cross Orchards are surrounded by housing developments of the city of Grand Junction.

Grand Junction

The town founded in 1881 on the north side of the Colorado (at that time called the Grand River) was named Grand Junction in honor of the merging of the Gunnison and Grand Rivers. Irrigation brought the surrounding arid land into bloom and the arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad in 1882 connecting Grand Junction to the east allowed the productive orchards to send their fruit to eastern markets. By 1890 nearly 2,000 people called Grand Junction home. Today Grand Junction is acknowledged as the “capital” of the Western Slope and around 160,000 people live in the city and surrounding valley. Highway 6 passed north of the town center when it came to the area in 1926 and Interstate 70 lies even farther north of the city proper on its way west to Utah. Downtown Grand Junction continues to be focused on the historic stretch of Main Street between 3rd and 9th Streets. A vibrant revitalization plan changed Main Street from an automobile focused street to a pedestrian-auto partnership, combining a curving street to slow traffic with verdant medians studded with artwork and shade trees. Let’s walk west down Main Street Grand Junction.

The 1913 Enterprise-Electric Building anchors the corner at 3^rd and Main. One of the first all-steel framed buildings in western Colorado, the third floor was added in 1918. It housed the Ideal Engine which provided electricity to the town’s trolley system and was restored in 2004 to its 1918 appearance.

The view east up Main Street reveals a healthy downtown draped in green and adorned with sculpture.

Early roads in the valley paralleled the Colorado River, a number of blocks south of Main Street. When the railroads came they followed the same path. The St. Regis Hotel started life in 1895 as an early stagecoach stop named the Grand Hotel. Extensive remodeling and expansion occurred in 1904 and the hotel christened the St. Regis. As train travel gave way to automobile travel the St. Regis suffered and today houses a restaurant on the first floor with offices and apartments above.

Next door to the St. Regis is the home of the Elks Club Lodge #575, built in 1925.

Southwest of the Elks Club the railroad tracks define the southern edge of the town center. There have been three passenger train depots in the history of Grand Junction and amazingly, all three (all called Union Station) are still standing next to each other along the train tracks! The first, built in 1883, is a Queen Anne style building now housing offices.

In the middle is the second, now abandoned and empty, built in 1906 at the height of the glory of passenger trains.

Finally the third, constructed in the 1970’s, was primarily built to be a restaurant. The current Amtrak office is in the right third of the building.

Amtrak provides passenger train service once a day in Grand Junction and by coincidence, the train was getting ready to leave just as I visited. The train stretched all the way from the 1883 depot to the 1970’s depot and passengers were taking a break for some fresh air.

While downtown Grand Junction was certainly an interesting stop on our trip, it was not the primary reason for coming to Grand Junction. Not only does Grand Junction sit along the Colorado River in the center of the Grand Valley but also at the foot of the Colorado Monument, a thirty mile stretch of sheer walls and canyons that is one of the stunning landscapes of the West. The morning sun illuminates the walls of the Monument as seen from our rv park in Grand Junction.

Our view to the north from the same area is of the Book Cliffs.

The view south from the rv park is misleading, the Colorado Monument looks like a wall of cliffs to the south but the reality is that the rim is pierced by a number of “hanging canyons”, so-named because the rock of the upper layer is much harder to erode than the softer soil nearer the valley floor so the canyons “step” down to the actual river bottom. The area along the rim was established as a national monument in 1911 and remained mostly inaccessible until 1921 when the Serpents Trail was built from Grand Junction to Glade Park, a small community up on the plateau south of the monument. The road was extremely dangerous to drive, containing 52 switchbacks in only 7.5 miles from the valley floor to the top. As I have appreciated throughout the west in other national parks and monuments, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program of the 1930’s New Deal contributed to the final construction of the Rim Rock Drive, a road which climbs up the monument from Grand Junction, winds across the monument for 23 miles and then descends back to the valley floor at Fruita. The CCC and other programs designed to provide employment during the Great Depression completed the road in 1937. In many ways the road is just as impressive as the terrain it traverses, being built through solid rock through much of its length. Men drilled, blasted, and hammered rock that then had to be removed by hand or horse-drawn cart. Monument Drive leads us directly from downtown Grand Junction towards the monument. Upscale housing perches above the cliffs on our way to the monument entrance.

A series of very narrow switchbacks climb up the side of a narrow canyon once inside the monument entrance giving great views of the eroded landscape and an appreciation for the work of the original construction of the road.

As we cllimb up the canyon occasionally a glimpse of the Grand Valley to the north is framed by canyon walls. The smoky haze that hangs over the valley obscures the mountains in the distance.

Once atop the rim wall views to the south show the rolling top of the plateau beyond the canyon rim.

Rim Rock Drive twists and turns as it follows the canyons that pierce the rim. There are two major canyon systems within the monument, Ute and Monument Canyons. Each has a number of branches at the upper ends before coming together into one canyon as they drop to the valley floor. Ute Canyon is a great example of a hanging canyon. Looking north up the canyon one can clearly see the edge of the upper canyon carved in the upper hard rock layer. Out of site beyond the “v” the canyon drops down to the Grand Valley floor.

Looking south up the main branch of Ute Canyon one can see layers or rock in the eroded upper canyon.

Further on a viewpoint gives a glimpse of one of the side canyons that feeds into Ute Canyon.

Monument Canyon is the larger of the two canyon systems and Artists Point looks out on one of its branches.

Monument Canyon contains a number of stunning rock formations. This is a view of the “Coke Ovens”, named because they resemble the shape of the ovens used to process coal into coke.

Numerous side canyons dart off of the main branch, here’s a view from both sides of these rock pillars. Note that in the distance one can see the Grand Valley. Also note how narrow the road is!

Every now and then tantalizing views of the Grand Valley appear.

John Otto arrived in the Grand Valley in 1906 and chose to live alone in the canyons that rose south of the Colorado River. He explored and named many of the features in the monument and was instrumental in the founding of the Colorado Monument. He was very patriotic and named a number of rock formations after American heroes and historic events. One of the most famous formations in the monument, Independence Monument, was first climbed on June 14, Flag Day in the US. In honor of the day he named the pillar Independence Monument. For the rest of his life he climbed the pillar every 4^th of July to raise the flag and it is now an annual tradition for Old Glory to be raised atop Independence Monument each July 4^th.

Near the western border of the monument the view looks down past some of the switchbacks that descend the monument to the valley floor beyond.

To get down the monument tunnels had to be carved into the rock.

Bighorn sheep frequent the monument and I managed to capture two in the same picture, a large ram on the left and a smaller sheep on the right.

A closer view of the ram.

Rim Rock Drive is actually only 23 miles long as it hugs the canyon rim but what lies beyond to the south? After traversing the drive east to west (which is when most of the previous pictures were taken) I turn around and drive the same road west to east because about halfway through the drive there is a 10 mile “triangular” detour that I can take south of the canyon rim that will give me a glimpse of what lies beyond. Driving back along Rim Rock Drive Monument gives a different view of Monument Canyon.