Overview

Aside from the dinosaur, archaeological, recreational, and geological intrinsic values, the region yields evidence 10,000 years of human habitation that included Ancient Desert Culture, Fremont, more recent Native Americans, western settlers, miners and present inhabitants. The historical and present day significance of ranching, farming, energy extraction, the railroad and living in the early development of the towns and communities within the regions that is encompassed by now part of the Dinosaur Diamond provide a unique and interesting cultural perspective that truly exemplifies the recognition of a scenic byway as "Roads to the heart and soul of America".

Museums of Historic Resources

• Western Heritage Museum,Vernal, Utah - Offers a glimpse into the storied past of the Uintah Basin. The artifacts on display combine to transport visitors back to the days when pioneers, Native Americans, miners, soldiers, lawmen, and outlaws shaped the history of the area. Featuring displays of Early Settlers, Fremont and Ute Indian artifacts, blacksmith display, barbershop, country store, 180's/1900's ladies fashions, one room schoolroom, Gilsonite exhibit, old rifles, saddles, tack and leather, and much more. Other exhibits feature photos of every Uintah Sheriff from 1880 to the present and a gallery devoted female firsts in the basin - "Women of Courage" during the early 1880's/1900's. Outdoor museum of Horse-Drawn equipment.
• Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum,Vernal, Utah - This museum is housed in the first tithing office in Vernal, a rock building erected in 1887 by the Uintah Stake of the LDS Church. Located across the street from the Vernal LDS Temple, the museum showcases artifacts, pictures and history of the area from the mid-1800s.
• John Jarvie Ranch Historic Site, Vernal Area, Utah - provides a glimpse of turn-of-the-century frontier life. Of the many sites along the Green River which Mr. Jarvie could have settled, he chose this particular one because of the naturally occurring river crossing. For years it had been used by Indians, fur trappers, travelers, and local residents. Jarvie figured it would be an excellent spot to establish a business. At its height, the Jarvie ranch operation included a store, post office, river ferry and cemetery.
• Swett Ranch National Historic Site, Flaming Gorge area, Utah
• Western Mining and Railroad Museum, Helper, Utah - offers visitors a chance to see the many forces that have built Castle Country. The museum, housed in a hotel that was built in 1914, offers a glimpse at the joys, sorrows and trials of building a mining and railroad community. Chronicling the late 1870s to 1950, the museum offers exhibits and a large archive of photos and histories.
• Emery County Pioneer Museum, Castle Dale, Utah - Is a treasure for history buffs and antique lovers. It is filled with rooms depicting pioneer life. Don't be mistaken, these aren't scenes from glamorous western movies. Located in Castle Dale, the heart of Castle County, the museum shows a pioneer school room, farm equipment, a kitchen setting, country store and much more. One of the most interesting rooms in the museum is the "Red Room." It contains a beautiful organ and furniture the Johnson family purchased from the Utah State capitol when it was refinished. There is a fine arts exhibit of remarkable pioneer needlework. Rougher cowboys called these parts home too. The museum has created a special exhibit on local outlaws. One of the most famous outlaws, Butch Cassidy, is highlighted.
• Dan O'Laurie Museum of Moab - This regional museum tells the story of Moab and Grand County's past, from prehistoric and Ute Indian artifacts to the explorations of Spanish missionaries.  Photos and artifacts show pioneer Moab life, much of which centered around ranching or mining.  The museum also features an extensive rock and mineral display and massive bones from dinosaurs.  Adults and children alike will love the museum's "hands on" policy with many of the displays.
• John Wesley Powell River Museum, Green River, Utah
• Frontier Museum-Monticello, Utah
• Rangely Museum, Rangely Colorado

Cattle, Sheep & Ranching

South Eastern Utah and Western Colorado have been and continue to be the home to many ranches and cattle. As a result almost every community within the Dinosaur Diamond has roots going back to cattle, Sheep or Ranching.

In celebration of this Western culture, Museums are filled with memorabilia of times gone by and rodeos are held periodically throughout the area. Vernal's Dinosaur Roundup Rodeo is one of the largest rodeos in the world. In Price, the Black Diamond Stampede Rodeo is held each year. In Vernal, Butch Cassidy Days celebrates the heritage of the areas most famous outlaws.

The Uintah Railway

Necessity is not only the mother of invention, it is also the begetter of railroads, including the snorting, twisting, puffing little Uintah Railway.  Just 63 miles long, it lived only 35 years hauling Gilsonite. The Uintah railway featured some of the sharpest curves known; the snorting little engine seemed so close, the engineer could almost shake hands with the conductor in the caboose.  On some of the steepest grades in railroading history, the brakeman could walk faster than the train moved.

The railroad following snake tracks with rails only three feet apart headed in a general northerly direction.  The first stretch of only 28.3 miles crossed 36 bridges between Mack and Atchee. Out of Atchee and over Baxter Pass (north of Fruita) the little engines climbed more than 2,000 feet in six miles and then dropped down the other side 1,500 feet in seven miles.  From there, for 12 miles to the end of the line at Dragon, the string of cars crossed 37 bridges.  In 1911 the railroad, with a few more bridges, was extended nine and one-half miles to Watson and four miles more from Watson to the Gilsonite mines at Rainbow.

The Uintah Railway, was all grade.  The only level spot was at and near Mack and it had a couple of deep arroyos occasionally running flash floods.  Its highest point was 8,437 feet on Baxter Pass, where the wind sometimes piled snow up as high as the windows of the passenger cars.  The snorting, puffing little engines bucked snow and jerked up grades upward from one percent to an incredible five miles of constant 7-1/2 percent rise.  That means it climbed up 7 1/2 feet in every 100.  This grade was achieved over a series of curves and hairpin turns, the sharpest of which was 66 degrees.

Moab, Utah

Moab is the county seat of Grand County and a regional center of southeastern Utah. It is located near the east bank of the Colorado River on the west side of the 12,500-foot-high La Sal Mountains in a valley fifteen miles long and three miles wide within the heart of the Colorado Plateau. Although some mining was done along the Colorado River and in the La Sal Mountains, Moab's economy was based on farming, ranching, and fruit growing until the uranium boom of the early 1950s brought in scores of prospectors, miners, workers, and speculators, increasing the population of Moab from 1,275 in 1950 to 4,682 in 1960. During the boom, the nation's second largest uranium processing mill was completed just outside Moab in 1956, employing more than two hundred workers. The uranium boom brought new motels, cafes, stores, schools, and businesses to Moab.

Blanding, Utah

The amazing thing about Blanding, and the whole awesome expanse of southeastern Utah, is that once you've seen it, you feel more in touch with the land than ever before. Blanding is located twenty-one miles south of Monticello on US 191 and is the largest community in the county of San Juan with about 4000 residents. Blanding's goal is to become the service center for southeastern Utah. The community is surrounded by wheat fields and pasture with easy access to mountain recreation. Blanding supports a public swimming pool, library, public parks, and lighted sports field. Edge of the Cedars State Park is located in Blanding and houses an extensive collection of ancient Pueblo artifacts. Blanding is also home to the Dinosaur Museum.

Price, Utah

Price is located in the eastern foothills of the Wasatch mountains at the base of the Book Cliffs. Fertile land surrounds the Price River valley which was originally settled in 1879 by Mormon families. Ranching and farming was undertaken in a typical Utah religious community. In 1883 things started to change in Price when the Denver and Rio Grande Western railroad laid tracks into town on their way to Salt Lake City. The railroad uncovered large veins of good quality coal in Price Canyon near Castle Gate while building the railroad and soon mines were established to excavate the coal. With the advent of both the railroad and the coal mines, a flood of immigrants began to arrive in Price from around the world.

Today coal is still the principle industry in the region. However, many smaller enterprises have evolved in Price. Furthermore, support for agriculture, ranching and tourism is still thriving. Price is the largest city in the region and it still manages to keep its quiet, easy going atmosphere.

Coal miners, railroad workers and Mormon Pioneers from around the globe settled Castle Country. The resulting communities were some of the most diverse settlements in the country - with wild histories.

• Outlaws frequented the area and made the San Rafael Swell their hide out.
• Area cemeteries give evidence to our settler's ethnic diversity and remind us of the mining disasters that took many lives.
• The coal mines and railroads were the centerpiece of the thriving communities. Because there were many operating mines, ghost towns (link to ghost towns) dot nearly every canyon.
• Historic Helper was named for the helper engines it connected to the long trains to help them get over the mountain passes. Today its Main Street shops are filled with artist's studios, antique malls and a brewpub.

Price City Website

Helper, Utah

Helper is located approximately 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City in Carbon County. Situated seven miles north of Price, the county seat, Helper has always reflected an ethnically diverse population, with southern and eastern European groups rising to positions of prominence within the community. After the arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway in 1881-82, Helper begin to develop as a population center. By 1887 the D&RGW had erected twenty-seven frame residences, with more built later the same year in anticipation of making Helper a freight terminal upon the changing of the line from narrow to standard gauge. Here, "helper" locomotives would stand in readiness to aid trains traveling up the steep grade to Soldier Summit, thus the name Helper.

By 1891 the depot, roundhouse and a hotel were built and the town was beginning. As more coal mines were opened it became the railroad center and the "hub" for coal miners and their families from the many mining camps. The camps were full of European and Asian immigrants and some of them came into Helper to build the town. (Western Mining and Railroad Museum)

Helper City Website

Castle Dale, Utah

Castle Dale, the seat of Emery County government, is located on Cottonwood Creek in Castle Valley, a region of benchlands and river valleys bounded by the Wasatch Plateau to the west and the striking buttes, mesas, and canyons of the San Rafael Swell to the east. The high plateau barrier and the ruggedness of the Castle Valley landscape delayed settlement of the region until the late 1870s, when population growth and expanding livestock herds in Utah's central valleys stimulated a search for new agricultural and grazing lands.

Emery County received a fresh economic stimulus in the mid-1970s when Utah Power and Light Company began construction of two large steam-electric generating plants designed to use the extensive coal deposits in the region. The larger of the two, the Hunter Plant, is located two miles south of Castle Dale, and the mines that supply it are northwest of town in the ledges of the Wasatch Plateau. After a "boom" period during construction of the plants, Castle Dale has settled in recent years into a more stable community with a population more than double that of its historic level and with continuing improvement in public services.

Duchesne, Utah

The settlement of Duchesne County is unique in Utah history, for unlike much of the state, it did not occur under the direction of Brigham Young or the Mormon church. Rather, it was settled by individuals who obtained 160 acres under the federal Homestead Act. Homesteaders were required to prove that they intended to farm the land. After five years of living on the land, making improvements, and paying $1.25 per acre homesteaders were given title to their homesteads. Much of present-day Duchesne County was once part of the sprawling Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation. The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation lies within and adjacent to the county boundaries, and there are many joint ventures between county and tribal governments.  County leaders and residents carry on in the spirit of their pioneer ancestors, building for the future and fostering innovation and excellence in schools, business, industry and government. Today most of the county is owned or controlled by individual Indians or the Ute Indian Tribe.

Roosevelt, Utah

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by proclamation, set aside a reservation for the Ute Indian Nation. No survey was made before hand; it had merely a general description as comprising all the lands from the tops of the mountains to the north to the tops of the mountains to the south draining into what later was defined as the Duchesne River. The Ute Indians were moved here when the Mormons settled the Wasatch Front and there began to be wars between the white settlers and the Indians. As Utah grew, the Ute Reservation in the great Uintah Basin was opened to white settlers in 1905 and 1906 by an act of the U.S. Congress.

Roosevelt is a very young town; one of the newest in the state. We are now a thriving, modern community. We have one of the best Medical facilities in Rural Utah, Utah State University has a branch campus here. We have a Technology Center with one of the finest nursing programs in the State. Roosevelt is host to one of the finest 18 hole golf courses. We have two co-operatives located in Roosevelt one being Moon Lake Electric and the other Uintah Basin Telephone, which employee many of out citizens. We have come a long, long way in the time we've had. We have the oil fields and many other resources. They have always been here, but are just now being developed. Roosevelt's tomorrow looks as bright as our stars of night in our clear blue sky.

Vernal, Utah

Vernal, a small community with paramount surroundings, is a prime destination for relaxation or adventure. Backdrops of mountain vistas and sunsets characterize Vernal's lush landscape of corn and sunflowers. As the heartland of "Dinosaurland," Vernal is home to the largest quarry of prehistoric Jurassic dinosaur bones. Dinosaur National Monument is located 20 minutes east of Vernal. Within Vernal, the Utah Field House of Natural History Museum State Park offers real-life replicas of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.

Vernal is a thriving haven for the outdoor enthusiast offering fishing, biking, hiking, exploring, ATV to name only a few. A vintage of mountain biking trails pepper the rugged Uinta Mountains. Reservoirs, lakes and streams offer popular water activities such as boating, whitewater rafting and kayaking. Just north of Vernal lies Flaming Gorge Recreation Center which hosts more than 2 million visitors a year. Neighboring state parks, including Steinaker and Red Fleet, also offer many of these activities. From high mountain vistas to the scenery of the desert, Vernal is an oasis of adventure and excitement in the 'great outdoors'.

Dinosaur, Colorado

The community was formerly called Artesia, probably due to artesian wells in the area. residents renamed the town in 1965 to capitalize on the tourism generated by the nearby Dinosaur National Monument. Local streets carry on the theme with names including Stegosaurus Freeway, Triceratops Terrace and Brontosaurus Boulevard. Dinosaur also has an Annual "Bedrock Days" a sort of city festival complete with Tractor and Car Shows, a Live Band to play during all two or three days of which the festival goes on. There are Elk, Deer, and Antelope. We also see Bald Eagles, Hawks, Prairie Dogs, and Coyotes. Occasionally, a Mountain Lion wanders into town.

Rangely, Colorado

Rangely's prosperity for decades floated on a sea of crude oil. As at 1998, the Rangely oil field, now known as the Rangely Weber Sand Unit, has recovered more than 815 million barrels of oil from the Weber reservoir, making it the largest field in the Rocky Mountain region. With 406 producing wells and 351 injection wells, the Rangely Weber Sand Unit continues to produce about 20,000 barrels per day (about one third of Colorado's production). The majority of the wells are equipped with electrical pumps, so there are relatively few of the big, hulking pump jacks common in other fields.

Fruita, Colorado

Fruita's history boasts steady growth for over a century, with descendants of many of the original pioneers still living in the area. Today, Fruita still appreciates its western heritage and its scenic setting at the foot of the Colorado National Monument . In the 1930's Fruita participated in several government projects including the Grand Valley Resettlement Project (later Western Slope Farms). Settled in groups of two or three families per area, thirty-four families were relocated by 1937. Another program was Rural Electrification Project which brought electricity to between 800 and 900 farms. Fruita also had a Civilian Conservation Corps  several Works Progress Administration projects including the town library, a federal loan for the new central school and the construction of the spectacular Rim Rock Drive to the top of the Colorado National Monument , elevation 8,000 feet. 

Grand Junction, Colorado

Grand Junction has a strong history that dates back more than 100 years. In the 1880s, the area was part of the Northern Ute Reservation, although the Native Americans were later moved west into Utah. In September 1881, the area experienced a landrush settlement and a townsite was staked. This town, located in the Grand Valley, was first called Ute, then West Denver and finally came to be known as Grand Junction because of its location at the confluence of the Gunnison and Colorado rivers.

By 1883, Mesa County was created from neighboring counties, and Grand Junction was named the county seat. Grand Junction began to thrive when the main line of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad came into the area in 1887. Soon after, major irrigation turned the Grand Valley into a fertile agricultural area. Today, Grand Junction is home to a number of light manufacturing and service industries. There are also four area hospitals, a regional airport and a number of recreational opportunities.

Grand Junction provides the visitor a comfortably headquartered place to enjoy a vacation that can be as mild or as wild as you want it to be! For wine enthusaiast the regions wine country beckons you , hiking trails leading you into some of the nation's most beautiful wilderness areas. In Grand Junction, Colorado, the visitor can find something to do every day for weeks and each one completely different.

Visit Grand Junction - Official tourism website
Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce

Humorous examples of the past

From Rangely, CO

At one time persons who ran afoul of the law were handcuffed to light poles along Main Street. Naturally, this practice was discontinued after the jail was built. however the same article (from 1947) mentioned a local story

" ... One day last summer the marshal arrested a drunken floater for disturbing the peace. To get him out of circulation he handcuffed the prisoner and tied him to a barbwire fence. When the marshal sauntered into a tavern an hour or so later there sat his prisoner at the bar nonchalantly taking a few drinks. When he looked up and saw the officer he threw up his manacled arms and said: “It’s all right, officer, I just got thirsty – I’m goin’ right back …”

The old jail has been restored and placed in the grounds of The Rangely Museum.

Dinosaur Diamond Partnership