Grand Mesa Country

Grand Mesa Country is Abbott Fay writing about his own back yard. The description calls him Western Reflections' best selling author and says the book offers history and tales from the mesa next to Grand Junction, Colorado. The subtitle on retail listings is Stories from Mesa and Delta Counties in Colorado.

The description says Grand Mesa is the largest mesa in the United States, and Fay writes interesting historical tidbits about the town, the mesa and the country around it. It begins its own list of examples, though the text on our record cuts off before naming any, so we won't invent them. Open Library files the book under anecdotes, biography and local history.

This is the 2005 edition from Western Reflections, and retail listings describe it as the second edition. If you want a quick sense of the place before you drive up, or if you already know it and want its backstory, the short-story format suits both. Mesa County Libraries keeps a copy on its Western Colorado History shelf.

Grand Mesa Country is for visitors and residents of the Grand Valley, the Delta area and the high country above them. It suits anyone planning a drive on the scenic byway across the mesa who wants stories to go with the scenery. Local history groups and school libraries in Mesa and Delta counties will find it useful as a short, readable introduction. It also makes a fair gift for relatives who grew up in the area and enjoy hearing the old stories about their home ground.

Abbott Fay taught at Mesa College in Grand Junction before moving to Gunnison, so he knew the Grand Valley as a working teacher. The description says here that he is writing from his own back yard. Born in Nebraska in 1926, he died in 2009, and the rest of his story is told on his author page.

More about Abbott Fay →

Grand Mesa lies about 40 miles east of Grand Junction, between the Colorado River and the Gunnison River. Wikipedia, citing the National Geographic Encyclopedia, calls it the largest flat-topped mountain in the world. It covers about 500 square miles, reaches roughly 11,000 feet and rises about 6,000 feet above the valleys. More than 300 lakes and reservoirs sit on top, and much of it lies inside Grand Mesa National Forest.

Grand Junction was incorporated on July 22, 1882, and George A. Crawford, who incorporated it, is credited with Colorado's first vineyard near Palisade. The valley had been Ute country until 1881, when the Ute Indian Territory was abolished. Peaches, pears and cherries are grown here today, with irrigation canals bringing water from the Colorado River.

Source: Wikipedia, Grand Mesa