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Kurt Thomas
(970) 361-7195
(970) 361-7195
Serving Grand Junction Colorado
| Grand Junction Area Information & Helpful Links |
| Grand Junction Area Information |
The City of Grand Junction is the largest city in western Colorado. It is a Home Rule
Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous town or city of Mesa County,
Colorado, United States.[5] Grand Junction is situated 247 miles (398 km)
west-southwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to 2007 Census
Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 48,714.[3] Grand Junction is the 15th most
populous city in the State of Colorado and the most populous city on the Colorado
Western Slope. Grand Junction serves as a major commercial and transportation hub
within the large area between the Green River and the Continental Divide. It is the
principal city of the Grand Junction Metropolitan Statistical Area which had a population of
139,137 in 2007.
Grand Junction is located along the north side of the Colorado River, where it receives
the Gunnison River from south. The name "Grand" refers to the historical name of the
upper Colorado River until renamed in 1921, and the word 'junction' is from the joining of
the Colorado and Gunnison rivers. Grand Junction sits near the mid-point of a 30-mile
(48 km) arcing valley, known as the Grand Valley, a major fruit-growing region,
historically home to the Ute people and settled by white farmers in the 1880s. In recent
years, several wineries have been established in the area as well. The Colorado
National Monument, a series of canyons and mesas similar to the Grand Canyon
overlook the city, while most of Grand Junction is surrounded by public lands managed
by the Bureau of Land Management. Interstate 70 connects the city eastward to
Glenwood Springs and Denver and westward to Green River, UT and Interstate 15.
Economic history
Since settlers arrived in the 1880s until the 1960s, the main economic activity in the
region was farming and cattle. Vast oil shale reserves were known to exist near
Parachute, Colorado in the Piceance Basin. The oil embargoes of the 1970s and high
gas prices resulted in major financial interest in the region. Exxon purchased rights and
used Grand Junction as its seat of operations.
Grand Junction and the surrounding Grand Valley were prosperous in the 1970s and
early 1980s largely because of oil shale. The United States, western Colorado in
particular, has the largest known concentration of oil shale in the world, (according to the
Bureau of Land Management) and holds an estimated 800 gigabarrels of recoverable
oil, enough to meet U.S. demand for oil at current levels for 110 years. Known as the
"Rock That Burns" the shale can be mined and processed to produce oil, although in the
past it was significantly more expensive than conventional oil. Sustained prices above
$95 per barrel, however, may make extraction economically attractive in the coming
years. ExxonMobil was forced to pull out of the region because of lower oil prices, which
led to economic hardship in the region.
The economic bust, known as "Black Sunday" (May 2, 1982) to the locals, started with a
phone call from the President of Exxon to the then Governor of Colorado, Richard
Douglas Lamm, stating that Exxon would cut its losses while retaining mining rights to the
(then and currently) uneconomic oil. The economic bust was felt state wide, as Exxon
had invested more than 5 billion USD in the state. Colorado historian Tom Noel
observed "I think that was a definite turning point, and it was a reminder that we were a
boom-and-bust state...There were parallels to the silver crash of 1893."[citation needed]
Today the economy of Grand Junction is more diverse and stable than it has been in the
last 40 years. Currently, major contributors are health care, tourism, agriculture,
livestock, and energy mining (gas and oil). Major oil companies have once again
invested large amounts of money recently (within the last two years), due to recent
increases in oil and natural gas prices.
Grand Junction is being discovered by the "nation's elite business and leisure travelers,"
according to Cleveland-based Flight Options, a private jet service that named Grand
Junction as one of its clients' top ten destinations during December 2007, citing nearby
Powderhorn Resort as an attraction.
Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous town or city of Mesa County,
Colorado, United States.[5] Grand Junction is situated 247 miles (398 km)
west-southwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. According to 2007 Census
Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 48,714.[3] Grand Junction is the 15th most
populous city in the State of Colorado and the most populous city on the Colorado
Western Slope. Grand Junction serves as a major commercial and transportation hub
within the large area between the Green River and the Continental Divide. It is the
principal city of the Grand Junction Metropolitan Statistical Area which had a population of
139,137 in 2007.
Grand Junction is located along the north side of the Colorado River, where it receives
the Gunnison River from south. The name "Grand" refers to the historical name of the
upper Colorado River until renamed in 1921, and the word 'junction' is from the joining of
the Colorado and Gunnison rivers. Grand Junction sits near the mid-point of a 30-mile
(48 km) arcing valley, known as the Grand Valley, a major fruit-growing region,
historically home to the Ute people and settled by white farmers in the 1880s. In recent
years, several wineries have been established in the area as well. The Colorado
National Monument, a series of canyons and mesas similar to the Grand Canyon
overlook the city, while most of Grand Junction is surrounded by public lands managed
by the Bureau of Land Management. Interstate 70 connects the city eastward to
Glenwood Springs and Denver and westward to Green River, UT and Interstate 15.
Economic history
Since settlers arrived in the 1880s until the 1960s, the main economic activity in the
region was farming and cattle. Vast oil shale reserves were known to exist near
Parachute, Colorado in the Piceance Basin. The oil embargoes of the 1970s and high
gas prices resulted in major financial interest in the region. Exxon purchased rights and
used Grand Junction as its seat of operations.
Grand Junction and the surrounding Grand Valley were prosperous in the 1970s and
early 1980s largely because of oil shale. The United States, western Colorado in
particular, has the largest known concentration of oil shale in the world, (according to the
Bureau of Land Management) and holds an estimated 800 gigabarrels of recoverable
oil, enough to meet U.S. demand for oil at current levels for 110 years. Known as the
"Rock That Burns" the shale can be mined and processed to produce oil, although in the
past it was significantly more expensive than conventional oil. Sustained prices above
$95 per barrel, however, may make extraction economically attractive in the coming
years. ExxonMobil was forced to pull out of the region because of lower oil prices, which
led to economic hardship in the region.
The economic bust, known as "Black Sunday" (May 2, 1982) to the locals, started with a
phone call from the President of Exxon to the then Governor of Colorado, Richard
Douglas Lamm, stating that Exxon would cut its losses while retaining mining rights to the
(then and currently) uneconomic oil. The economic bust was felt state wide, as Exxon
had invested more than 5 billion USD in the state. Colorado historian Tom Noel
observed "I think that was a definite turning point, and it was a reminder that we were a
boom-and-bust state...There were parallels to the silver crash of 1893."[citation needed]
Today the economy of Grand Junction is more diverse and stable than it has been in the
last 40 years. Currently, major contributors are health care, tourism, agriculture,
livestock, and energy mining (gas and oil). Major oil companies have once again
invested large amounts of money recently (within the last two years), due to recent
increases in oil and natural gas prices.
Grand Junction is being discovered by the "nation's elite business and leisure travelers,"
according to Cleveland-based Flight Options, a private jet service that named Grand
Junction as one of its clients' top ten destinations during December 2007, citing nearby
Powderhorn Resort as an attraction.
