Rolling Through the Paradox Valley
by Bob and Nancy Kendrick
Title
Rolling Through the Paradox Valley
Artist
Bob and Nancy Kendrick
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
The road leading north through the beautiful Paradox Valley in southwestern Colorado. The La Sal mountains, which straddle the Utah/Colorado state line, are seen to the north, with a little early snow on the top peaks. The valley is 3-5 miles wide and 25 miles long, extending from Naturita in the south to the town of Paradox in the north, 50 miles south of Grand Junction, CO. Elevations on the valley floor range from 5000-6000 feet.
The valley was named in 1875 by geologist and surveyor Albert Charles Peale after he noted that the Dolores River had a "desire to perform strange and unexpected things" in the area. Instead of flowing down the valley, the river emerges from a narrow gap in one wall, cuts perpendicularly across the middle, and exits through another gap. As a consequence of this unusual geography, the valley cannot be easily irrigated by the Dolores River, but springs and streams fed by snowmelt from the La Sal Range support farming in the northwestern third.
Paradox Valley was within the historical domain of the Ute tribe. An 1868 treaty created a reservation for the Utes over much of western Colorado, including Paradox Valley. Squatters began grazing cattle in the valley as early as 1877, in violation of the treaty. By 1881, the Utes had been forced out of the area, and in 1882 the United States Congress officially opened the land to settlement. Springs and streams allowed farming in the northwest end of the valley, and the mid-1890s discovery of copper at the future site of the Cashin Mine near the town of Bedrock brought in a further influx of settlers. The valley and the surrounding plateau would soon become an important source of radioactive materials, including radium and uranium. In 1913, the New York Times identified carnotite mines near Paradox Valley as the source of "the greatest radium ore deposits in the world". Production of radium ceased in 1922 when richer deposits were found in the Belgian Congo, but production of uranium and vanadium continued throughout most of the century.
Uploaded
December 1st, 2012
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