Rimrocker Historical Society Museum and Ballpark at Historic Uravan CO - Campground and Day Use Park

970-864-7438 Museum

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THE RIMROCKER HISTORICAL SOCIETY: RHS maintains a small museum featuring artifacts of our area's natural history, Native American history, pioneer history, and mining history. RHS also maintains the picnic and camping areas at the site of the historic Uravan Ball Park.

RHS has published many books and periodicals on the history of the West End of Montrose County, Colorado, and gives ongoing presentations and RHS will give some private tours.

Rimrocker Historical Society Museum of West Montrose County and Uravan Ball Park Campground

The Rimrocker Historical Society offers an extensive schedule of presentations and tours. Please be sure to call ahead to see which ones are scheduled during your vacation. We can also make special arrangements for families or large groups.

URAVAN BALL PARK CAMPGROUND: NEW 2025 4 (four) NEW sites with power. The rest are self-contained RV friendly, no hookups. Each site has a picnic table, BBQ grill, and fire ring. Our campground has access to the San Miguel River with a ramp for rafters and fisherpeople. Relax under large Rio Grande Cottonwood groves. There are vaulted bathrooms-site, however there is no running water. GPS: Latitude 38.386 N -- Longitude -108.759 W. 22 miles from Naturita about a 15-minute drive. PLEASE NOTE: We don't take reservations, there is a 14-day camping limit, and we ask for donations to support our non-profit campground, thank you.

FAVORITE HISTORICAL PLACES TO VISIT

WEST END HISTORY: It all began 150,000,000 years ago when the dinosaurs roamed this area. Carbonized plants and animal remains, as well as minerals and ores were deposited in the sandstone beds of the Morrison Formation. The Tabeguache Ute Indians called this land home, however, in 1870 they were moved to a reservation when miners and settlers staked their claim to the land. Arrowheads abound in the hills of the West End. In 1881 carnotite ore containing radium, vanadium, and uranium, was discovered in these hills. By 1912 mining and milling for these minerals was in full swing. Radium was sent overseas to Marie Curie for use in her radiation experiments. Vanadium was later in demand by the steel industry, and then Uranium found its place during WWII.

PETROGLYPH: The Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) roamed the area between 500 BCE and 1300 BC leaving behind their stories in numerous rock art panels. West of Naturita, in the Paradox Valley, are several sites. The Paradox Valley sites feature human figures, geometric and abstract lines, animals, butterflies, lizards, and animal tracks.

HANGING FLUME: The Hanging Flume was an open water chute built over the Dolores River Canyon. This remote 130-year-old mining flume is a 10-mile wooden water chute clinging to a sheer canyon cliff to create a hydraulic gold separator. The Montrose Placer Mining Company built the flume in the 1880s to facilitate gold mining and is an engineering wonder listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Some sections of the flume, remain attached to the canyon wall, although much of the wood has vanished.

COLORADO COOPERATIVE DITCH: In 1776 Friars Escalante and Dominguez mapped the area's canyons and waterways. Then in 1894, the Colorado Cooperative Company built a 17-mile ditch to bring water from its head gate in the San Miguel Canyon northeast of Norwood to the head of the Tabeguache plateau.

HISTORIC 141: Pioneers recognized water as the real gold. Building systems of canals and ditches, they watered the high desert to grow their crops. These lush valleys and plateaus supported one of the richest cattle productions in the nation, as well as an era of Cowboys, Indians, Outlaws, and Gunslingers -- they were called Rimrockers.

INDIAN HENRY'S CABIN: The cabin and grave site are in Bull Canyon.

URAVAN in western Montrose County, was a company town. It sprang up overnight in 1936 for uranium and vanadium mining to support the top-secret Manhattan Project during World War II. It is now an abandoned Superfund site.

ADDRESS: 470 Main St, Nucla CO 81424

PHONE: 970-864-7438 or CELL 970-428-1974 For Current Event Dates; For a Visitors Guide; mention the Colorado Vacation Directory.

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