I had a blast in Vernal, Utah - a fun little city of about 10,000 people in the far east of the Beehive State. Fremont Indians once lived in the area and were later followed by Utes who still live there today. When the Mormons came to Utah, they saw no reason to settle in the region despite the Green River flowing nearby. In fact, settlers didn’t come to what is now Vernal until 1879. The railroad came through in 1906 and Vernal was incorporated and began to grow. Just three years later, paleontologist Earl Douglass discovered a massive deposit of dinosaur bones and fossils just east of Vernal and it would be designated as Dinosaur National Monument in 1915. Oil and mineral extraction are probably the biggest drivers of Vernal’s economy, but dinosaur tourism certainly plays a significant role, as you can tell from the photos in this post.
I was only planning on staying a short while in Vernal, but ended up there for several days. I enjoyed checking out the dinosaur quarry at the National Monument, and the Field House Museum in the middle of town. The recreation center was top-notch and I even got to catch some bull riding while I was there. Mostly, it’s just fun town with a good feeling to it and friendly people at every stop. That and the sunsets were hard to beat. I hadn’t been to Vernal in many years and I was glad I made the trek to get there. I hope you enjoy these photos from Vernal, definitely a fun town in the heart of dinosaur country.
Hello Everyone. A belated Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all from here in Fillmore, Utah. I’ve spent this last week cutting across the central part of the state, checking out petroglyphs and dinosaur fossils in the east, cruising down the beautiful agricultural region of the Sanpete Valley and finishing up here in Utah’s first territorial capital. It’s been windy out here this week, but the temperatures have been pleasant and the rain and snow have stayed away, which was a good thing as some of these high mountain passes have taken me up above 9000’. Central Utah is definitely a less-visited part of the state, but it has a lot of cute towns, friendly people and plenty to keep me busy. I’ve been moving fast this week because there’s a powwow I want to get to in Salt Lake City this coming weekend and these are all places I wanted to hit before heading in that direction.
When I left you last week, I was out in Grand Junction, Colorado after a quick visit to Colorado National Monument. After I wrapped up my newsletter, I made a beeline back to the Beehive State and headed straight to Green River. I wanted to get there with enough time to see the John Wesley Powell River History Museum. If you don’t know of him, Powell led the first expedition to float the length of Grand Canyon. A retired U.S. Army Major, he had lost his right arm due to a gunshot through the wrist he received during the Battle of Shiloh, one of the bloodiest and most fascinating battles of the Civil War. After the war, he went on to become the curator of a small natural history museum in Illinois and went west to gather some samples for the museum. While there, he became fixated on the idea of exploring Grand Canyon and collected a rag-tag crew of mountain men and explorers to come with him. It was quite the adventure and this museum does a good job of documenting their trip and providing some great information on Powell himself. There are also displays on the geologic and human history of the Green River (which joins the Colorado River in what is now Canyonlands National Park and which Powell floated to get to the Colorado on his journey). In addition to the permanent gallery…
