Editing Grand Junction, Colorado (section)

==History==
In September 1881, the former [[Ute people#Ute ancestral lands and culture|Ute Indian Territory]] was abolished and the Utes were forced into a reservation so that the U.S. government could open the area to settlers. [[Clinton County, Pennsylvania]]-born [[George A. Crawford|George Addison Crawford]] (1827–91) soon purchased a plot of land.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o8X5krq3fP8C&pg=PA474 |title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. ... with a Supplementary Volume Devoted to Selected Personal History and Reminiscence |first=Frank Wilson |last=Blackmar |date=March 1, 1912 |publisher=Standard publishing Company |isbn=9780722249055 |via=Google Books}}</ref> On July 22, 1882, he incorporated the town of Grand Junction and planted [[Colorado wine|Colorado's first vineyard]] near [[Palisade, Colorado]], causing the area to become known as the Colorado Wine Country.
Grand Junction also has a storied past with gunfighters, miners, and early settlers of the American Southwest. Prior to its incorporation as the city of Grand Junction, the community was known as '''Ute''', and was also briefly called '''West Denver'''.

The [[narrow gauge]] [[Denver and Rio Grande Railroad]] reached Grand Junction from the southeast, from [[Pueblo, Colorado|Pueblo]] via [[Gunnison, Colorado|Gunnison]] in 1882, followed in 1890 by the [[standard gauge]] Rio Grande Junction Railway from the northeast, from [[New Castle, Colorado|New Castle]] (jointly owned by the D&RG and the [[Colorado Midland]]).<ref name="Beebe_1962">[[Lucius Beebe|Beebe, Lucius]] and [[Charles Clegg|Clegg, Charles]], ''Rio Grande, Mainline of the Rockies'', Howell-North Books 1962.</ref> These greatly contributed to the expansion and settlement of the area.