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The City of Grand Junction is the home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city has a council–manager form of government, and is most populous municipality in all of western Colorado.〔(【引用サイトリンク】accessdate=2011-06-07 )〕 Grand Junction is situated west-southwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 58,566.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (DP-1): Grand Junction city, Colorado )〕 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 146,723 in 2010 census. The city is located along the Colorado River, where it receives the Gunnison River from the south. The name "Grand" refers to the historical ''Grand River'', which was renamed the upper Colorado River in 1921, and the word "Junction" is from the joining of the Colorado and Gunnison rivers. Hence, Grand Junction has been given the nickname "River City". The city sits near the midpoint of a 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 unique series of canyons and mesas, overlooks the city on the west, while most of the area is surrounded by public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The Book Cliffs are a prominent series of cliffs that define the northern side of the Grand Valley. Interstate 70 connects the city eastward to Glenwood Springs and Denver and westward to Green River, Utah; Salt Lake City (via Interstate 70 and U.S Route 6); and Las Vegas (via Interstate 70 and Interstate 15) The Country Jam Ranch is located near Grand Junction just north of I-70 at the Mack exit. This is a permanent festival site built for music festivals, including Country Jam, an event that has been held since 1992 and one that draws thousands of country music fans to the area.〔Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce〕 The Grand Junction area has turned into a major mountain biking destination, with many bikers coming from the Front Range of Colorado, the Salt Lake City area, and even as far away as California to enjoy the area's abundant single-track trails. Two prominent trails among others are the Tabeguache and Kokopelli trails, the latter running from near Loma all the way to Moab, Utah. Fruita, Colorado with its 18 Road trail system is within 10 miles of the city and has become a major mountain biking destination. ==History== To the northeast, the weathered Little Bookcliffs cut across the skyline. To the southeast soars the Grand Mesa, one of the world's largest flat-topped mountains. The photogenic canyons and monoliths of the Colorado National Monument form a western wall. In between the three natural barriers sprawls Western Colorado's Grand Valley. Cut out of the rugged terrain by the Colorado and Gunnison rivers, the valley was also one of the last locales in the lower 48 states to be settled by pioneer Americans. The region's colorful history stretches much further back in time. A little-known aboriginal civilization known as the Fremont first moved into the area about 200 A.D. Living in pit-houses, eating insects, small animals and sparse produce from tiny gardens, the mysterious Fremont left Western Colorado about 1300 A.D. Roughly 100 years later, the first bands of wandering Utes moved into the region. The various Ute tribes eventually called much of Colorado and Utah home until forced onto reservations in 1881. Both Indian groups left behind numerous examples of colorful rock paintings and canyon carvings. Some of the unexplained rock art can still be spotted today. Until 1821, the Grand Valley was part of the kingdom of Spain. And during the early and mid 1700's, hardy Spanish and Mexican soldiers, explorers and priests poked and prodded through the region. Some were looking for gold, others seeking new trails to Spanish California. Most were not too successful. At first, trail-blazing American mountain men weren't very successful either. Hoping to trap valuable beaver or trade with Ute Indians, most of the Americans were kept out of the territory by Spanish officials. However, when Western Colorado became part of Mexico in 1821, the mountains were suddenly wide open to trappers, traders and wandering buck-skinners of the U.S. A few of the same mountain men to first see Colorado's Western Slope later helped guide U.S. Army expeditions and Government Surveying parties through the region. Some of the Old West's best known explorers - Kit Carson, John Charles Fremont and Capt. John Williams Gunnison - all passed through the Grand Valley in the 1840s and 1850s. In spite of anti-Indian politicians, a large part of Western Colorado remained Ute Indian Territory until September 1881. The region was opened to homesteaders, ranchers and town builders the very day the Utes were being forced out by Army troopers. By the time Kansas politician and real estate developer George Crawford decided the unclaimed Grand Valley would make a good town site, Denver, Colorado already had a population of 50,000. And Grand Junction, Colorado was just being born. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Grand Junction, Colorado」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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