Piñon, Montrose County
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Pinon | |
|---|---|
  Pinon  Pinon | |
| Coordinates: 38°15′59″N 108°24′02″W / 38.26639°N 108.40056°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State |  Colorado |
| County | Montrose County |
| Highest elevation | 5,840 ft (1,870 m) |
Piñon is a town in Montrose County, Colorado. The town is 93 kilometers (58 miles) south of Grand Junction, Colorado along San Miguel River, and was created as a colony for the Colorado Cooperative Company.[1] During the height of mining from 1902-4, Pinon was the second largest town in Montrose County.[2]
History[edit]
In 1894, the Colorado Cooperative Company created a town for its members.[3] Eventually named Piñon, it had 50 buildings, including the company office, a print shop, commissary, library, school, hall, carpenter shop, barn, cabins, post office, a rooming house known as the “The Beehive” and a community dining hall.[4]
The San Miguel Basin Forum newspaper reported that Pinon was the second largest town in the county for many years, and that early life in the town was difficult. The commissary distributed supplies and its sergeant dispensed monthly coupon books to each worker or family living in Pinon. Food was rationed and in scant supply; the staples were flour, salt, oatmeal, beans and salt pork. Each family received $15 per month in coupons, while single miners only received $3.50 monthly.[4]
The mining cooperative community also had a cultural component and Pinon attracted creatives, including musicians, actors and artists. Performances and literary events were held in the assembly hall. Dances would occur on Saturday nights. For a time Pinon was a "Center of Culture"; in 1896, acting and elocution lessons were provided to the community members. The Pinon Dramatic Club gave their first performances in Company Hall the same year. By 1902, there were as many as three dances per week occurring. The mining families were interested in art and engaged in politics, they were considered to be intellectual and engaged with reading and discussing books after mining was done for the day.[4][5] Pinon had it's own newspaper, The Altrurian, as well as other community-run establishments, such as an irrigation ditch-digging company.[6]
In August 2010, The Energy Fuels Resources Corporation planned to make a uranium and vanadium mill at Pinon Ridge.[7]
References[edit]
- ^ "Pinon (Montrose County, CO)". roadsidethoughts.com.
- ^ Templeton, Marie (12 January 2006). "History: The Nucla Creamery". San Miguel Basin Forum. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
- ^ Cameron, Bertha (1905). Life in Pinion Cooperative Company. The Co-operator, vol. 9-12. pp. 7–10. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Early Life in Pinon Hard". The San Miguel Basin Forum. 1 October 1975. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
- ^ Cone, Samuel R. (7 July 1994). "In History". San Miguel Basin Forum.
- ^ "Colorado's Utopian Colonies: Greeley and Nucla". Denver Public Library Special Collections and Archives. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
- ^ "Approval for the Pinon Ridge Uranium Mill". 2 July 2009.
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