Grand Mesa National Scenic and Historic Byway

06/19/2026

Yummm honey.

🍯 Did you know Surface Creek Mesa once had a thriving honey industry?

When people think of early Cedaredge and Eckert, they usually picture orchards, cattle, and irrigation ditches. But more than a century ago, bees were also helping build the local economy.

One of the area's best-known beekeepers was George M. Eckert, whose family settled near Cedaredge in 1911. At one point, Eckert maintained as many as 260 beehives. Some were kept near the family's orchard while others spent summers on Cedar Mesa, gathering nectar from wildflowers and blossoming fruit trees.

His son Elmer later recalled spending summer days watching the hives and chasing swarms that occasionally settled in nearby trees. It wasn't a bad job for a young boy. While tending bees, he watched hawks circle overhead, ranchers cutting hay along Surface Creek, and storms building over Grand Mesa.

The honey business was more important than many people realize.

A 1906 newspaper report noted that Colorado produced enough honey to fill forty railroad cars in a single season. Eighteen of those carloads came from Colorado's Western Slope, including five from Delta County alone. At wholesale prices, Colorado honey was bringing more than $150,000 annually—a substantial sum at the time.

Years later, Elmer Eckert looked back fondly on his years in Surface Creek. He called it a land of "Milk and Honey" and wrote that even with all the conveniences of modern life, he still dreamed of the old days among the orchards, peach blossoms, and green fields of the Mesa.

It's a reminder that the story of Surface Creek Mesa wasn't built by just one crop or one industry.

Sometimes it was built one bee at a time. 🍯🐝

06/18/2026

stunning!!

06/17/2026

Know Your Neighbor: Elsie Bryson

When this newspaper profile by Hazel Austin was published in 1981, Elsie Bryson was 95 years old and could still vividly remember a very different Surface Creek.

Born in 1886 near Buena Vista during Colorado's mining boom, Elsie spent part of her childhood around Creede before eventually making her way to Cedaredge in 1904.

The world she remembered feels almost unimaginable today.

Winters were so severe that snowdrifts sometimes reached the tops of fence posts. Coal was hauled by horse and wagon from local mines. Young people traveled to dances by sled, bundled beneath robes and warmed by hot rocks placed in the bottom of the sleigh.

There were no smartphones, televisions, or automobiles when Elsie was young. Entertainment was neighbors gathering for music, dances, and conversation. Two or three mouth organs often provided all the music needed for an evening of fun.

Elsie married Wiley Bryson in 1904 and spent decades helping build a life in the Surface Creek country. By the time this article was written, she had witnessed nearly a century of change—from horse-drawn wagons to highways, from mining camps to orchards, and from frontier settlements to modern communities.

Yet what she seemed to treasure most were not the big events of history, but the memories of family, neighbors, and community.

Sometimes the most fascinating stories aren't about famous people.

They're about ordinary people who lived long enough to watch history unfold around them. ❤️

06/16/2026

TAKE THE BUS

In 1926, a road trip across western Colorado was not a casual weekend drive.

It was an adventure.

That summer, officials from the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad and the Mesa Verde Motor Company climbed aboard buses to explore something ambitious for the time:

A scenic bus tour across the mountains of western Colorado.

The proposed route would carry travelers from Glenwood Springs to Grand Mesa, down through Delta and Montrose, onward to Ouray, Silverton, Durango, and Mesa Verde National Park… before looping back through Telluride and Grand Junction.

Today, that sounds like the ultimate Colorado road trip.

But in 1926, many of those roads were narrow, steep, dusty, and sometimes barely passable. Mountain highways were still new. Guardrails were few. Weather could change everything.

So this wasn’t just sightseeing.

The businessmen aboard the trip were carefully studying the roads, hotels, scenery, and conditions to decide whether tourists could realistically make the journey.

And what they found helped shape the future of tourism in western Colorado.

For communities like Cedaredge and Delta County, the automobile was changing everything. Places once considered remote frontier country were suddenly becoming destinations.

People no longer came west only to mine, ranch, or homestead.

Now they came simply to see the mountains.

To stand beside alpine lakes on Grand Mesa.
To drive the great mountain roads.
To experience the wild beauty of Colorado for themselves.

A century later, travelers are still making that same journey—only now with smoother roads, better brakes… and probably a lot less dust.

AND if you'd rather look at the view instead of the road, you can still get a the escorted treatment with companies like Pali-Tours.

06/15/2026

Think life in the Forked Tongue Creek Valley was all work and no fun?

Think again.

The weekly Coalby columns in the Surface Creek Champion tell a very different story.

Nearly every week there was something happening—a dance at Coalby Hall, a picnic, a baseball game, a community supper, or a holiday celebration. People came from all over. Residents from as far away as Dry Creek and Paonia were often in attendance. Before automobiles became common, that could mean hours of travel by horse and wagon. Chances are many simply stayed overnight with friends, relatives, or pitched a tent before making the trip home.

Imagine the scene.

Lantern light spilling from the windows of the old Coalby Store. Wagons and saddle horses lined up outside. Neighbors catching up on the latest news while young couples filled the dance floor. Maybe a little moonshine shared in the shadows.

Sometimes it was the Peterson Orchestra was playing: Gene Peterson on the fiddle, Ben Peterson on the violin, Archie Peterson on the guitar. But there were lots of local musician who kept the dancers moving late into the evening.

Coalby was more than farms, ranches, and mines. The Ashursts operated a dairy. The Pattons ran a coal mine. Families looked forward to berry picking at the Stell place. Week after week, the local columns recorded visitors, picnics, dances, school programs, and community gatherings that tied the neighborhood together.

Of course, not every dance ended quietly. Local memories recall bootleg liquor, spirited arguments, and the occasional fistfight among young men who spent their days working mines, orchards, ranches, and reservoirs.

The old-timers worked hard. They had to.

But they also knew how to enjoy life.

Yee Haw! For a few hours on a Saturday night, Coalby was the place to be.

06/14/2026

🇺🇸 Happy Flag Day! 🇺🇸

When most of us picture the American flag, we imagine 50 stars and 13 stripes.
But here's something many people don't realize:

The American flag has changed 26 times since 1777.

In fact, the first flag flown by American forces wasn't even the Stars and Stripes.

Known as the Continental Union Flag, it featured 13 red-and-white stripes—but still included the British Union Flag in the corner. It was first raised in December 1775 aboard a Continental Navy ship commanded by John Paul Jones.

At the time, many colonists were still hoping for reconciliation with Britain.

Independence had not yet been declared.

As the nation grew, the flag grew too.

New stars were added as new states joined the Union. First there were 13 stars. Then 15. Then, one by one, more stars were added until, in 1960, the 50-star flag we know today was officially adopted.

More than 65 years later, it remains the longest-serving version in American history.
What began as a practical piece of military equipment used to identify ships and forts gradually became one of the most recognized symbols in the world.

And each new star added to that blue field marked another chapter in the story of a growing nation.

Happy Flag Day. 🇺🇸

06/13/2026

This Week in History: Jefferson Picks Up His Pen

On June 11, 1776, a 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson sat down in a Philadelphia boarding house and began writing what would become one of the most influential documents in history.

The Continental Congress had appointed a committee to prepare a declaration explaining why the American colonies were breaking away from Great Britain. Although the committee included John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, the task of writing the first draft fell to Jefferson.

Working in a rented room, Jefferson borrowed ideas from earlier documents, including Virginia's Declaration of Rights, and drew heavily from Enlightenment principles that many Americans already accepted.

Years later, Jefferson explained that he was not trying to create something entirely new. Instead, he hoped to produce what he called an "expression of the American mind."

In less than three weeks, the draft was finished.

Then Congress got involved.

Members debated, edited, deleted, and revised Jefferson's carefully chosen words. Jefferson later complained that Congress had "mangled" his composition. He was especially disappointed that delegates removed a passage condemning the slave trade and blaming King George III for allowing it to continue.

Still, the core of his message survived.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

Those words would outlive every man who debated them.

This week, 250 years ago, the Declaration of Independence began not with fireworks, parades, or speeches—but with a young writer sitting alone at a desk, trying to put the hopes of a new nation into words.

🇺🇸 America 250

06/12/2026

Have you ever been to the Granbys on Grand Mesa?

06/11/2026

🎈🎈 LOOK TO THE WESTERN SKY! 🎈🎈

This Independence Day weekend, Delta's skies will come alive with color as the Western Sky Balloon Festival launches 25 hot air balloons to celebrate two historic milestones:

🇺🇸 250 Years of America
🏔️ 150 Years of Colorado

From sunrise ascensions floating over the valley to spectacular evening balloon glows, the festival promises a weekend packed with family fun and unforgettable sights.

Come enjoy:

🎈 Hot Air Balloons
🎈 Balloon Glows
🎈 Tethered Balloon Rides
🎈 Food Trucks
🎈 Vendor Village & Craft Fair
🎈 Pancake Breakfasts
🎈 Parade
🎈 Mud Volleyball
🎈 Pickleball Tournament
🎈 Co****le Tournament
🎈 Talent Show
🎈 Horse Carriage Rides
🎈 Petting Zoo
🎈 Bounce Houses & Kids Activities
🎈 Mechanical Bull Riding
🎈 Beer Garden
🎈 Drone Show
🎈 Fireworks
🎈 And much more!

One of the highlights each morning will be watching dozens of colorful balloons rise over the Western Slope as the sun comes up. Then, after dark, the glowing balloons create a magical display that has become a festival favorite.

📅 July 2–5, 2026
📍 Confluence Park and locations throughout Delta

Whether you're there for the balloons, the food, the music, the competitions, or simply to celebrate Independence Day with friends and family, this year's festival promises to be bigger than ever.

Bring your camera. You're going to need it.

06/10/2026

Before there were school buses, there was the "Kid Wagon."

Before there were paved roads, children rode horseback or walked to school.

And before every teenager had a driver's license, a one-mile automobile ride could become a lifelong memory.

The Hawkins family arrived in the Forked Tongue Creek Valley in 1902 and became known for cattle ranching. But some of the best stories come from the children who grew up on the ranch.

Irene Hawkins Morris remembered riding in the Kid Wagon—a covered wagon with benches along the sides and canvas curtains that could be rolled down during bad weather. Pulled by a team of mules, it carried children living north of Cedaredge to school.

When Irene attended Cedaredge High School, she and her friends rode horseback to town during good weather. In winter, they often boarded with friends closer to school.

Her niece Dora Hawkins Ashurst remembered walking over the hill to the Tongue Creek School and once getting caught playing hooky after spending the afternoon exploring the adobe hills with friends.

One of Dora's favorite childhood memories involved one of Cedaredge's first automobiles. The Ratekin family offered Dora and her sister Helen a ride. The girls were thrilled by the mile-long trip—even though they had to walk home afterward!

And then there was the day Irene and her friend Helen Walsh slipped out of school during a fire drill and hid beneath the board sidewalk. When everyone lined up waiting for the signal to return to class, the girls discovered they were trapped. Fortunately, Mrs. Pyle saw what had happened and rescued them by ringing the bell herself.

History books often focus on ranches, irrigation ditches, and cattle shipments.

But sometimes the best stories are about schoolchildren riding horseback, sneaking away during fire drills, and getting excited about a one-mile automobile ride.

Those memories remind us what life on early Surface Creek was really like.