The coal seams in the Book Cliffs

The long line of cliffs and canyons rising north of the Grand Valley is not just scenery. It holds coal, and that coal shaped part of Mesa County’s working history.

The Book Cliffs region contains documented coal seams, and mining there was a real local industry. One well-known area is Cameo, east of Grand Junction off Interstate 70, long tied to coal and to a power plant that drew on it. The Colorado Geological Survey has mapped and described the county’s mineral resources, including coal, oil shale, and gas, so the story rests on official survey work, not guesswork.

Why care: the energy and mining past helps explain the roads, rail spurs, and place names east of town, and it is part of why the Western Slope’s economy has always had an extraction side alongside farming. Some of these areas are now public land used for recreation and wildlife.

For the documented geology and mining history of Mesa County, start with the Colorado Geological Survey’s mineral resources survey and the Bureau of Land Management for current land status.