Grand Mesa Country : Stories from Mesa and Delta Counties in Colorado

For those of you who think that everything significant that happens in Colorado happens on the Eastern Slope, Abbott Fay explains in detail why the counties of Mesa and Delta on the Western Slope have accumulated a significant degree of international interest over the years. For example: 1)McCall's magazine once published an article on Grand Junction entitled "America's Most Radioactive City;" 2) Tom "Silent" Smith, the man who trained "Seabiscuit," lived in Grand Junction and worked on a ranch in Unaweep Canyon; and 3) in 1898, a huge apple was exhibited at the Delta County Fair in Delta, which is believed to have set a national record measuring twenty-seven inches in circumference, nine inches in diameter, and weighing thirty-four and three-quarter ounces.