MM 110.5 JOHN BROWN CANYON ROAD
County Road 4.4 bears to the right. Driving about five
and 1/2 miles up this road will take you to the summit
overlooking the town of Castle Valley, UT. At the summit
in the canyon to the right is an area that has several
embedded dinosaur tracks. The road has been a major
transportation artery for many years despite its mostly
unpaved nature. It is part of the Gateway-Castleton Road
that connects the Colorado River Valley north of Moab
with the North Dolores River Valley. The road wastes no
time climbing out of the river canyon, then winds its way
over miles of highlands adjacent to the La Sal Mountains in
Utah. The Paradox and Kokopelli’s trails follow sections of
the road. It is well-maintained, but can be slippery during
late winter mud season, heavy summer rains and late fall
storms – no winter maintenance. The road is named after
a turn of the century rancher from Moab, UT who grazed
horses in nearby Kirks Basin. The road provides access to
the many carnotite mines overlooking Gateway. About 0.4
miles up the road an unobtrusive sign marks the end of the
Dynamite Trail that is part of the Gateway Trails system.
MM 106 GEOLOGY OF THE DOLORES RIVER CANYON
Pull o the Byway onto any number of wide spots in the
road, be aware of trac. Look to the southwest and
closely inspect the slopes of the brick red Moenkopi
Formation. Careful viewing will reveal scattered exposures
of white rock. The white rock is alabaster, a rare form of
relatively soft sedimentary rock that is used by sculptors.
Most alabaster is mined in Italy and is pure white. The
Dolores Canyon alabaster has streaks of pink running
through it. The alabaster deposits are on private property
so please don’t trespass.
This is a good place to observe the geologic strata that
make up the scenic North Dolores River Valley. The Byway
rests on the Cutler Formation consisting of interlayered
marine, freshwater and sand dune deposits that were
laid down from 280 to 240 million years ago. The Cutler
Formation creates a hodge-podge of slopes and clis. It is
particularly well exposed along the Cutler Rim Trail of the
Gateway Trails system. The brown and red sediments of
the Moenkopi Formation rest on top of the Cutler. Shale,
siltstone, limestone from a shallow sea, and tidal and
mudflats make up this formation. Approximate age of the
Moenkopi is 225 t0 215 million years old.
Resting on top of the Moenkopi Formation is the sloped
multi-colored Chinle Formation. Aged at around 210
million years old, this formation is made up of fine
deposits from stream and lake origins. The Chinle is well
known for uranium-bearing deposits of carnotite and
petrified wood. The Cli-forming Wingate Sandstone
sits on top of the Chinle Formation. These impressive
clis represent deposits of windblown sand that covered
most of the Colorado Plateau around 200 million years
ago. Deposits of the brown Kayenta Formation replace
the Wingate clis. Ledges and terraces characterize this
geologic layer. The salmon colored Entrada Formation
is next. The multi-hued clis of the fossil and dinosaur
bone bearing, uranium rich Morrison Formation are well
exposed on top of the Entrada.
MM 101.3 SALT CREEK/SINBAD VALLEY - COUNTY ROAD
Z 6 Interpretive Sign
County Road Z6 meets the Byway just before the
Salt Creek Bridge. Z6 follows Salt Creek some 4 plus
miles on an intermittently bumpy road until it reaches
Sinbad Valley. The high clis on the left form an almost
impenetrable barrier to Sewemup Mesa. About five miles
up this canyon there is a strange stain on the right side of
the canyon wall, it looks like a sailing ship. There is also a
copper mine on the right wall, called the Copper Nugget.
On the right is the Sinbad Valley and Sew em’ up Mesa
pullout. Sinbad Valley at the head of Salt Creek is a salt
valley created by the collapse of the sedimentary formations
on top of subterranean salt and gypsum deposits. Paradox
Valley to the south has the same origins.
The high mesa to the left of Salt Creek is Sew ‘Em Up
Mesa. It is one of the true wild places in western Colorado
and has been designated as a wilderness study area.
There are no formal trails to the mesa and only a few
natural breaks in the rimrock to allow passage. Back
in the 1890s rustlers took full advantage of the mesa’s
remoteness and limited access. Back in those days many
of the small ranching operations resorted to cattle rustling
to stay afloat. After cutting a few head of cattle from one
of the large cattle company’s herds, the rustlers would
hide the livestock in some protected pocket on the mesa,
then proceed to cut out the existing brand and sew ‘em up
to hide their deed. Once the cowboy surgery healed, they
were branded with the rustler’s brand.
Ahead the river canyon begins to narrow with clis rising
precipitously. Golden eagles and ravens frequent these
canyon walls. (High clearance vehicle & map needed.)
MM 99 PETROGLYPHS
Access a lightly used path on the cli side of the roadway.
Just a short walk from the roadway is a large boulder with
examples of petroglyphs.
MM 92.1 SEWEMUP MESA TRAILHEAD
Trailhead access is on the cli side of the roadway. From
the trailhead, hike up a good trail to a perched gravel bed
that has placer workings. Travel around the left side of the
workings and pick up a narrow trail marked by small rock
cairns. Follow the cairns up through a portion of broken-
down cli until you reach the top of a small knoll. From
here the views are expansive. The trail goes west passing
onto a number of small areas of slick rock, veering left on
the south side of a small sandstone topped hill. The trail
stops at the first good drainage to the west of the hill. The
trail (an old, abandoned cattle trail) is an entrance route
into the remote BLM Wilderness Study Area. From here,
cross-country travel in any direction is possible.
MM 91.5 THE SPRING
This is a natural spring with delicious, cool water.
The water is untreated. The seep emanates from the
interface between the Chinle and Wingate formations, and
the nearby rock is covered with mosses and water-loving
plants that inhabit this unique micro-environment.
A nice place to stop and refresh as travelers have done
for years.
MM 88.5 ROC CREEK
This was the headquarters of Roc Creek Ranches
established in the early 1900s. The town of Uranium
was once located here as well as the Rajah, the first big
uranium mine of the region.
MM 88 PETROGLYPHS
Walk from the mile marker on the north of the roadway,
stay left of the large boulder, and on to the rock face.
Several rock art etchings can be seen on this section of
the overhang, although they have worn down with time.
MM 86 MESA CREEK - COUNTY ROAD P 12
This graveled road provides access to the Mesa Creek
drainages, Blue Mesa and the Campbell Point Road.
The road quickly climbs to a bench that grades into the
meadows and flats along the North Fork of Mesa Creek –
notice Blue Mesa above on the left.
The Mesa Creek drainages have a wealth of backcountry
roads quite suitable for o-road vehicle adventures.
The Paradox Trail comes out of Blue Basin, then follows
P 16 Road out of the South Fork of Mesa Creek before
connecting with P 12 Road as it crosses Mesa Creek and
drops down to the Byway. High clearance vehicle + map
needed for backcountry travel.
MM 84 BISCUIT ROCK - COUNTY ROAD Q13
The big round rock is a local landmark. Just below is
a bridge where the road crosses the river and goes up
to Carpenter Ridge above Paradox Valley. There are
remainders of rock piles where the water carried from
the flume finally ended as it shot at the hillside. In the
cli below the road there is a big cave that has been
excavated by archaeologists over the years.
The dirt road crossing the bridge continues up to
Carpenter Ridge, which spans the length of the Paradox
Valley, west of here. This route is the western section
of the 166 mile long Rimrocker Trail, that crosses the
backcountry from Montrose, Colorado to Moab, Utah.
The 118 mile long Paradox Trail also crosses the Dolores
River at this point, allowing bikepacking mountain bikers
access to Red Canyon and Carpenter Ridge.
MM 83.4 COKE OVEN
On the west side of the road is a dome shaped coke
oven built in the 1880’s. Coal was heated in the oven
to produce coke, a combustible material that burns
practically smoke free. It is believed that coke from the
oven was used by blacksmiths during the construction of
the Hanging Flume.
MM 82.1 HORSE COLLAR & JOHN CHRISTIAN’S GRAVE
(Right) MAILMAN’S LADDER (Left)
A dirt road on both sides of the highway leads to these
interesting sites. Both are just a short hike o the
highway.
On the slickrock face to the left you can see the remnants
of a ladder etched in stone. The steps have worn down
over the years, and the handrail has fallen away. The
ladder was used in earlier days to go down to pick up mail
at a box along the road. Each evening a man would walk
down and back, bringing the mail for all the men working
in the mines in the area.
The road on the right points you toward a unique rock
formation on the opposite side of the river. Water runo
from above has washed a hole through the rocky cli and
falls a great distance to the bank of the river where it has
washed a small pond before entering the river. Old time
locals called this the Horse Collar.
Park your vehicle and hike down toward the rim. Slightly
to the left of the path is a grave marker for John Christian.
John was a member of the Royal Family of Denmark.
At the age of 21 all male members of the Royal Family
were expected to serve in the army. John did not want
to go, so he rowed his boat far out in the North Sea,
near a steamship that was bound for the U.S. He cleared
immigration and came West where he built a cabin near
here using wood from the flume, and worked for the Club
Ranch. He was a handyman and farrier for the ranch,
and an inventor. He created donkey “ice shoes”, and was
working on a perpetual motion machine. One day the
ranch owners stopped by with some groceries for John
and they found him dead. They buried him, marked his
grave with a stone, and burned the cabin.
MM 81.5 THE HANGING FLUME
Interpretive Signs
This kiosk tells a little of the history of the Hanging Flume
and oers a great overlook providing a bird’s eye view of
the Hanging Flume that clings to the canyon wall below.
In the late 1880s there was a major gold strike along Mesa
Creek Flats below the confluence of the San Miguel and
Dolores Rivers. The Montrose Placer Mining Company,
composed of wealthy St. Louis investors bought six-and-
a-half miles of mining claims along the rivers. The gold was
there, but in what quantity nobody knew. What they did
know was that they needed a large supply of water to wash
the gold from the gravel beds—four miles down river from
the confluence. When the flume builders ran out of earth
for a ditch, they constructed a wooden flume and hung it
onto the canyon walls high above the river. It was an open
water chute six feet wide and four feet high, built from 1.8
million board feet of lumber. It rested on brackets bolted
to the cli with the end of the bolts driven 18 inches into
the rock. Additional support came from a brace extending
diagonally down from the outer edge of each bracket
to a groove cut into the rock wall and anchored with a
spike driven through the wood and deep into the rock.
Sometimes the lumber was transported down the finished
flume bed, at other times the workers swung down from
the top of the cli in a bosun’s chair. Not one worker was
killed on the project. The flume transferred 80 million
gallons of water over a 24 hour period. The total length of
the ditch and flume was 13 miles. It functioned for three
years, but failed to turn a profit—the gold was too fine
and washed away with the hydraulic pressure. Today the
Hanging Flume is listed by the Worlds Monument Fund as
one of the “100 most endangered Sites in the World.
MM 80.9 MINING HISTORY
Interpretive Sign
After sorting ore from the rock, miners shipped the ore to
the mill and the rock spoils were dumped over the hills.
Look for similar mine dumps along the route.
MM 80.3 THE CONFLUENCE OF THE SAN MIGUEL &
DOLORES RIVERS OVERLOOK
On the west side of the road is a dirt road that will take you
to the canyon’s edge or by taking a short hike to the cli
edge will give you a long view of the confluence and the
river canyons. The Dominguez and Escalante Expedition
first named the Dolores River, “El Río de Nuestra Señora
de Dolores” or “The River of Our Lady of Sorrows”. The
San Miguel River was originally called “Rio de San Pedro”.
MM 79.7 CACTUS PARK RECREATION SITE
(site development, in progress)
A BLM day use site provides a stop to stretch your legs,
have a tailgate picnic & overlook the canyon of the
San Miguel River canyon.
MM 78.7 THE DONKEY
To the east on the red rock cli, the donkey was painted in
1955 by a miner who lived in a cave house. It symbolized
their use in the mines. The donkey has been painted many
dierent colors over the years.
MM 77.5 CLUB RANCH CORRALS
On the river side of the roadway, the corrals are one of the
few remaining remnants of the Club Ranch that occupied
the river bottom where Uravan was built. Lumber for the
corrals reportedly came from the Hanging Flume.
These corrals also held the livestock used at Uravan.
About the Club Ranch, in the 1880s, Dr. Dearborn, a
retired army doctor, got an option on placer claims and
range land along the San Miguel River. He enticed friends
back East to partner with him and form the San Miguel
Cattle Company. They bought herds of cattle that were
coming up from Texas, and at one time the Club ran
10,000 head of cattle on their range. The ranch changed
hands several times until about 1910 when Standard
Chemical bought the property on the west side of the river.
The ranch was named after the “clubs” card suit.
MM 77.5 ATKINSON MESA - COUNTY ROAD S 17
The road provides access to Atkinson Mesa and all its
backcountry routes, including the Rimrocker Trail. The
maze of backcountry roads on the mesa is enjoyed by
Jeepers, ATV’ers and mountain bikers. The mesa is littered
with old mines and remnants of the uranium mining era.
Carnotite ore wasn’t the only thing miners hauled out of
those mines. There are many stories of huge dinosaur
bones mixed in with the ore.
MM 76.4 Y 11 ROAD (RIVER ROAD) & SHAMROCK TRAIL
After turning west on Y 11 Road (maintained gravel road),
continue down the river on the west side of the San MIguel
River. Locals know this route as the “River Road” as it
connects the old town of Uravan to Bedrock. This is an
enjoyable canyon drive and the perfect viewing area for
the historic remnants of the flume. The popular hiking
and biking Shamrock Trail is accessed to west of Y11
Road just past the old Black Bridge. The confluence of the
San Miguel & Dolores Rivers is a popular recreation spot
for fishing, dispersed camping, picnicking and outdoor
recreation.
Flume Reconstruction Project - In 2012, with the support
of History Colorado and private funders, teams of experts
came together here to find the answer to “how did they
do that?” 48 feet of the flume has been re-built (using
modern day tools) in five days, working over the edge of
the cli here. The project can be viewed, as well as an
informative kiosk, on a short side trip, 3.2 miles down the
River Rd./County Road Y 11.
MM 76 PUBLIC LAND ACCESS - ROAD U 18
This road leads up to a great viewing spot where you can
take in the whole layout of Uravan. The road once led to
the Uravan Airport, no longer in existence.
MM 76 GHOST TOWN OF URAVAN
Interpretive Sign
In 1914 Standard Chemical built the Joe Jr. Mill here,
to process carnotite ore that was being mined locally.
At this time radium was recovered from the ore and used
for radiology research and painting luminous dials.
By 1918 the company owned 375 mining claims in the
area and employed 200 men in its southwestern Colorado
plants. The company ultimately produced 74 grams of
radium (at $70,000 a gram), roughly 47% of the country’s
entire domestic radium production.
In 1928 U S Vanadium (USV) bought this property,
including the ore processing mill, and developed the
town, giving it a new name: Uravan—for URAnium +
VANadium. It grew into a bustling company town of
1,500 people, with all the modern amenities of the
times. They operated 940 local mines and processed
240 tons of ore a day for vanadium, used in hardening
steel in war armaments. There were 4,000 workers in
the total operations. In the 1940s, uranium was milled
here under the Manhattan Project and used in the first
atomic bombs. Following WWII, Uranium was processed
for peaceful purposes. After years of booms and busts, in
1984 the Uranium industry in this area finally shut down.
In December of 1986, the last resident left “kicking and
screaming”. The town was dismantled, shredded, and
buried as part of a Superfund cleanup project.
MM 75.7 STORAGE CAVE
Look carefully on the cli side of the roadway to spot this
opening, mining blasting supplies were stored here during
Uravan’s mining days.
MM 74.2 URAVAN BALL PARK CAMPGROUND / Kiosk
This park was dedicated on July 4, 1957 as the Carbide
Recreation Park. It consisted of a picnic area and
grassy baseball field—complete with lights, and was
a popular spot for the people of Uravan and the West
End community. The Rimrocker Historical Society
maintains this historic site as a picnic and campground.
The campground serves as an outdoor recreation hub
due to it’s easy access to public land. Popular access
points include; Y11 Road, U18, EE22 Road (Hieroglyphic
Canyon), V19 Road, S17 Road & W19 Road.
MM 74.2 TABEGUACHE CREEK - County Road V 19
Just before crossing the highway bridge County Road V
19 is on the left. Site of the 1880 gold mining town of
Cameville. Another one of the many natural surface roads
along the Byway, the road parallels Tabeguache Creek
briefly, crosses the creek then switches back to the rim as
it heads east over open flats before reaching County Road
Z 26. Another access point to the Rimrocker Trail.
The mouth of Tabeguache Creek is on the left as the
highway crosses the river. It’s one of the major drainages
coming o the south side of the Uncompahgre Plateau.
Inside the creek’s canyon walls is some rough terrain, but
that’s what makes exploring it that much more fun.
MM 74 NATURE CONSERVANCY - SAN MIGUEL RIVER
TABEGUACHE PRESERVE
The 250-acre property runs along the river for 2 ½ miles
preserving vital riparian habitat. One of the first reports
of Black Phoebe’s establishing nesting sites in western
Colorado some 20 years ago came from this area. It’s a
nice place to stop for lunch or a break.
MM 64.3 CALAMITY ROAD (NUCLA LOOP)
Both the Juan Rivera Expedition of 1765 and the
Dominguez and Escalante Expedition of 1776 were in
this area. Escalante writes in their journal that they “went
up a rather high and steep incline, but not too rocky, and
started over an extensive mesa…” Scholars feel that this
was Calamity Draw (see MM 62.3). In the early 1900s
this bridge washed out, and probably lent its story to
the naming of the road, bridge, and draw. Also, along
this stretch of highway you can see rockwork supporting
the old roadbed. The road was rebuilt from old mining
2-track to a graded road during the Roosevelt era, by the
Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC). Highway 141 has been
redirected and upgraded many times during its existence.
MM 62.4 JUNCTION CO HWY 141 & HWY 90
PARADOX/BEDROCK SPUR
The west segment of Highway 90 begins, winding up Dry
Creek on its way to Paradox Valley. It’s worth a side trip
o the Byway to visit Paradox Valley. The highway travels
along the valley floor. Red rock clis rise on both sides of
the valley. The valley received its name from A.C. Peale,
a member of the 1875 Hayden Survey. Peale noted that
the Dolores River didn’t run through the valley, but across
it, splitting it in two. Paradox Valley is one of several salt
valleys created by the action of subterranean salt. The
salt was deposited by an ancient inland sea that dried
up, and the remaining salt and gypsum covered over by
subsequent geologic deposition.
BEDROCK - Near the center of the Paradox Valley is the
town of Bedrock. The town of Bedrock was established in
1883. The Bedrock Post Oce opened on November 8,
1883. The town’s general store and post oce were built
on solid rock, hence the name. Fun Fact: Bedrock is also
the name of the fictional town setting of The Flintstones
animated television series.