Green River, UT

Explorer John Wesley Powell and nine men floated past the breathtaking beauty around what is now Green River, Utah, in 1869 on his famed expedition into and through the Grand Canyon, and things in Green River haven’t changed much since.

The river and town are one, and those who come through today are travelers still. Many come for the river—the rafting, canoeing, and kayaking—and others to explore the red rock canyons and buttes, lonesome plateaus, or the spectacular San Rafael Swell west of town.

Tourism is the town’s main industry, lying as it does amid such natural splendor.

“We have 10 motels and two new ones going in, 10 restaurants, and two truck stops. The truck stops fill up every night,” explains Louise Sherill, a 55-year resident, who works for the Grand County Travel Council.

“Green River is the halfway point between Denver and Las Vegas. It’s a great place for travelers to stop.”

The town began as a mail stop in 1878, nine years after Powell’s visit, but the completion of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway in 1883 transformed Green River (pop. 860 today) into a shipping point for livestock, mining equipment, and supplies.

The river and railroad aren’t all that run through it; Interstate 70 carries travelers east and west—and Green River is the last place on the highway for westward-bound drivers to eat, sleep, or fuel up before heading on to Salina, Utah, 105 miles away. This represents the longest stretch without services on America’s interstate highway system, says Sherill, so it is a natural place for a stopover.

Agriculture and ranching have been important to the Green River economy from the beginning. Although the dry climate is not suitable for many crops, it is ideal for growing melons. In the 1920s, a hard-skinned melon variety called the winter melon became well known and helped put the town on the map. Melons are still an important crop, and the annual “Magic Melon Days” celebration in September is a highlight of the fall.

The town is home to the John Wesley Powell River History Museum, which opened in 1990 and attracts visitors from all over the world. “Every year we get people from every state in the union. We also get people from 30 to 35 countries like England, France, Germany, and Japan,” says Verna Watterson, a museum volunteer.

The teaching museum focuses on Powell’s explorations and the area’s geology, along with the river itself, whose 730-mile course begins in Wyoming’s Wind River Mountains, weaves briefly into northwestern Colorado, and finally into Utah. It then joins up with the Colorado River, 120 miles south of town. Powell, who lost an arm in the Civil War, navigated and mapped the river with his party between 1869 and 1872—daring the river rapids in wooden boats.

Tourism is the town’s main industry. People not only pass through in preparation for river trips, but also use the location as a launching point for the exploration of places such as Green River State Park.

“A lot of people come to see the San Rafael Swell, which is an uplifted area where you can go hiking, biking, four-wheeling to see the petroglyphs, and enjoy the scenery,” says Watterson, who, along with her husband, is a custodian of the museum’s grounds.

The swell, a million-acre span of deep canyons, enormous rock walls, arches, and pinnacles carved out over time by wind and water, is only one of many geological wonders in the area. Ten miles south of town on a dirt road, cold-water Crystal Geyser erupts irregularly several times a day. Desolation and Gray Canyons also beckon explorers.

“The people of Green River are very friendly, very relaxed, don’t have a bustle, hustle attitude,” says Watterson, “which makes it nice for people passing through.”

As they have been doing since John Wesley Powell started the trend in 1869.

Anne García is a freelance writer from Nederland, Colo.

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