Organizations

: Uintah Railway (Colorado and Utah); A railway line the Gilson Manufacturing Company created that ran from Crevasse, Colorado (later known as Mack, Colorado) to Black Dragon in order to mine natural asphalt from the Black Dragon uintaite vein. The railway was headquartered in Mack, Colorado. It’s final destination and turning point was Watson, Utah. It’s main mission was to haul gilsonite, but it also included one passenger car. According to Mesa County History Project interviewee Harry Sylvester Godby, the railroad served as the postal service for the route, delivering to mailboxes along the way. A passenger could board the train by waiting at one of the mailboxes until the train arrived. The Uintah also ran a stage line from Watson to Vernal. The railroad was directed by general manager M.W. Cooley, known as Captain Cooley. He resided in Mack and lived with his wife in the Mack Hotel. He was replaced by Major Hood. During the Depression, the company placed most of its workers on half-time, rather than firing them. When the Gilson Asphaltum Company, owner of the Uintah, found it was cheaper to truck gilsonite than it was to transport it by rail, it spelled the end of the Uintah. It ceased operations in 1939.

: Union High School District (Mesa County, Colorado); This school district formed at the consolidation of the Rhone, Star, Longfellow, Hunter, Loma, and Fruita districts in 1904. It was eventually absorbed into Mesa County School District 51.

: Union Oil Company (California); An oil company that held 18,000 acres of oil shale near De Beque, Colorado as of 1920. However, they ignored it in favor of a liquid oil strike in California. Union Oil became Unocal, and Unocal in turn was bought by Chevron and ceased independent operations.

: Union Pacific Railroad; The Union Pacific Railroad (UP) is a freight hauling railroad that operates 8,500 locomotives over 32,100 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana.

: United Fruit Growers Association (Mesa County, Colorado); An organization of fruit growers founded around 1920 by George W. Bowman, a Palisade resident and inventor of the Bowman picking sack. H.C. Huber, the Palisade postmaster, Albert Phillips, and Arthur Merle Echternach (secretary/treasurer) were also charter members. It was a strictly grower-run organization formed as an alternative to the Grand Junction Fruit Growers Association, which was a stock-based company and not a true cooperative. Beginning in 1937, Fred Powell managed the organization after coming from the Paonia Fruit Growers Association. According to peach grower and Palisade resident Marion Echternach, the United belonged to a larger cooperative called the Federated. This arrangement was profitable to the farmers, but the Federated went under. The United then contracted with the Blue Goose, a different fruit sales outfit. The farmers did not do well and so the United hired its own salesperson, a practice they maintained at least until 1982. Although the heyday of fruit growing in Palisade ended before 1970, by 1981 the UFGA marketed, packed, and shipped fruit produced by up to 60 growers in Palisade. Crops included, peaches, cherries, and apricots. They maintained a station in Clifton, which had been originally established by Mountain Lion Fruit, until 1979 when it was no longer profitable.

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