Things To Do
Local Favorites
- Rimrocker Historical Society Museum
Open Memorial Day to Labor Day 1-5 PM
411 W. 2nd Ave. Naturita, CO 970.865.2551 - The Bedrock Store
Founded in 1887
9812 Hwy 90
Bedrock, CO
970.859.7395
Our History
Nucla
Nucla is located at 5823 feet above sea level at the base of the Uncompahgre Plateau and the San Miguel Basin. In 1894 a ditch company called the Colorado Cooperative Company organized a colony of it's members to build a 17 mile ditch to bring water from its head gate in the San Miguel Canyon northeast of Norwood to the head of the Tabequache plateau. The name Tabequache is an Indian word meaning "The Sunny Side'. The ditch reached completion in late 1904. The new town site, Nucla, was staked out on a little flat in Tabequache Park. The colonists not wanting to waste an acre of good farm land, situated the town site on a rocky hill unfit for farming. C.U. Williams, a member of the Company, proposed the name "Nucla" for the new town, he and many of colonists believing that it would become the nucleus of the area. The arrival of water to the Tabequache plateau was the beginning of farming and ranching that continues today.
Naturita
Naturita is located at 5431 feet above sea level on the San Miguel River 5 miles south of Nucla. In 1881, a man named Payson built the first cabin in Naturita. The following year Rockwood H. Blake built an adobe house in the east end of present town. The primary source of income due to the remoteness from a railroad was cattle. Cattle could be driven to railheads in Montrose or Placerville on the hoof. The cowboys driving cattle to Montrose would follow a trail over the Uncompahgre Plateau now taken by Highway 90. In 1900 Naturita was primarily a stopping-off place for freight wagons transporting copper ore from the Cashin Mine near Bedrock to the railroad in Placerville. Mrs. Rockwell Blake named Naturita, which means "Little Nature" in Spanish. Mrs. Blake designated the place with this unusual name because of it's beautiful setting beside the river, which contrasted sharply with the surrounding barren country.