Monticello

History

The Old Spanish Trail trade route passed through the area of Monticello from 1829 into the 1850s. Monticello was one of the many cities established by Mormon pioneers in the Utah Territory, which became the State of Utah. In that year, on a journey to northern Utah from the San Juan River settlements, Apostles Erastus Snow and Brigham Young Jr. passed through the current site of Monticello. They were quite impressed by it, and this encounter was one of the key factors behind LDS settlement there a few years later. After struggling to farm along the unpredictable San Juan River, leaders began to look to settle the higher country at the base of the Abajo Mountains, also known as the Blue Mountains, where several streams and springs descended from the mountain. Piute Springs, Soldier's Spring, and Montezuma Creek were a few of the water sources in the area named by passersby. They first set up camp at Verdure near the South Fork of Montezuma Creek on March 11, 1887, six miles (10 km) south of what is now Monticello. The Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) began construction of a vanadium mill in Monticello in 1941 in response to the increased demand for radioactive material brought about by World War II. In 1943, VCA began producing a uranium-vanadium sludge for the Manhattan Engineer District. During these years the mill at Monticello processed large amounts of ore taken from the canyons of southeastern Utah. Efforts have been made and are ongoing to secure compensation for the illness or death of family members exposed to the mill tailings. In 2009, legislation was passed to provide free cancer screening to residents who lived in Monticello between 1941 and 2000.

Geography

Monticello is located in the Four Corners area of the Colorado Plateau. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.6 square miles (6.7 km2), all land, making it the largest city in the county in terms of area. |source 2 = XMACIS2 }}

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Common Raven

  Corvus corax Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  444
• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  236
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  230
• Red-tailed Hawk

  Buteo jamaicensis (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  193
• Northern Flicker

  Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  190
• Spotted Towhee

  Pipilo maculatus Swainson, 1827 · Aves
  180
• Dark-eyed Junco

  Junco hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  160
• Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay

  Aphelocoma woodhouseii (S.F.Baird, 1858) · Aves
  154

Most recent

• M 4.32 — 2020-12-20
  28 km E of La Sal, Utah
• M 3.31 — 2020-12-20
  28 km E of La Sal, Utah
• M 3.65 — 2020-12-08
  28 km E of La Sal, Utah
• M 3.81 — 2020-11-08
  28 km E of La Sal, Utah
• M 3.41 — 2020-09-16
  29 km E of La Sal, Utah
• M 2.61 — 2020-07-12
  29 km E of La Sal, Utah