Rangely is a
Statutory Town
A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...
in
Rio Blanco County,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
, United States. The population was 2,365 at the
2010 census.
Description
The town is home to one of two campuses of the
Colorado Northwestern Community College
Colorado Northwestern Community College is a public community college with campuses in Rangely and Craig, Colorado, plus online. The college participates in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association The National Intercollegiate Flying As ...
.
A post office called Rangely was established in 1884. The community was named after
Rangeley, Maine
Rangeley is a town in Franklin County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,222 at the 2020 census. Rangeley is the center of the Rangeley Lakes Region, a resort area. The town includes the villages of Rangeley and Oquossoc, as well a ...
, the native home of a local businessperson.
Geography
Rangely is located at (40.086181, -108.797944).
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...
, the town has a total area of , all of it land.
The terrain is mountain desert and is dry for most of the year.
Climate
According to the
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
system, Rangely has a
cold semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...
, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Rangely was on June 21, 1974, while the coldest temperature recorded was on February 15, 1895 and January 2, 1952.
History
The land is what makes the town o
Rangely'shistory interesting. The land is the base from which all human events unfold, whether it is the
geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
that brought the miners and oil men, or the water that brought the
Fremonts, the
Utes, the explorers, the ranchers.
To tell the story we must start back in the earlier history of the earth when a shallow sea encompassed most of the area aroun
Rangely 300 million years ago in what is labeled as the Pennsylvania and Permian geologic periods. During this time marine creatures would become fossils and can actually still be discovered aroun
Rangely Huge
dunes were formed on the edges of this sea and became
porous rock
Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void (i.e. "empty") spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. Strictly speaking, some tests measure ...
that is now known as th
Weber formation This formed what is called an "
anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...
."
Anticline
In structural geology, an anticline is a type of fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex up in which the hinge or crest is the ...
is a ridge-shaped fold of stratified rock in which the strata slope downward from the crest. Then, as the sea receded,
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
s left bones and the extensive plant growth became oil and coal.
The innumerable canyons, draws, and gullies of the area held creeks, rivers and streams which attracted the early
Fremont and
Ute peoples. The Fremont people migrated to th
Rangelyarea from the
Great Basin in south-central Utah between 400 B.C. - 650 A.D. What we know about the
Fremont comes from the artifacts they left in the area and from their homes and campsites which we find in the nearby
canyons. Evidence of the
Fremont people is plentiful in and aroun
Rangely for example, the rock art on Colorado 139 and Dragon Trail are both examples of Fremont Art. A Fremont dwelling i
Texas Creek Overlookwas an atypical dwelling for the Fremont people.
In many places aroun
Rangelythe art echoes images from other sites in the southwest. The art of the historical Utes records their history of conflict with the white settlers who began moving into the area in the 1800s. Their art is also the first to include horses originally brought by the Spanish.
The first recorded white settlers making a permanent home in the area were Mr. Joseph Studer and C.P. Hill
who came in 1882, the same year the Ute people were to be confined to reservations in southern Colorado and eastern Utah. Some time later Mr. Hill was joined by his relatives, among them a cousin
Lee S. Chase who named the town after Rangeley, Maine. Mr. Hil
l began ranching and opened a trading post. All supplies were freighted—first from Salt Lake City, Utah, by team and wagon, then from Grand Junction, Colorado, via Douglas Pass. By 1913 there were enough ranching and farming families in the area to necessitate the building of a large one-room school house (now located in the Rangely Outdoor Museum).
Interestingly, the Utes had long been aware of oil in the area. The first shallow wells drilled in 1903 produced about 10 barrels of oil per day
Chevronarrived in 1931. In 1932, after a year of drilling Raven A-1,
the first deep oil well, successfully reached the vast pocket of crude in the Weber formation at a depth of more than 6,000 feet, but there was no market for the 230 barrels it produced each day; however, the well was known as the most productive oil well of all time. The well was capped until everything changed for this sleepy little town with the large demand for oil required during the Second World War. Chevron reopened the Raven A-1
well and Rangely
became a booming oil camp.
By 1946 raising cattle and sheep, farming, shallow oil well drilling, and mining coal were no longer the principle industries. Deep well drilling was king. Tents, trolley cars, crude cabins and trailers took over the dozen homes. The one store, post office, filling station, library, pool hall,
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
first aid station, and hotel suddenly had competition from a slew of businesses, including motels, cafes, bars, cleaners, movie theater, bowling alley, and more. The school had been accredited up to three years of high school with senior year taken elsewhere, usually
Meeker, or forfeited. Company camps were built in many places in the valley, and in 1947 Rangely
was incorporated as a town with Fred Nichols voted in as Mayor.
In the 1960s the Rangely oil field was a major producer in the country and deemed such an important strategic asset that bomb shelters were built at the college and supplied with coats, blankets, food and water.
By 1949 there were 478 wells across 30 miles in the Weber formation. The peak rate of the area was 82,000 by 1956. Rangely's oil field was known as the Rangely Weber Sand Unit by 1998 and recovered more than 815 million barrels of oil, making it the largest field in the
Rocky Mountain Region. This Region has 406 producing wells, 351 injection wells and produces about one third of Colorado's oil production coming out to a huge 20,000 barrels a day. The Weber Basin, has recovered an additional 12 million barrels of oil from the shallower
Mancos Shale
The Mancos Shale or Mancos Group is a Late Cretaceous (Upper Cretaceous) geologic formation of the Western United States.
The Mancos Shale was first described by Cross and Purington in 1899 and was named for exposures near the town of Mancos, ...
at depths less than 2000 feet. The Sand Unit is a unitized field so is owned by many, but only Chevron USA Production operates the field. Major oil companies, smaller independent oil companies, trust and individuals numbering almost 30 share the expenses and the benefits of the field today. The Unit provides jobs for approximately 300 individuals and makes up about 70 percent of the property tax revenue for
Rio Blanco County.
In 2015,
Colorado Northwestern Community College
Colorado Northwestern Community College is a public community college with campuses in Rangely and Craig, Colorado, plus online. The college participates in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association The National Intercollegiate Flying As ...
, Rangely Campus, began the excavation of an important fossil dig of the bones and very rare skin and tendons of a
Duckbill Dinosaur which was located in Rangely
The Duckbill Dinosaur, which ultimately took on the name of Walter, was excavated and the fossils were airlifted to a federal repository on Colorado Northwestern Coummunity College's Craig Campuson Thursday, July 11, 2019. With this event, along with the formation of the town, one can see how the past continues to link with the present to make Rangely's story interesting and ongoing.
Historic places
Near Rangely are the following prehistoric
Fremont culture sites listed as National Register of Historic Places:
:
Prehistoric sites
:* Collage Shelter Site – dated from 500–1499 AD.
:*
Cañon Pintado – dated from 500–1899 AD.
:* Carrot Men
Pictograph
A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...
Site – dated from 500–1499 AD.
:* Fremont Lookout Fortification Site – dated from 0–1499 AD
Demographics
As of the 2000
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
,
there were 2,096 people, 749 households, and 546 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 899 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 94.42%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, 0.43%
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 1.05%
Native American, 0.43%
Asian, 1.62% from
other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.05% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 5.20% of the population.
There were 749 households, out of which 41.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.5% were
married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.1% were non-families. 23.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.05.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 28.3% under the age of 18, 14.4% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 7.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.4 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $41,276, and the median income for a family was $48,438. Males had a median income of $41,220 versus $25,242 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the town was $17,668. About 6.3% of families and 9.8% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 10.2% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over.
Landmarks
For decades, Rangely has been the location of an unused water tank, prized for its remarkable internal resonance, in which sounds may sustain for up to 40 seconds. Now known as The Tank Center for Sonic Arts, the 65-foot tower has been repurposed as a concert and recording venue.
Kenney Reservoir
Kenney Reservoir is located in Rio Blanco County, Colorado five mlies east of the town of Rangely along Colorado State Highway 64. The reservoir is owned and managed by the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District.
Dam
The dam, called Taylor Draw Da ...
is about five miles east of town along
Colorado State Highway 64
State Highway 64 (SH 64) is a two-lane state highway connecting the towns of Dinosaur and Meeker in the western part of the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located in both Moffat and Rio Blanco counties. The western end of SH 64 is part of the ...
. It offers camping, fishing, and boating.
See also
*
List of municipalities in Colorado
The U.S. State of Colorado has 272 active incorporated municipalities, comprising 197 towns, 73 cities, and two consolidated city and county governments. At the 2020 United States Census, 4,299,942 of the 5,773,714 Colorado residents (74.47%) ...
References
External links
*
CDOT map of the Town of Rangely
{{authority control
Towns in Rio Blanco County, Colorado
Towns in Colorado