Rio Blanco County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,529. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

is Meeker. The name of the county is the

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in th ...

name for the White River which runs through it.

History

Rio Blanco County was created on March 25, 1889, when it was split from Garfield County. The town of Meeker became the county seat. On May 17, 1973, Rio Blanco County became one of two counties in Colorado to have a peaceful nuclear explosion as a part of

Operation Plowshare Project Plowshare was the overall United States program for the development of techniques to use nuclear explosives for peaceful construction purposes. The program was organized in June 1957 as part of the worldwide Atoms for Peace efforts. As ...

. There were three nearly simultaneous explosions targeted at fracking oil, all detonated as Project Rio Blanco. The other county is Garfield County under Project Rulison.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.06%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Moffat County - north * Routt County - northeast * Garfield County - south * Uintah County,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

- west

Major Highways

State Highway 13 * Colorado 64

State Highway 64 * Colorado 139

State Highway 139

National protected areas

* Routt National Forest *

White River National Forest White River National Forest is a National Forest in northwest Colorado. It is named after the White River that passes through its northern section. It is the most visited National Forest in the United States, primarily from users of the twelv ...

* Flat Tops Wilderness

Scenic byways

* Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway National Scenic Byway * Flat Tops Trail Scenic Byway

State parks and wildlife areas

* Colorow Mountain State Wildlife Area

Demographics

At the 2000 census there were 5,986 people, 2,306 households, and 1,646 families living in the county. The population density was 2 people per square mile (1/km²). There were 2,855 housing units at an average density of 1 per square mile (0/km²). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the county was 95.01% White, 0.18% Black or African American, 0.77% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 2.02% from other races, and 1.74% from two or more races. 4.94% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 2,306 households 35.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.10% were married couples living together, 7.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.60% were non-families. 24.80% of households were one person and 8.70% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 2.98. The age distribution was 26.50% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 27.50% from 25 to 44, 25.60% from 45 to 64, and 11.20% 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 101.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.60 males. The median household income was $37,711 and the median family income was $44,425. Males had a median income of $38,125 versus $19,940 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,344. About 6.70% of families and 9.60% 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 11.60% of those under age 18 and 10.40% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Rio Blanco is an overwhelmingly Republican county in Presidential elections. It was along with

Clark County, Idaho Clark County is a rural county in the U.S. state of Idaho; its county seat and largest city is Dubois. As of the 2020 Census, the county had a population of 790, making it the least populous county in the state. History Establishment of stage ...

and

Kane County, Utah Kane County is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 7,125. Its county seat and largest city is Kanab. History The county was created on January 16, 1864, by the Utah Territory legislature ...

one of only three counties west of the Continental Divide to vote for

Alf Landon Alfred Mossman Landon (September 9, 1887October 12, 1987) was an American oilman and politician who served as the 26th governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 1936 presidential el ...

over Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1936. In that election Rio Blanco was Landon's strongest county in the eleven western states, marginally shading normal Republican “banner county” Kane. Since that time only two Democrats –

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

in 1948 and Lyndon Johnson who narrowly carried the county in 1964 – have obtained over forty percent of the county's vote. In fact, since 1968 only one Democratic presidential candidate, Michael Dukakis in 1988, and him only very marginally, has topped thirty percent of Rio Blanco County's ballots. In other statewide elections, Rio Blanco County also leans Republican, although it was carried by Democrat

Roy Romer Roy Rudolf Romer (born October 31, 1928) is an American politician who served as the 39th Governor of Colorado from 1987 to 1999, and subsequently as the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2000 to 2006. Family and e ...

in 1990 – when he carried all but four counties statewide – and by Constitution Party candidate

Tom Tancredo Thomas Gerard Tancredo (; born December 20, 1945) is an American politician from Colorado, who represented the state's sixth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009 as a Republican. He ran for Pres ...

in 2010. Rio Blanco County was also carried by Democratic Senatorial candidate “Nighthorse” Campbell in 1992, although since then no Democratic candidate for this office has surpassed thirty percent since.

Communities

Towns

* Meeker (county seat) * Rangely

Unincorporated communities

Buford Buford may refer to: Places United States *Buford, Arkansas *Buford, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Buford, Georgia *Buford Highway corridor, in Fulton, DeKalb, and Gwinnett Counties in Georgia * Buford, North Dakota *Buford, Ohio *Bufo ...

* White River City

References

External links

Rio Blanco County Government website

Colorado Historical Society
{{authority control Colorado counties 1889 establishments in Colorado Populated places established in 1889