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39-778: The Yampa ( Yapudttka , Yampadttka , Yamparka , Yamparika ) lived in the Yampa River Valley area and north of White River of the present-day state of Colorado near the Parianuche who lived to the south. They were called " root eaters". The tribe was relocated to the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation . The Parianuche ( Pahdteeahnooch , Pahdteechnooch , Parianuc ) lived in the Colorado River valley (or Grand Valley ) in western Colorado and eastern Utah. They are called "elk people" and Grand River Utes. The tribe

78-727: A branch of the Utes moved into the Yampa River basin. The White River Utes inhabited the valleys of the Yampa and White Rivers and the Rockies of northwestern Colorado. The band living in the Yampa River valley was known as the Yamparika or Yapudttka Utes. At times the river also served as a boundary between the Utes and Shoshone peoples to the north; there was also a band of Shoshone called

117-449: A compromise that eliminated Echo Park Dam and authorized the rest of the project. The Colorado River Storage Project Act became law on April 11, 1956. It stated, "that no dam or reservoir constructed under the authorization of the Act shall be within any National Park or Monument." Places on the list of National Register of Historic Places include: The Dinosaur National Monument sits on

156-541: A limited impact on its flow). In December, 2006, a report proposed to pump water from the Yampa River 200 miles east, under the Continental Divide , to the state's major cities along the Front Range . The diversion was proposed to start near Maybell , 20 miles (32 km) downstream of Craig, Colorado . The proposal faces widespread opposition because it could lower river flows in late summer due to

195-650: A nearly complete skull, the lower jaw, and first four neck vertebrae. The specimen was found at the base of the Mussentuchit Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation and is the holotype for the description. Paleontologist Earl Douglass of the Carnegie Museum discovered eight vertebra of an Apatosaurus on August 17, 1909, which became the first dinosaur skeleton discovered and excavated at the new Carnegie Quarry. The area around

234-630: A rare riparian forest type consisting of narrowleaf cottonwood , box elder and red-osier dogwood that was once more common in the Upper Colorado River Basin. The Yampa's warm, silty waters are an ideal spawning ground for native fish such as the Colorado pikeminnow and humpback chub which have largely disappeared from dammed waterways in other parts of the Colorado River system. Archaeological studies conducted in

273-532: A ten-dam, billion dollar Colorado River Storage Project began to arouse opposition in the early 1950s when it was announced that one of the proposed dams would be at Echo Park , in the middle of Dinosaur National Monument. The controversy assumed major proportions, dominating conservation politics for years. David Brower , executive director of the Sierra Club , and Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society led an unprecedented nationwide campaign to preserve

312-519: A vast area of desert land in Northwestern Colorado and Northeastern Utah. Typical of high deserts, summer temperatures can be exceedingly hot, while winter temperatures can be very cold. Snowfall is common, but the snow melts rapidly in the arid and sunny climates of these states. Rainfall is very low, and the evaporation rate classifies the area as desert, even though the rainfall exceeds 10 inches. The "Wall of Bones" located within

351-540: Is Dinosaur while the nearest city is Vernal, Utah . Originally preserved in 1915 to protect its famous Dinosaur Quarry, the monument was greatly expanded in 1938 to include its wealth of natural history. The park's wild landscapes, topography, geology, paleontology, and history make it a unique resource for both science and recreation. The park contains over 800 paleontological sites and has fossils of dinosaurs including Allosaurus , Deinonychus , Abydosaurus , and various sauropods . The Abydosaurus consists of

390-637: The Depression under the Transient Relief Service and later under the Works Progress Administration. This work included constructing a road to the quarry, removal of overburden covering the bone-bearing strata, and building of a small, temporary museum. World War II interrupted work, but this was resumed in 1951 with the building of a small metal building over the east portion of the quarry to test whether bone

429-608: The Dinosaur National Monument have revealed evidence of human habitation up to 7000 BC. The Fremont culture or Desert Archaic people inhabited the Yampa River basin starting about 800 AD, but disappeared for reasons uncertain during the 1400s. The Fremont created petroglyphs along the Yampa River Canyon, of which more than 300 are still visible today. After the collapse of the Fremont culture,

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468-610: The Dinosaur Quarry building in the park consists of a steeply tilted (67° from horizontal) rock layer which contains thousands of dinosaur fossils . The preserved section is only a portion of what was originally present when Douglass made his discovery as seen on the map above. When work ceased in 1922, a portion of the quarry was left for future development. This work began as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's Civil Works Administration, which provided employment during

507-689: The Fremont culture is unclear. Recent theories suggest that the Fremont's lifestyle may have changed due to drought or other climate factors, dwindling natural resources, or the influence of other neighboring cultures. They left evidence of their presence in the form of petroglyphs and pictographs of human and animal figures, and abstract designs. Human figures typically have trapezoidal bodies and elaborate decorations that suggest headdresses , earrings, necklaces, or shields. The animal figures include bighorn sheep, birds, snakes, and lizards. Purely abstract or geometric designs, such as circles, spirals, and various combinations of lines, are common. Many designs in

546-710: The Yampa River basin to the north. The Continental Divide runs along the north and east sides of the Yampa basin, separating it from the headwaters of the North Platte River , which flows into the Mississippi River system. On the south, the Yampa River basin is bordered by that of the White River , which like the Yampa flows in a westerly direction to join the Green. The Yampa River is a typical Western snow-fed stream, but unlike most other rivers in

585-592: The Yampa flows through a wider valley in the western foothills of the Rockies. It receives the Elk River from the north, then passes the towns of Milner and Hayden . After entering Moffat County the Yampa passes Craig and is joined by the Williams Fork . West of Craig, the Yampa crosses arid, sparsely populated sagebrush country for about 50 miles (80 km) before reaching Cross Mountain Canyon, where

624-473: The Yamparika. The name Yamparika is a Snake Indians word meaning "yampa eaters", "yampa" referring to the edible roots of the Perideridia plant. "Yampa" itself probably meant "water-plant" or "common plant". In 1843 explorer John C. Frémont was among the first to record the name "Yampah", finding this plant to be of particular abundance in the watershed. Some fur traders in the 1800s thought Yampa

663-810: The agent and U.S. Army Commander Thomas Thornburgh in two separate conflicts. There were also Utes and other whites killed in what was called the Meeker Massacre and the Thornburgh ambush. This ultimately led to the White River Utes being moved to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah. A small number of White River Utes were resettled on the Cheyenne River Reservation , South Dakota , in 1906 and 1907, being allocated 4 townships totalling 92,160 acres. That land remains in

702-833: The area of what is now Dinosaur National Monument before the 14th century, with archaeological evidence dating from c. 200 to c. 1300. Archaeologists first studied and named the Fremont culture along the Fremont River in south-central Utah and have since traced it through much of the Green and Colorado River drainages. The Fremont did not build large permanent dwellings; instead, they lived in small bands within natural shelters, such as rock overhangs or shallow caves, or small villages. They consumed plant foods, such as pine nuts , berries, and cactus fruits, as well as wild game, including mule deer , bighorn sheep , smaller mammals, and birds. They also grew corn, beans, and squash, sometimes using irrigation techniques. The fate of

741-461: The compromise to preserve Echo Park, the controversial Glen Canyon and Flaming Gorge dam projects were allowed to move forward, damming the Colorado and Green Rivers, respectively. Today the Yampa remains the only major tributary in the Colorado River system without a single large dam along its course (the moderately sized Stagecoach Dam , built 1989 and several others on the headwaters have only

780-546: The confluence of the Bear River and Phillips Creek, near the town of Yampa . The Bear River, larger of the two, flows from a source of 11,600-foot (3,500 m) at Derby Peak in the Flat Tops Wilderness . The Yampa River then flows north through a high mountain valley, through Stagecoach Reservoir and Lake Catamount, before reaching Steamboat Springs , where it turns sharply west. Below Steamboat Springs,

819-430: The confluence of the Green is 2,154 cubic feet per second (61 m /s), averaging 5,400 cu ft/s (153 m /s) during the spring runoff of April–July, and falling below 500 cu ft/s (14 m /s) during late summer and autumn. The upper section of the river freezes over between December and March. According to a U.S. Geological Survey stream gage at Deerlodge Park, about 50 miles (80 km) above

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858-450: The dinosaur beds as Dinosaur National Monument in 1915. The monument boundaries were expanded in 1938 from the original 80 acres (0.13 sq mi; 0.32 km ) surrounding the dinosaur quarry in Utah, to 210,844 acres (329 sq mi; 853 km ) in Utah and Colorado, encompassing the river canyons of the Green and Yampa . The plans made by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on

897-569: The diversion. Dinosaur National Monument Dinosaur National Monument is an American national monument located on the southeast flank of the Uinta Mountains on the border between Colorado and Utah at the confluence of the Green and Yampa rivers. Although most of the monument area is in Moffat County, Colorado , the Dinosaur Quarry is located in Utah, north of the town of Jensen, Utah . The nearest Colorado town

936-619: The former northern part of the Cheyenne River Reservation. Their communities are Iron Lightning and Thunder Butte . Yampa River The Yampa River flows 250 miles (400 km) through northwestern Colorado , United States . Rising in the Rocky Mountains , it is a tributary of the Green River and a major part of the Colorado River system. The Yampa is one of the few free-flowing rivers in

975-469: The free-flowing rivers and scenic canyons of the Green and Yampa Rivers. They argued that if a national monument was not safe from development, how could any wildland be kept intact? On the other side of the argument were powerful members of Congress from western states, who were committed to the project in order to secure water rights, obtain cheap hydroelectric power and develop reservoirs as tourist destinations. After much debate, Congress settled on

1014-478: The hard rock to reveal the excavated fossil bones in-situ. In July 2006, the Quarry Visitor Center was closed due to structural problems that since 1958 had plagued the building because it was built on unstable clay. The decision was made to build a new facility elsewhere in the monument to house the visitor center and administrative functions, making it easier to resolve the structural problems of

1053-621: The monument are accessible for close viewing, along four trails in Utah, one of which is near the visitor center, and a fifth trail in Colorado. The dinosaur fossil beds ( bone beds ) were discovered in 1909 by Earl Douglass , a paleontologist working and collecting for the Carnegie Museum of Natural History . He and his crews excavated thousands of fossils and shipped them back to the museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for study and display. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed

1092-540: The mouth, the average river flow was 2,082 cu ft/s (59.0 m /s) between 1983 and 2013. The highest annual mean was 4,431 cu ft/s (125.5 m /s) in 2011, and the lowest 678 cu ft/s (19.2 m /s) in 2002. Monthly recorded average flows were highest in May at 8,200 cu ft/s (230 m /s) and lowest in September at 342 cu ft/s (9.7 m /s). The highest recorded peak flow

1131-624: The national monument, about 5 miles (8.0 km) from the Colorado– Utah border. The Yampa drains 7,660 square miles (19,800 km ) of mostly semi-arid plateau country in northwestern Colorado and a small portion of southern Wyoming. The bulk of the watershed is located between the Park Range, to the east; the Flat Tops, to the south; and the Uinta Mountains , to the west. The Great Divide Basin , an area of closed drainage , borders

1170-603: The quarry building while still retaining a portion of the historic Mission 66 era exhibit hall. It was announced in April 2009 that Dinosaur National Monument would receive $ 13.1 million to refurbish and reopen the gallery as part of the Obama administration's $ 750 billion stimulus plan. The Park Service successfully rebuilt the Quarry Exhibit Hall, supporting its weight on 70-foot steel micropile columns that extend to

1209-580: The quarry was declared a national monument on October 4, 1915. The International Dark-Sky Association designated Dinosaur National Monument an International Dark Sky Park in April 2019. The rock layer enclosing the fossils is a sandstone and conglomerate bed of alluvial or river bed origin known as the Morrison Formation from the Jurassic Period some 150 million years old. The dinosaurs and other ancient animals were carried by

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1248-555: The river slices a 1,000 ft (300 m) deep gap through the namesake mountain. Below Cross Mountain the Yampa enters the open valley of Lily Park, where it is joined by its largest tributary, the Little Snake River . Further west it enters Dinosaur National Monument , where it traverses more than 40 miles (64 km) of rugged canyons and rapids. The Yampa joins the Green in Echo Park at Steamboat Rock deep within

1287-498: The river system which eventually entombed their remains in Utah. The pile of sediments were later buried and lithified into solid rock. The layers of rock were later uplifted and tilted to their present angle by the mountain building forces that formed the Uinta Mountains during the Laramide orogeny . The relentless forces of erosion exposed the layers at the surface to be found by paleontologists. The Fremont people lived in

1326-497: The western United States its seasonal discharge patterns are not affected by large dams and water projects. The river forms a noticeably wide, shallow braided stream throughout much of its course. The lower three fourths of the Yampa, from the Elk River down, are navigable by small craft. However the meandering, shallow nature of the river can render the river unnavigable during late summer in low water years. The average flow at

1365-671: The western United States, with only a few small dams and diversions. The name is derived from the Snake Indians word for the Perideridia plant, which has an edible root. John C. Frémont was among the first to record the name 'Yampah' in entries of his journal from 1843 , as he found the plant was particularly abundant in the watershed. The headwaters of the Yampa are in the Park Range in Routt County, Colorado as

1404-565: Was 33,200 cu ft/s (940 m /s) during the record snowmelt of May 18, 1984. Because the Yampa River maintains a relatively natural flow pattern, it supports a productive riparian zone environment along much of its course. In addition, much of the river is unconstrained by levees allowing it to maintain its natural floodplain . This is also true of its main tributary, the Little Snake River. The Yampa River Preserve 17 miles (27 km) west of Steamboat Springs protects

1443-583: Was abundant enough to warrant a larger, more permanent building. This more permanent building was erected in the mid-1950s as part of the National Park Service Mission 66 plan. The architectural design was high controversial for its ultra-modern use of glass, steel and concrete ramp that spiraled around a cylindrical office tower. The building opened at the dedication ceremony on June 1, 1958. The design had two levels and abundant natural light so that visitors could watch technicians remove

1482-407: Was relocated to the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation . The White River Utes were pressured to give up their hunter-gatherer lifestyle and take up farming in 1879. This was pressed upon them by an Indian agent, Nathan Meeker , through a number of means, destruction of Ute ponies, starvation, and sending for the military. The Utes took a defensive stand against the military and the agent, killing

1521-513: Was the Ute word for "bear", and the Yampa was often called the Bear River on early maps. During the 1960s, the Yampa and Green River canyons were slated to be flooded under a reservoir created by Echo Park Dam , a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water project. Due to environmentalists' opposition, this dam was never built, and the free-flowing character of the Yampa was retained. However, as part of

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