Small Artifact Storage: Stop 15 Museum of the West Virtual Tour. Watch this short video to learn about a Museum of the West exhibit or collection to preview your field trip or for a virtual field trip if you are unable to attend in person. The Museum of the West is part of the Museums of Westen Colorado. Museum of the West Collections Manager, Matti Fisher, takes us into small artifact storage and explains how the museum cares for historic artifacts.

Spanish Explorers: Stop 1 Museum of the West Virtual Tour. Watch this short video to learn about a Museum of the West exhibit or collection to preview your field trip or for a virtual field trip if you are unable to attend in person. The Museum of the West is part of the Museums of Westen Colorado. Did you know that the Spanish once explored Western Colorado? Curator of History David Bailey describes the armor used by the early Spanish explorers and what life was like for them.

Spanish Explorers and the Mystery of the Redoubt Site: Stop 2 Museum of the West Virtual Tour. Watch this short video to learn about a Museum of the West exhibit or collection to preview your field trip or for a virtual field trip if you are unable to attend in person. The Museum of the West is part of the Museums of Westen Colorado. Did you know that the Spanish once explored Western Colorado? Why did the Spanish come to Western Colorado and what happened at the Redoubt Site? Curator of History and Director of the Western Investigations Team, David Bailey tells us more about why the Spanish were here and the unsolved mystery of the Redoubt Site.

The Stagecoaches and Mudwagons: Stop 11 Museum of the West Virtual Tour. Watch this short video to learn about a Museum of the West exhibit or collection to preview your field trip or for a virtual field trip if you are unable to attend in person. The Museum of the West is part of the Museums of Westen Colorado.

Museum to the West is a part of the Museums of Western Colorado. Curator of History Dave Bailey talks about the mud wagon stagecoach and what it would have been like to travel back in the Wild West. He explains where the term riding shotgun came from, and gives insight to why having inside information would have been important to stagecoach robbers at the time.

Mountain Men Social Studies Lesson 3 State of the Union is designed to be used with Mountain Man Artifact Kit. Lessons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 can be completed without the artifacts from the kit. These kits are available through Musuems of Western Colorado to D51 Teachers. This lesson can be adapted to use without the kit. Students will be able to: • describe how and why the United States territory grew during the 1800’s • explain how the Fur Trade had an effect on growth.

Mountain Men Social Studies Lesson 7 Tales of Jim Beckqourth is designed to be used with Mountain Man Artifact Kit. Lessons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 can be completed without the artifacts from the kit. These kits are available through Musuems of Western Colorado to D51 Teachers. This lesson can be adapted to use without the kit. Students will be able to: • analyze a primary document • develop their own skit to share with the class of the events from the autobiography.

Theodore Roosevelt: Stop 10 Museum of the West Virtual Tour. Watch this short video to learn about a Museum of the West exhibit or collection to preview your field trip or for a virtual field trip if you are unable to attend in person. The Museum of the West is part of the Museums of Westen Colorado. President Theodore Roosevelt was an avid hunter and conservationist. His travels even took him to Colorado! Join David Bailey as he tells us what Roosevelt's visit was like and how he found his dog, Skip, here in Colorado.

Documentary from the early 1980s close to when The Museums of Western Colorado purchased the Cross Orchard site and turned it into a living museum. The documentary shows early community involvement in activities at the museum including historical recreations of early pioneer life in the Grand Valley. The documentary itself is an artifact or primary source of the early 1980s in Grand Junction.

The Thrailkill Firearms Collection: Stop 6 Museum of the West Virtual Tour. Watch this short video to learn about a Museum of the West exhibit or collection to preview your field trip or for a virtual field trip if you are unable to attend in person. The Museum of the West is part of the Museums of Westen Colorado. Curator of History, David Bailey, explains the history behind the rifles used by mountain men and the guns used by famous and infamous residents of the Wild West!

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Mountain Men Social Studies Lesson 4 To Trap or Not Trap? is designed to be used with Mountain Man Artifact Kit. Lessons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 can be completed without the artifacts from the kit. These kits are available through Musuems of Western Colorado to D51 Teachers. This lesson can be adapted to use without the kit. Students will be able to: • understand the effects of the trapping industry on the environment • develop and defend an argument based on facts regarding the pros and cons of trapping.

The Original Coloradans Social Studies Lesson 1 designed to be used with The Original Coloradans Artifact Kit. Lessons 1, 2 and 4 can be completed without the artifacts from the kit. These kits are available through Musuems of Western Colorado to D51 Teachers. This lesson can be adapted to use without the kit. This pre-activity is designed to help students activate prior knowledge before they explore the kit of genuine artifacts. This activity should open the dialogue in class about what archaeologists do, and how they ask questions to uncover a story. Ultimately students are building an understanding of how studying our past helps us to better prepare for our future, while cultivating respect for natural and cultural resources. Students examine how trash can be useful to learn about a culture by examining a teacher created "midden."

Overview of the field of Paleontology for teachers. The resource covers a definition, career, fossils, dinosaurs, laws about collecting fossils, dating fossils, evolution, extinction events, and taxonomic diversity.

Cross Orchards is a part of the Museums of Western Colorado. Cross Orchards Curator Matt Darling tells us the history of the Uintah Railway. The Uintah railway ran from Mack, Colorado over the Bookcliffs to Dragon, Utah. It was the steepest most crooked railroad built in all of North America. It was a narrow gauge railroad with rails only 3 feet apart. A standard gauge railway has rails 4ft 8 inches apart. It hauled a mineral called Gilsonite. Gilsonite is a solid hydrocarbon used for making asphalt and paint.

The Uranium Boom: Stop 9 Museum of the West Virtual Tour. Watch this short video to learn about a Museum of the West exhibit or collection to preview your field trip or for a virtual field trip if you are unable to attend in person. The Museum of the West is part of the Museums of Westen Colorado. The Uranium boom made Grand Junction famous. Its nickname became “The City That Glows.” David Bailey explains the effect the Uranium boom had on Grand Junction.

The Ute People: Stop 4 Museum of the West Virtual Tour. Watch this short video to learn about a Museum of the West exhibit or collection to preview your field trip or for a virtual field trip if you are unable to attend in person. The Museum of the West is part of the Museums of Westen Colorado. The Ute people once called all of Colorado their home. Shortly before Grand Junction was founded, the Utes were forcibly removed to Utah. David Bailey describes what life was like for the Utes prior to their expulsion from the area.

Students watch a Ute History video and analyze artifacts from the Ute culture including weapons

Cross Orchards is a part of the Museums of Western Colorado. Our volunteer Kathy explains the origins of Victory Gardens and the place they can have for us today! A Victory Garden was a small food garden planted for defense and survival at private residences or public parks during WWI to help ensure people had enough to eat during the war.