Organizations

: Gallavan Produce (Colo.)

: Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial

: Garfield County Public Library District

: Gateway-Uravan Stage (Colorado); A stage line and mail carrier that ran from Grand Junction to Gateway and Uravan. Begun by Edward Martin in 1909, it initially went only to Gateway, and did so three times a week. It was a horse and wagon affair but in snowy weather, a sled was used. The mail was collected at the beginning of the week from Grand Junction. In addition to post and passengers, the stage driver would take shopping orders from people in Gateway, Uravan, and Whitewater, then fill the orders in Grand Junction and bring the goods back to whomever had requested them. In 1918, the county started doing some public road maintenance, which eased the life of a stage driver, somewhat. Edward Martin passed it to his son, Ernest Edwards Martin in the 1930s, who passed it to his sister, Dorothy (Martin) Tindall, and her husband in 1951. In 1952, Austin Tindall was responsible for extending the route to include Uravan and running the route there and back every day – for this, Ernest Edwards Martin returned and partnered in the business from 1952-1962. It remained in the family until 1964, when Dorothy Tindall sold it to Thomas Gene “Tommy” Litton, owner of Litton’s Moving and Storage, after determining that no nieces or nephews were interested in working it. A photo of the early days of this stage service was once printed by the Daily Sentinel. The Star Postal Route was run in conjunction with the Gateway-Uravan Stage. The postal contract had to be bid for in a competitive process once every four years.