Welcome Center

Make this your first stop while visiting Pioneer Town.  Your time will be well spent and you will have all your questions answered.  You will be treated to a view of days past and gain a real appreciation for challenges the settlers and pioneers had to endure and overcome in the Surface Creek Valley.  Special tours for groups are available by appointment.  So stop by and get all your questions answered so you can get the most during your visit.

Located at the southern entrance of the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway, the Welcome Center is indeed a center that welcomes visitors. Volunteers are on hand throughout the summer to provide local brochures, answer questions, and give general and specific information about the area. These volunteers also provide information about Pioneer Town, and collect entry fees for tours. The building was financed with a $150,000 grant to the Grand Mesa Scenic Byway Committee, written by Bill Miller. The grant was awarded by the Federal Highway Administration through the Colorado Department of Transportation. The site, the exact size of the perimeter of the building, was leased from the Surface Creek Valley Historical Society.  The building now belongs and is operated by the Surface Creek Valley Historical Society it serves as a Welcome Center for Pioneer Town and the Grand Mesa  Byway.

Frontier Log Homes of Montrose donated design time for the structure. Construction of the 30’x50’ log building began in the fall of 1994. The pine logs were first assembled by the company at the Montrose site, numbered, disassembled, and transported on three trucks to Cedaredge. Re-assembly of the logs was done in one and a half days. Maynard Nelson supervised volunteers during construction, donating his time. The ceiling is of aspen. A small kitchen, handicap accessible rest rooms, drinking fountain, counter, storage space, and display cases meet the needs of volunteers, local, out of town, out of state, and out of country visitors.

Inside, items of special interest: a large wooden eagle carved by Dr. Ernest Carreau; the head of a large elk loaned by Larry Claxton; an antler chandelier by Jack Murphy. A fire screen that belonged to Sophia Kohler, who came to this area when her husband Henry became manager of the Bar I Ranch in 1883, is on display along with photos of both Sophia and Henry Kohler. Several other items of historical interest give a glimpse of what can be seen on a tour of the Town.

A series if interpretative panels, designed and completed by Keli Bugess and Robert Marshal, highlight the history, geology, and uses along the scenic byway. An acutate scale model of Pioneer Town built by Ed Bernadou of Cedaredge is proudly displayed. He donated his time and all materials. He and his wife Virginia donated the completed model to the Surface Creek Valley Historical Society. Bernadou is retired from Boeing Aircraft and Stearns Roger Corporation where he constructed accurate models of varying scales to meet the exacting specifications needed for each project. He was building model airplanes ate age nine. Always interested in model building, he eventually became employed in the field. He built model airplanes for Boeing Aircraft varying the scale to meet the specifications of each project. Many of his models were used in wind tunnels for testing purposes. Later, he worked for Stearns Roger Corp., an industrial engineering firm, constructing highly detailed models of power plants, mining, and petro chemical plants.

Drawings or blue prints were not available for land and buildings. Measurements were taken of all buildings, photographs taken of all sides of each, and drawings made before model construction could begin. Grounds were walked to measure distances between buildings using a measuring wheel. The society rented a P18 Super Cup airplane to fly over Pioneer Town to photograph at 750 feet altitude. The fly over took place in the winter of 1993 so leaves from trees would be absent and details of roads and buildings would not be obscured. All of this before beginning any work on the construction required 300 hours of work. An additional 300 man hours were used to hand craft the model. Scale of 1 inch = 10 feet (1”=10’) As Pioneer Town grows—so does the display. Bernadou continues to update the model as additional structures are added to the grounds. It has been appraised at $14,200 and in engineering terms is called a “tool”. “Tool’s” are used by companies to train, visualize and plan for future improvements. The replica of a mosasaur’s skull is displayed in the Welcome Center. In 1975, after being directed to the promising site by two classmates Marty Tuttle and Jeff Shelton, Gary Thompson, a local high school student found a bone on the hillside near the “C” east of Cedaredge on Cedar Mesa grade. Their CHS science teacher, Dick Jones, realized the importance of the find and contacted Brigham Young University. The paleontology department conducted the excavation led by Dr. Jim Jensen with help from Dick Jones, Rod Sheetz and Mike Sheetz.

Identified as a mosasaur, the fossilized marine reptile is the only one ever found on the western side of the prehistoric sea that once covered an area ranging from Utah to Kansas and Nebraska. It was a ferocious creature approximately 35 feet long.

Robert Gaston made the casting of the skull and gave it to Surface Creek Valley Historical Society and is displayed at the Welcome Center. The excavated skull bones remain the property of Brigham Young University’s Paleontology Museum.

A large topographical map, on display, shows water sources on Grand Mesa and water courses delivering water to the Surface Creek Valley. Videos of Grand Mesa,” The Four Seasons”, can be viewed on a screen. Large illustrated panels with text document history of Surface Creek Valley. Interactive exhibits are also found here.

One of our Pioneer Town volunteers at the Welcome Center. 
Come on in sit and chat make a new friend. 
We always have time to discuss our roots in the valley.