Vega State Park
| Vega State Park | |
| Colorado State Park | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Colorado |
| County | Mesa County |
| Town | Collbran |
| Location | |
| - elevation | 7,696 ft (2,346 m) |
| - coordinates | 39°13′28″N 107°47′36″W / 39.22444°N 107.79333°WCoordinates: 39°13′28″N 107°47′36″W / 39.22444°N 107.79333°W |
| Area | 1,823 acres (738 ha) |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Management | Colorado Parks and Wildlife |
| Visitation | 181,283 |
 Location of Vega State Park in Colorado
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| Website: Vega State Park | |
Vega State Park is a 1,823-acre (738 ha) Colorado state park in Mesa County, Colorado in the United States. Vega Reservoir is a fishing destination and is located at an elevation of 7,696 feet (2,346 m). Year-round recreational activities at Vega State Park include boating, hiking, snow mobiling and camping. The park was established in 1967 in cooperation with the Bureau of Reclamation which was responsible for the construction of Vega Dam and Vega Reservoir.
The land on which Vega State Park sits was once the swampy shoreline of a vast inland sea during the Paleozoic era. The swamps were filled with sea creatures including giant sea turtles whose fossilized remains can still occasionally be found within the park.
White settlers arrived in the area in 1881 after the Ute tribe Indians had been driven out of the area and onto reservations in eastern Utah. The first Europeans in the area were a pair of Spanish missionaries, Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and Francisco Atanasio Domínguez who were searching for a more direct route to the missions near Monterey, California from the Spanish settlements in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The early Spanish explorers named the area Las Vegas which translates to the Meadows.
The area became commonly known as The Meadows. Most of the area was settled by 1885 by farmers who had acquired their land through the Homestead Act. Twenty-five families lived in the valley raising dairy and beef herds of cattle. The settlement included a school, cemetery, post office and two sawmills. The settlement in the valley did not last long and the area was largely abandoned by 1936 when the school was closed.
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