GLENWOOD SPRINGS

city, seat of Garfield county, west central Colorado, U.S., at the confluence of Roaring Fork and Colorado rivers. It lies in a canyon at an elevation of 5,758 feet (1,755 m) and is surrounded by the White River National Forest, of which it is the headquarters. The curative value of the local hot springs and vapour caves was known to the Indians. In 1882 Isaac Cooper laid out the town site, which he named after Glenwood, Iowa. With the arrival of the Colorado Midland Railway in 1885, the place developed as a health spa and year-round resort; it also became a distributing point for local mineral and farm products. A nearby dam diverts water from the Colorado River through a 2.7-mile (4.3-kilometre) tunnel and supplies power, via the Shoshone Hydroelectric Plant (7 miles above the city), to Denver (159 miles east). Roaring Fork CampusSpring Valley was founded in Glenwood Springs in 1965. There are oil shale deposits in the vicinity. Inc. 1885. Pop. (1990) 6,561.