Rifle, Colorado Facts:
County: Garfield
Coverage Area (Total): 4.3 sq. miles
Elevation: 5,348 ft.
Population: 9,172
Cities/Towns covered in local Names and Numbers Phone Book: Aspen, Basalt, Battlement Mesa, Carbondale, El Jebel, Glenwood Springs, Marble, Meredith, Missouri Heights, New Castle, Old Snowmass, Parachute, Redstone, Rifle, Silt, Snowmass, Snowmass Village, Woody Creek
Rifle History
Rifle was founded in 1882 along Rifle Creek and incorporated in 1904. It is a regional center of the cattle ranching industry in Colorado. In 1972, husband and wife artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude completed the Valley Curtain, a 250,000-square-foot curtain that hung in Rifle Gap for 28 hours before wind gusts tore it down. The environmental work of art cost an estimated $600,000.
Rifle Attractions
Rifle maintains a variety of attractions including: