Rangely is a Statutory Town in Rio Blanco County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,365 at the 2010 census. Description The town is home to one of two campuses of the Colorado Northwestern Community College. A post office called Rangely was established in 1884. The community was named after Rangeley, Maine, the native home of a local businessperson. Geography Rangely is located at (40.086181, -108.797944). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land. The terrain is mountain desert and is dry for most of the year. Climate According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Rangely has a cold semi-arid climate, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps. The hottest temperature recorded in Rangely was on June 21, 1974, while the coldest temperature recorded was on February 15, 1895 and January 2, 1952. History The land is what makes the town of Rangely's history interesting. The land is the base from which all human events unfold, whether it is the geology that brought the miners and oil men, or the water that brought the Fremonts, the Utes, the explorers, the ranchers. To tell the story we must start back in the earlier history of the earth when a shallow sea encompassed most of the area around Rangely, 300 million years ago in what is labeled as the Pennsylvania and Permian geologic periods. During this time marine creatures would become fossils and can actually still be discovered around Rangely. Huge dunes were formed on the edges of this sea and became porous rock that is now known as the Weber formation. This formed what is called an "anticline." Anticline is a ridge-shaped fold of stratified rock in which the strata slope downward from the crest. Then, as the sea receded, dinosaurs left bones and the extensive plant growth became oil and coal. The innumerable canyons, draws, and gullies of the area held creeks, rivers and streams which attracted the early Fremont and Ute peoples. The Fremont people migrated to the Rangely area from the Great Basin in south-central Utah between 400 B.C. - 650 A.D. What we know about the Fremont comes from the artifacts they left in the area and from their homes and campsites which we find in the nearby canyons. Evidence of the Fremont people is plentiful in and around Rangely; for example, the rock art on Colorado 139