[1] The valley is the site of a Bureau of Reclamation salinity-control project which has caused thousands of earthquakes,[2] and is the proposed location of a new uranium mill which would be the first built in the United States in over 25 years.

[4] It lies along the extreme western edge of Colorado, close to the border with Utah, about 50 miles (80 km) south of the city of Grand Junction.

The valley was named in 1875 by geologist and surveyor Albert Charles Peale[1] after he noted that the Dolores River had a "desire to perform strange and unexpected things" in the area.

About 300 million years ago, during the middle Pennsylvanian period, when the Dolores River was already in existence, high pressures on lands to the northeast caused underlying salt deposits to flow towards where the valley is today.

This process took place over about 150 million years, a long enough time for the Dolores River to downcut into the land and maintain its ancient course.

[11] Springs and streams allowed farming in the northwest end of the valley, and the mid-1890s discovery of copper at the future site of the Cashin Mine near the town of Bedrock brought in a further influx of settlers.

In 1913, The New York Times identified carnotite mines near Paradox Valley as the source of "the greatest radium ore deposits in the world".

The system then dilutes the brine with water and a corrosion inhibitor and transports it to a high-pressure injection well, where it is deposited 14,000 to 16,000 feet (4,300 to 4,900 m) deep into Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks.

[14] The injection well of the Paradox Valley Unit has induced thousands of earthquakes, including at least 4,000 prior to the year 2001.