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<br />Village. This covers the time period between A.D. 1 and the 16th century. The <br />settlement pattern was large winter base camps along the Arkansas River and its <br />tributaries and small base camps nearby. Artifacts from the time period are cord- <br />roughened ceramic, stone architecture, and the bow and arrow. Most groups were <br />hunter/gatherers and some were semisedentary. The latter would provide remains on <br />the landscape because the groups would remain in one location for a somewhat longer <br />period of time than the more mobile groups. This economy relied upon maize <br />horticulture for part of the subsistence (Mark Mitchell, personal communication 1997). <br /> <br />Structures were circular or stone foundations in a oval pattern laid horizontally. Brush <br />or jacal was used on the upper portion. This type of construction gave way to stone <br />slabs in many forms. <br /> <br />The Apishapa Phase covered the period A. D. 1000-1400. The culture remains of this <br />phase area associated with the Panhandle Focus of Texas. They are small side- <br />notched projectile points and cord-marked pottery with globular shapes. Associated <br />structures include rock slabs and pillars. The culture was named for the Apishapa River <br />nearby. Circles of stone slabs were observed between the Huerfano and Apishapa <br />rivers. These lack pottery. The historic tribes that hunted the area were the Ute, <br />Comanche, Apache, and Arapaho (Cassels 1994, Mark Mitchell personal <br />communications 1997). <br /> <br />The Indians of the plains occupied the project area but apparently left few traces. <br />Conversion of the short-grass plains to cropland may have destroyed most surface <br />vestiges of their past occupancy through various cultivation practices. <br /> <br />Bent's fort, built in the La Junta area, provided trading with the historic Indians. People <br />living in the fort were some of the first white settlers in the area. <br />Settlers arriving in the area relied on Cultivated crops. <br />Three of the first crops grown were alfalfa, first grown in 1875; watermelon, first grown <br />in 1878;and cantaloupe, first grown in 1884. In 1896, the Rocky Ford Melon Growers <br />Association was organized to bring producers together into one marketing group. <br />Melons were shipped with the brand name "Rocky Ford" cantaloupe, a name that <br />remains widely known across the country. <br /> <br />By 1905, four seed companies had developed businesses in Rocky Ford. By 1907, one <br />of these, the Rocky Ford Seed Breeders Association, was selling 30 tons of cantaloupe <br />seed per year to growers in the Imperial Valley of California. The honeydew also had its <br />origin in the Arkansas Valley. By 1925, 90 percent of the cucumber seed and 75 <br />percent of the cantaloupe seed planted in the United States were grown in Otero <br />County. However, the perishability of these commodities and price fluctuations led <br />farmers to seek a more diversified irrigated agriculture. <br /> <br />The crop introduced to fill the void turned out to be the sugar beet. Much of the original <br />irrigation development has been tied to the sugar beet industry. At the peak of the <br />industry, 22 sugar beet processing facilities operated in southeastern Colorado. <br />Ultimately, the valley had more factories than the farmers and land were able to <br />support. This, coupled with lower yields, caused by poor quality irrigation water, sugar <br />pricing problems, and outbreaks of beet blight ("curly top") resulted in sharp decline and <br /> <br />15 <br />