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onl1..?~ -8- looking for gold. Their searoh was apparently unfruitful and the little "rush" created by them died down in 1861. In 1868 the United States Government negotiated a treaty with the Utes. in which the Indians rights to practioally all of the western slope was rec ognized. The San Juan-Uncompahgre region was probably the first Colorado territory to be entered by the Spaniards. and the notable thing about its early history is that. even though. for a hundred years prior to 1868. white man had been more or less active in the region and familiar with it. no attempt had been made to settle the land and irrigate it. The Spaniards. who had settled along the aio Grande and had begun to irri@Bte as early as 1598, apparently were satisfied to leave this territory to the Indians and to merely oarry on fur trading and slavery with them. The 1868 Treaty barred American settlers from attempting to colonize western Colorado. However. prospectors oontinued to be aotive in the mountain areas and \'ben in 1870-72 mineral finds were reported in the San Juan. the Govermnent again negotiated with the Utes. As a result the Brunot Treaty was sil91ed by the utes in September 1873, which oeded the San Juan tlountain area to the whites. As mining activity increased in the San Juans. the need for fresh foodstuffs and cheaper feed became greater. Some of the settlers naturally be~ to think of raising crops under irrigation in the lower valley. The Ute uprising of 1879 paved the way for opening the area to the white man. During the uprising the Utes had perpetrated the Meeker Massacre. This act had aroused an extreme feeling of hostility among the people of Colorado. The demand arose for expulsion of the Utes from the State. This led to another Treaty, whioh removed them to Utah. The Unoompahgre Utes even though they had not taken part in the l'kleker affair were nevert',eless included in the new Treaty. It was doubted that they would move peaoahly. and as a oonsequenoe Fort Crawford was estab- lished in May 1880, near what is now the Uncompahgre post office. How- ever. thers was no trouble with the Uncompahgre Utes, and on August 28, 1881 they were removed wi. th the others to Utah. Settlement of the area took place immediately and irrigation ditches were soon constructed. Private enterprise developed the irrigation of the area as far as it \'4l.S possible to do so with an uncontrolled and limited water sup- ply. This early development had been fully accomplished many years he- fore commencement of the U. S. aeclamation Service project in 1908. 7. Townsl As the result of the mining aotivity in the San Juans. the town of Ouray vas the first to be built in the Uncompahgre basin. It vas founded in 1875 although it vas not incorporated until March 1884.