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36,000 exclusive of Mexicans and Indians” (Blackmore 1869:28). Northwestern Colorado was an area of exceptionally low Anglo population. As John Wesley Powell said,” From time immemorial the region drained by the Grand, White, and Yampa Rivers has been the home of the Ute tribes of the Shoshonean family of Indians “ (Powell 1961:62), and it was not until their removal that settlement and permanent white habitation of the region began in earnest. The Utes did not claim the land north and east of the Yampa, hence early railroad surveys and travelers stayed on the north side of the river. The early settlement at Hahn's Peak, Steamboat Springs, and the ranches on the Little Snake preceded that of other areas, in part due to the freedom from Ute harassment. Hahn's Peak was the main population center of northwestern Colorado until about 1875. The Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming helped bring settlers into the region, and by the mid-1870s there were scattered homesites along the Yampa River valley (Athearn 1976:41). In 1871 the first cattle were driven into Colorado, into Brown's Park. This area quickly became notorious because of constant rustling and its popularity as a hideout for outlaws (Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch perhaps being the most famous). Historic Euro-American interest in the potential agricultural lands of the reservation lands in western Colorado (namely the Uncompahgre, Gunnison, Colorado, Dolores, San Miguel, White, and La Plata River valleys) had been growing for some time prior to the Utes’ banishment, and by the spring of 1881 frontier towns closest to the Ute lands were “crowded with people, anxious to enter the Reservation and take possession of the most desirable locations” (Haskell 1886:2). Only days after the last of the Utes had been expelled, settlers began rushing onto the reservation lands. Settlement activity spread quickly--during the autumn months of 1881 land claims were staked, townsites were chosen, and railroad routes were surveyed (Haskell 1886, Borland 1952, Rait 1932). The establishment of permanent communities occurred in the 1880s and 1890s. Town companies were formed and towns incorporated. The town of Meeker was established close on the heels of the Ute removal in 1882; Craig followed in 1889, Hayden in 1895. However, because the former reservation lands were not officially declared public lands until August 1882, the first year of settlement activity was marked by a degree of uncertainty regarding the legality of land claims. When finally announced, the 1882 declaration did not allow homestead entries on the newly opened lands, but only preemptions, or cash entries, at the rate of $1.25 per acre for agricultural land, $5.00 per acre for mineral land (Borland 1952:75). By 1895, the major portion of the land in the area had been claimed, mostly under Cash Entry patents. The opening of the reservation lands in the areas of Piceance and Douglas Creeks allowed for settlement and establishment of dry-farming in the mid- to-late 1880's. The settlers raised their own food and availed themselves of the plentiful game in the area. Gardens, hay fields, and orchards were planted, and irrigation ditches were dug to divert creek's water to cultivated fields. 42