2016-02-19_PERMIT FILE - M2016010 (5)

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Diversification period sites have been recorded in El Paso County (Zier and Kalasz 1999:192). No Late Prehistoric remains have been found in the project area. Protohistoric Period The Protohistoric period overlaps with the Historic stage and Euroamerican settlement of Colorado. This period is characterized by a fundamental shift in Native -American technology and subsistence practices and extensive demographic fluctuations. This is the time period during which historically recognized tribes can be distinguished. The entrance of Europeans to the North American continent changed many aspects of Native -American lifeways. Technologies shifted as metal and glass implements, including firearms, were introduced. The acquisition of the horse changed subsistence patterns from hunter -gatherers traveling on foot to horse mounted hunters who followed bison herds over vast areas. Perhaps the greatest changes for Native Americans were population reductions caused by introduced diseases and competition for resources (West 1998). The Protohistoric period also marks the first appearance of the Athabaskan Apache and the Navajo, although the timing of the Athabaskan entry into the area is still under debate. Following the Athabaskan groups, the Comanche, Ute, and Arapaho were all known to have visited or occupied the Arkansas River Valley in the Protohistoric period (Crum 1996; Gilmore and Larmore 2012; Wilshusen 2010). No Protohistoric remains have been found in the project area. Historic Period The history of the Arkansas River Valley is chronicled in the Colorado Southern Frontier Historic Context (Mehls and Carter 1984) and in Land of Contrast: The History of Southeast Colorado (Athearn 1985). The following is a brief history taken from these sources, as well as Lecompte (1978), Abbott et al. (1994), and West (1998). The Historic Stage begins with the arrival of Spaniards in the Southwest in the early 1500s. In 1540, Coronado led an expedition into the northern reaches of Mexico searching for the legendary "Seven Cities of Gold." While the Coronado expedition passed to the south and east of Colorado, this expedition marked the start of Euroamerican interaction with the local Native American groups through trade and the introduction of non-native diseases. The first Spanish expedition into Colorado probably occurred in 1664 by Juan de Archuleta. Archuleta was sent by the Spanish governor to capture a group of Picuris Indians who had fled to El Quartelejo, possibly near present-day La Junta or farther east in Kansas (Gunnerson 1987; Scheiber 2006) from their pueblo near Santa Fe. The Pueblo Revolt of 1680 (Knaut 1995) temporarily halted any further Spanish incursions into Colorado. Following the reconquest of the Pueblos in 1694, Diego de Vargas explored the San Luis Valley and, in 1706, Juan de Ulibarri returned to El Quartelejo to recapture fleeing Pueblo Indians. The Spanish began patrolling the Arkansas River area in 1719. The patrol by Antonio Valverde and another expedition to the South Platte River by Pedro de Villasur in 1720 were spurred by rumors of the French selling guns to the Indians. In 1763, the French ceded their lands west of the Mississippi to the Spanish. However, the Spanish were prevented from settling the area by the Comanche, whose territory included southeastern Colorado. In 1779, the Spanish launched an expedition to rid the area of the Comanche. Juan Bautista de Anza led a large Spanish force that chased the Comanche through the San Luis Valley to the Pikes Peak region. The Spanish finally defeated the Comanche in a battle at Greenhorn Mountain near present-day Pueblo (Lecompte 1978). Despite the removal of the Comanche, settlement in the area was limited by long distance supply links and expensive goods. France regained control of its former lands west of the Mississippi in 1800, and in 1803, sold their lands to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. Following the Louisiana Purchase, the United States began sponsoring scientific and military expeditions to the new territory. In 1806, Zebulon Pike was sent west to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas River in an attempt to define the new boundary between Spanish possessions to the south 7