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<br />Survey and Research Methodology <br />Historic Overview <br />Topographic and climatic factors have combined to make <br />much of the northwestern Colorado area inhospitable to man. <br />Generally the region must depend on snow run-off for water. The <br />high peaks on the eastern edges of Routt County catch winter snows <br />that then supply the creeks and rivers that carved much of the <br />rugged topography of the region. The rivers can go from nearly dry <br />trickles to raging torrents and back again within their annual <br />cycles. The area also experiences extreme temperature variations <br />from summer highs well over 100° (F) to as low as 60° degrees below <br />zero during mid-winter. Such conditions have constrained man's. <br />uses of the region for centuries. <br />Euro-Americans searched for viable uses for northwestern <br />Colorado Utah during the nineteenth century. The difficulty of <br />settlement, harsh terrain, a hostile Ute presence and lack of <br />adequate transportation all acted to discourage settlement. <br />However, Anglo-Americans did find profitable temporary uses for the <br />region during the 1820s and 1830s. They viewed the area as a land <br />to be exploited for its natural wealth, a characteristic that has <br />continued from that day to this. The first economic use came with <br />the fur trade and news of successful hunts along the Yampa and <br />other rivers in the area. By 1839 two posts, Fort Davy Crockett in <br />Colorado and Ft. Uinta(Robidoux) in Utah, both served the region <br />and Brown's Park in modern Moffat County was a well established <br />point on mountain men's maps. By the 1840s the diminished beaver <br />supply and fashion changes led to the end of the fur frontier. <br />As the last of the trappers were leaving the region a new <br />type of individual began to make his presence felt in the area <br />-- the explorer. In 1844, at the height of the Oregon Migration, <br />John C. Fremont, "The Pathfinder," led an expedition through the <br />mountains of Colorado and into Utah searching for new routes for <br />the overland emigres. While Fremont was unable to locate <br />a better travel route, his trip did add much new information to the <br />1 <br />