Laserfiche WebLink
• • <br />,~ <br />I <br />~ <br /> resistant sandstone as prominent ridges (Chronic and Chronic 1972:29). <br /> The inaccessible area in. Section 35 is an example of this. Predominant <br /> flora included clusters of scrub oak, stands of pinyon-juniper, <br /> sagebrush, wheat grasses, and cheat. grass. Also observed were side <br />' oats, rabbitbrush, snakeweed, loco weed, flax, thistles, prickly pear <br />i cactus, and cattails. Substantial evidence of cattle utilization was <br />~ noted. Recent historic items (cans, bottles, miscellaneous metal, <br />I, leather, and barbed wire fences as well as .erosion control mounds and <br />J <br />® livestock watering depressions) were scattered throughout the area. <br /> Culture History <br /> Data resulting from previous work in and adjacent to the Glenwood <br /> Springs Resource Area (Kane 1973; Jennings et al. 1970.; Lutz et al. <br /> 1979; Martin et al. 1980; Reed and Nickens 1980; Burgess and IJickens <br /> 1980; Durgess et al. 1980; Hartley and Rolen 1983) have permitted a <br /> generalized cultural sequence for the Glenwood Springs Resource Area. <br />~ The earliest inhabitants of the resource area may have been <br /> representative of the Paleo-Indian Tradition, a big-game hunting <br /> adaptation that characterized terminal Pleistocene environments. This <br /> tradition is characterized by three "cultures": Llano - 11,000 to 9000 <br /> B.C., Folsom - 9000 to 7000 B.C., and Plano - 7000 to 5500 B.C. Very <br /> few Paleo-Indian materials are known to occur in the resource area. <br /> Following environmental changes, to modern conditions, around 5500 B.C., <br /> the Archaic Tradition came into being and persisted for about 6000 <br /> years. Evidence for these sites is plentiful, and the one tentatively <br /> dated prehistoric site within the proposed lease area (5GF1202) suggests <br /> this tradition, based on one-hand manos. Possibly the relatively short <br /> (approximately A.D. 450 to A.D. 1250) Fremont culture replaced the <br /> Archaic Tradition in west-central Colorado. Evidence for this <br /> adaptation is scant, and it has been suggested that perhaps these people <br /> socially intermixed or traded with indigenous groups in the area. <br /> At historic contact, Numic-speaking Utes were the sole aboriginal <br />i inhabitants in the resource area (Stewart 1976). Ylhether the Utes <br /> represent an in situ cultural development or represent a migration into <br /> tfie area is uncertain, but Ute sites are common. Utes remained in <br /> west-central Colorado until their expulsion in the.early 18805. The <br /> first Euro-Americans to enter the area were members of the <br /> Dominguez-Escalante expedition, in 1776, when they passed through in the <br />~' Battlement P1esa and DeBeque vicinity. In the ensuing decades, fur <br /> trappers and explorers were responsible for most of the Euro-American <br /> activity in the region. After the Ute removal from western Colorado, it <br /> was opened up to homesteaders (Athearn 1977}. Agriculture and mining <br /> dominated the economy for decades to follow; recently, recreation has <br />J <br />+~~Ji became a major industry. <br /> METHODOLOGY <br />~' d <br />th <br />i <br />f <br />h <br />l <br />i <br />l fi <br />ld <br />k <br />d <br />t <br />d <br />i <br />A <br />ri er <br />e prov <br />s <br />ons o <br />ca <br />wor <br />was con <br />uc <br />e <br />un <br />rc <br />aeo <br />og <br />e <br /> Federal Antiquities Permit No. 82-UT/CO/WY-168 (expires April 7, 1984). <br /> <br /> <br />