PERMFILE53376

• Permit No: C1981019
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 12/11/2001
• Doc Name: Sections 4 cont & Section 5
• Section_Exhibit Name: EXHIBIT 05 Archaelogical Part 3
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

reservation and the White River Indian Agency previously established
• near Meeker began its unsuccessful attempts to "civilize" and control
the Utes. In 1878 Reverend H.E. Danforth angrily quit as Indian agent
after unsuccessful attempts to get the Utes their annuities (Athearn
1975). Nathan Cook Meeker of Greeley took over as agent in 1878 but his
attempts to force the Indians to become farmers ended in the Meeker and
Thornburgh Massacres. All the white males at the agency were killed as
well as a major portion of Major Thomas J. Thornburgh's detachment of
190 men coming to assist Meeker in September-October of 1879. tlrs.
Meeker, her daughter, and htrs. Shadrack Price and her two children were
taken hostage by the Indians. The uprising finally ended at the urging
of Chief Ouray but the damage was done. Newspaper accounts dramatized
the events leading to a new treaty in 1880, through which the Utes lost
all their land in northwestern Colorado. 8y the fall of 1681 all'Utes
were removed to the Utah reservation. Periodic visits by the Utes into
northwestern Colorado occurred throughout the 1880's (Rio Blanco County
Historical Society 1978) but the land was effectively opened for Euro-
american settlement by 1882 (Athearn 1975; 1981).
Several previous events in the vicinity had led to a beginning
influx of Euroamericans beginning with the discovery of gold in 1859 in
the Hahn's Peak area. The diamond hoax of 1872 near the Utah/Colorado
border and the Green River also brought interested speculators into the
area. It was not until the 1880's, however, when settlers began to
flood the area that extensive settlement occurred.
Ranching, the first industry of the area, began in 1868 when the
first cattle vrere imported far the railroad work crews in tJyoming.
Large cattle herds were brought into the area in 1871 by George Boggs.
The early towns of the area (Axial, Maybell, Meeker, Rangely) began as
service towns for the cattle ranchers and homesteaders. Sheep which
vrere introduced in the 1900's caused range wars which finally ended in
the 1920's. Cattlemen's associations were organized early to fight
rustlers, predators and the large ranchers.
In 1891 the White River Forest Reserve was created withdrawing
750,000 acres of prime grazing land from the cattlemen. This was only
beginning, however, as the reserve was expanded and the Routt National
Forest created in 1905. Government intervention into the former open
range effectively changed the comparatively easy ranch life of the
1880's into the restricted government controlled ranch life of today.
Early surveyors of the area noted the availability of coal re-
sources and early settlers utilized it for private consumption. The Mt.
Streeter coal mine near Axial and due north of the proposed mine area
was one of the earliest commercial mines in the area operated by Joseph
Collom (Rio Blanco County Historical Society 1978). The James Mine
(5MF1932) within the proposed coal mine area was in operation from
1937-1950. Transportation problems prohibited extensive coal mining in
the area until the railroad finally reached Craig in 1913.
. Oil eras first discovered in 1893 in Oil Creek and in 1902 the first
major deep well was placed near Rangely. In the 1920's oil fields near
the Axial Basin (Ile's Field, Thornburgh Field) were opened and during
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