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• The Folsom Culture was In turn replaced by the Plano Culture. The Plano Culture, spanning from approximately 7000 to 5500 B.C., apparently focused upon the exploitation of modern species of bison for subs is[ence. The Plano Culture is characterized by large lanceolate, but unfluted, projectile points that denionstra[e considerable variety. Plano projec- tile points are not uncommon In west-central Colorado. They have been discovered on [he Uncompahgre Plateau and in the Gunnison River drainage (Buckles 1971; Martin 1977; Stiger 1977), In the Piceance Basin (Buckles 1974; Weber et al. 1977), and south of Plateau Creek (Hibbets e[ al. 1919). Pleistocene environmental conditions gave way to modern conditions by approximately 5500 B.C., and the Paleo-Indian Tradition was supplanted by the Archaic Tradition. The Archaic Tradition is marked by a change in subsistence patterns and hence a change in material culture. Reliance on big-game hun[iny yave way to a more generalized hunting and gathering lifestyle, in which the gathering of vegetal foodstuffs Increased In importance and more and smaller faunal species were hunted. Artifact types characteristic of Archaic sites include large stemmed and indented base projectile points, certain styles of lanceolate projectile points, and large side- and corner-notched projectile points. Also common. to Archaic sites are one-hand manos and metates. Sites attributed to the Archaic Tradition are very common in west central Colorado (Reed and Scott 1980). • The earliest European explorers into western Colorado indicate that the Ute were the sole inhabitants of the region by the 18th century (Cutter 1977). It is presently unclear whether the Ute culture developed in situ from Archaic cultures, or whether they were immigrants. Ute sites are common In the region, and are characterized by small slde- notched and corner-notched projectile points, crude grayware ceramics, and wikiups. Sites postdating white contact often possess glass trade beads and metal projectile points. The U[es were expelled from west- central Colorado In the early 1880s. The history of Euro-American utilization of the project area evolves around four themes: exploration, fur trapping, mining, and agriculture. Euro-American exploration of the vicinity of the project area began In 1776, when Spanish Fa [hers Francisco V. Dominguez and Sllvestre Velez de Escalante traveled up the North Fork of the Gunnison in an effort to define a route between Santa Fe and Spanish missions In California. According to Forest Service Archaeologist Polly Hammer (personal communication), Escalante and Dominguez may have turned north- ward from the North Fork near Bowie and traveled throuyh the project area on the western side of Hubbard Creek. Subsequent large-scale ex- ploratory expeditions of western Colorado such as those funded by the U.S. Government in [he 1840s and 1850s generally bypassed the North Fork of [he Gunnison valley. Exploitation of the project area's natural resources by Euro- . Americans began in the 1820s with the arrival of fur trappers. Antoine Robidoux established a trading post just west of the present town of 5