GENERAL41483

• Permit No: M1995097
• IBM Index Class Name: General Documents
• Doc Name: BIBLIOGRAPHY WITH INTRODUCTION GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND LIST OF MINERALS
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Aspen Discovery
and Development'
INTRODUCTION
Prior to 1879, the upper Roaring Fork valley as most of the
rest of Colorado west of the Continental Divide was the undisputed
territory of the Ute Indians. The Utes reluctantly allowed the
U.S. Geological and Geographical Surveys to survey and inspect the
area in 1873 and 1874. The study was performed under the auspices
of F. V. Hayden. The resulting 'Hayden Surveys," which included
much of the territory west of the Continental Divide in Colorado
and adjacent areas, became the bibles of prospectors, miners,
railroad barons and developers.
In the late 1870s an effort was underway to force the Utes
from their traditional homelands, from the mountains - the San
Juans in southwestern Colorado, and the Sawatch, Elk, and west Elk
ranges in west-central Colorado, because of their mineral riches -
and the verdant valleys, primarily the basins of the lower and
upper Grand, the lower Gunnison and the Uncomphagre Rivers, that
were and are prime agricultural lands. This effort culminated in
the so-called Meeker Massacre. On September 29, 1879, Indian Agent
Nathan Cook Meeker ordered a traditional Ute horse-racing track
near the White River Agency plowed up for agricultural planting.
He was killed along with members of his family and other whites
stationed at the agency by the infuriated Utes.
Even before the forced relocation of the Northern Utes, led
by Chief Ouray, to northwestern Colorado and eventually to the
current reservation in northeastern Utah in 1886, prospectors were
invading the upper reaches of the Roaring Fork valley, using the
Hayden Surveys as their guide. The first two parties consisted of
men from Leadville. Their experiences in that booming camp helped
them identify similar rock formations in the Aspen area. These
parties met each other unexpectedly in early July 1879, swapping
information and, for one night at least, sleeping comfortably as
their numbers gave them some security against any roving band of
Utes.
While not technical experts, these men were experienced
prospectors. Even though exposures in the Roaring Fork valley were
poor, due to heavy glacial soil and vegetative cover and the lack
' Except as noted, condensed largely from C. W. HENDERSON, MINING IN
COLOAADO~ M. J. ROHR-OUGH, ASPEN: THE HISTORY OF A SILVER MINING TONNj, D. M. HYMAN,
THE ROMANCE OF A MINING VENTURE] and R. J. STEGEN, GEOLOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY OP THE
SMUGGLER MINE AG-P--ZN-CU-BA MANTO DEPOSITS, ASPEN, COLORADO. See the following
BIBLIOGRAPHY for full citations.
s Now the U.S. Geological Survey, or USGS.
Bruce A. Collins - xii - SMUCC[.eR BIBLIOGRAPHY