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The earliest human use of the Colorado River Valley, the Piceance <br />Creek Basin and the White River Valley was made by Indians. <br />Prior to the mid-1600s hunting and gathering dominated the Indian <br />culture. No farm tools have been discovered, and only extremely <br />crude weapons were apparently available. No permanent settlement <br />areas have been located in the region. In the vicinity of the <br />Colony project only seasonal visits were likely due to climatic <br />and topographic constraints. <br />The earliest impacts from European culture came through the Spanish <br />settlements in northern New Mexico in the mid-1600s when the Utes, <br />the dominant tribe in the area, obtained horses by trading with <br />the Spanish and soon became excellent horsemen. Once horses <br />became available in large numbers, this tribe expanded their <br />nomadic range onto the high plains of Eastern Colorado to hunt <br />for buffalo, as well as continuing their autumn deer and antelope <br />drives in higher country. <br />• At the time of the Escalante Expedition in 1776, which passed <br />through Douglas Creek Canyon west of the area, the Piceance Basin <br />and the river valleys were void of human habitation except for <br />passing nomads and perhaps an occasional fur trapper. <br />In the mid-1800's the search for precious metals and the advent <br />of the railway west of Rawlins, Wyoming in 1868, began the earnest <br />European exploration and settlement of the areas adjacent to <br />the Piceance Basin. The earlier European visitors, primarily <br />interested in the fur trade and possible mineral wealth, werQ <br />closely followed by cattlemen. Soon, permanent settlements sprang <br />up and trail herding began in the late 1800s. Subsequent overgrazing <br />and a series of severe winters occurring in the late 1880s resulted <br />in the reduction of cattle grazing, although some trail herding <br />continued into the early 1900s. The lack of protected winter <br />range, and inadequate feed led to irrigated hayland development <br />in the river valleys and flat lands. A rush for homestead rights <br /> <br />E-3 <br />