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