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- • HISTORIC OVERVIEW <br />The following section is taken from Baker (1977: 11, 16-17), and is <br />a general cultural summary of both the Native- and Euro-American oc- <br />cupations of the region. <br />Prior to White settlement the North Fork Valley was part of <br />the aboriginal territory of the Colorado or Eastern Ute <br />Indians. This territory covered nearly all of Colorado <br />westward to the Green River in eastern Utah and had been <br />,_ occupied by Ute Peoples since an unknown time in prehistory. <br />The territory west of this point belonged to the Utah or <br />Western Ute Peoples. In west-central Colorado, Ute pre <br />• history is rooted in a hunting and gathering lifestyle <br />related to the Desert Cultural Tradition which reaches far <br />_ into prehistory in the region. Although some isolated <br />~ finds of artifacts relating to the Paleo-Indian tradition <br />~` have been found in western Colorado, no sites fully at- <br />r tributable to such occupations have been reported (Jennings <br />I <br />1968: 15). Generally, evidence of prehistoric Indian <br />i <br />~__ occupation in mountainous regions, such as those of the <br />- Gunnison Country, has been sparse and is generally be- <br />- lieved to represent seasonal exploitation of the environ- <br />s ment with little evidence of permanent year-round occupa- <br />tions (Lister 1962: 45; and Schroeder 1953). <br />• <br />8 <br />