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1979, personal communication). The early settlement at Hohn's Peak, Steamboat • Springs, and the ranches on the Little Snake preceded that of other areas, in part due to the freedom from Ute harassment. Hahn's Peak was the main population center of northwestern Colorado until about 1875. The Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming helped bring settlers into the region, and by the mid-1870s there were scattered homesiees along the Yampa River valley (Athearn 1976:41). In 1871 the first cattle were driven into Colorado, into Brown's Park. This area quickly became notorious because of constant rustling and its popularity as a hideout for outlaws (Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch perhaps being the most infamous). The James H. Crawford family settled in Steamboat Springs in 1876. Crawford was known to have visited the Oak Creek area in 1874 and he named Twentymile Park on the return to Steamboat because he thought the park was twenty miles across. The townsite was established by Crawford, Perry H. Burgess, William E. Walton, William G. Mellon, and Joe G. Coberly. Once the homestead of Mellon, he relinquished his claim to the townsite company in 1875. A town company was organized to bring in several prominent Boulder residents and the town was incorporated in 1900 with Crawford as mayor (H.ft.N.F. 1975:12). In 1880 a number of men came into the headwaters of the Yampa -- at Egeria • Park, which Governor Routt had named when he first saw the area (believing That "egeria" meant beautiful). They were so favorably impressed with the country That they returned with their families and built homes (Det<raay 1951:46). Peter Simon and Sam Fix filed their claims near Yampa in 1881, and Albert Bird located a ranch in Egeria Park in the summer of 1882. This ranch was settled by the Grays; it was The last ranch on the road to Twentymile Park (Gray 1941). The somewhat violent nature of the history of the Oak Creek District began in 1882 when William and Albert Bird and others followed thieves into the Oak Hills. A gun battle ensued with Tom Bird and both thieves being killed (ibid.). Crofutt's 1881 Grip-sack Guide includes Egeria (Park) and Steamboat Springs (Athearn 1976). The post office was established for Egeria Park in 1883, the first school (located on the Crawford ranch) a year later (Gray 1941). The 1885 Grip-sack Guide describes Egeria: "Routt County, a post office and ranch on Yampa River 72 miles west from Hot Sulpher Springs. Stock country" (Crofutt 1966:89). By the mid- 1880s, Middle, North, and Egeria Parks had been settled. Cattle was the major industry, supplemented by hay raising (Athearn 1976). Yampa's first settlers were homesteaders ~Nith a few head of cattle vrho built . their herds by natural reproduction. They raised hay for winter feed, produced oats, 2.8-19