2002-06-05_PERMIT FILE - M2002004 (2)

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GCC Rio Grande, Inc., Cultural land grants in southeast Colorado. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo confirmed these land grants in 1848 when the United States assumed control of this region. When the land grants were turned over to the U.S. government, the government confirmed some in their entirety and others, like ' the Nolan Land Grant, were greatly reduced. These lands were settled in the traditional Hispanic pattern, with small extended family villages located principally along arable bottomlands. ' Agriculture has been an important industry since the Hispanic settlers moved north from New Mexico. The earliest ranching was in the 1840s in the Arkansas River Valley. The Gold Rush Era brought prosperity to the farmers and ranchers of the area as they supplied the miner's demands for food. Water was and is the most important and limiting factor for both farmers and ranchers. Extensive cooperative irrigation in the area began after the Panic of 1893. Ranchers would homestead on waterways or at waterholes; "control of water supplies meant control of the range" (Mehls and Carter 1984:II-63). Although the cattle industry was "King", sheep ranching developed in the area and suffered less of the boom and bust cycles of cattle ranching. Cattle ranching today is still an important economic industry for the area.. ¦ The most used and best-known trail in the area is the Santa Fe Trail. Since the 1820s, the Santa Fe Trail has provided the military, exploration parties, and settlers a transportation corridor. ' Another route was established in. the early 1900s, the Taos Trail. The "Old Cherokee Trail" was a popular route that followed the Arkansas River to the foothills and then turned north along the Front Range. Railroads entered the Pueblo area in the mid 1870s and the earlier trails and toll ' roads no longer played an important role in long distance travel and transportation. Many of these routes became county, state, and federal highways in the 1900s. Railroads played an important part in the economic development of the area providing transportation for coal mining, ' agriculture, and other industries. The narrow gauge Denver and Rio Grande Railway (D&RG) in 1872 was the first railroad to ' build south from Denver to Pueblo. The small settlement of Pueblo was expanded by the. new railroad-backed town.of South Pueblo. From there, the D&RG built west to the coal fields near Florence. Through the mid 1870s the D&RG suffered serious financial difficulties. In 1876 ' D&RG surveyors identified high quality coking coal near Trinidad, and D&RG obtained. financing to build south from South Pueblo to Cucharas. This was the now abandoned narrow gauge line west of the project area. That same year the Pueblo and Arkansas Valley Railroad, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF) reached Pueblo from the east. During this period the financial manipulations of Jay Gould resulted in a series of merges, ' splits, and name changes in the railroad industry and Colorado achieved statehood. Under Jay Gould's influence railroad companies established new towns and tourist resorts and contributed to the development of large irrigation systems. During all this the D&RG and the AT&SF ' entered a period of conflict over routes south from Pueblo that has been called the Bloody Angle (Fraser and Strand 1997:E-22). The vicious competition was ended by a business arrangement known as the Treaty of Boston in 1879. ' In the early 1880s new players entered the area. In 1881 the newly formed Denver and New Orleans (D&NO) Railroad began building a line from Denver to Pueblo. The D&RG and ' AT&SF, already established in Pueblo, refused to connect or cooperate with the newcomer. In this period of competition with the D&NO, the D&RG added a third. rail to its narrow gauge 1180-Red Rock Class III CR Inventory(Apr.17.02) 5