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contact with the Spanish in New Mexico . From the Spanish <br /> they acquired horses , firearms and other trade goods (Jennings , <br /> 1974) . It is likely that the horse nomadic hunter-gatherer <br /> mode of subsistence upon which the Utes were dependent <br /> persisted until their expulsion from northwestern Colorado <br /> following the Meeker massacre in 1879 . <br /> ? . Historic Resources <br /> The primary thrust of European settlement in <br /> west-central Colorado was along the main rivers , where <br /> merchandising and agriculture became the main occupations . <br /> In those areas that could not be irrigated , cattle and sheep <br /> grazing took place . Coal development and previous mineral <br /> extraction caused secondary settlements in the Central <br /> Rockies . <br /> Mineral exploration moved westward from the front <br /> range of the Rocky Mountains during the 1860s . Although <br /> little gold was found , silver was discovered in large <br /> quantities in the late 1870s , and increasing pressures for <br /> mineral development caused settlers to move west over the <br /> Continental Divide . During the late 1870s and early 1880s , <br /> Crested Butte , which later became a coal mining town , and <br /> Aspen were formed . Other mining towns were established <br /> during the 1880s . A major consequence of this mining <br /> activity was the development of rail transportation into the <br /> mining regions . The key to the rapid development within <br /> west-central Colorado in the 1380s was the rail transporta- <br /> tion system that interlaced the entire region . <br /> 4 <br />