Local History
The Ute Indians were the
original inhabitants of the area and roamed the mountains and
valleys of what is now
Gunnison County. In the early 1600s the Spaniards came to the
Gunnison Valley and signed
the first peace treaty with the indians in 1670. It was
not until a hundred years
later that the Ute Indians granted Spain the right to trade up the
Gunnison River. As more
foreigners came to the area friction between the Ute Indians and
the white man increased.
In 1859 the great Colorado gold rush began and confrontations
between miners and indians
became more frequent. In 1868 the treaty was signed
that confined the Ute Indians to
the Western part of Colorado. This was followed in 1880 by the
establishment of a
reservation, a 15 by 100 mile strip of land, in southwestern Colorado
for Southern Utes. In 1937
the Restoration Act returned 222,000 acres to Southern Utes.
In the late 1870's and
early 1880s between 25,000 and 40,000 people flocked to the area
to seek their fortune in
silver and other minerals. In 1893 the plummeting price of silver
caused many of the mines to close making it impossible for
many of the camps to stay alive.
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