Chief Ouray of the Uncompahgre Ute

 

Ouray was chief of the Uncompaghre Ute Band.  He was also chosen by the United States Government as being the lead person with whom to negotiate in terms of treaties.  The Uncompaghre generally lived in the mountains of central Colorado.  They would also venture onto the plains to hunt buffalo.  They saw there territory decreased on a couple of occasions, but still held most of western Colorado.  However an incident occurred in which the White River Utes attacked the BIA agency and killed the agent and several workers.  They also kidnapped several women.  Ouray and the Uncompaghre were not involved.  In fact Ouray arranged for the return of the women.  For whatever reason, this incident put into play a move to remove all the Utes from Colorado.  Ouray negotiated with the government to make the best deal he could.  There was some hesitance on the Native American part because Ouray received a stipend for his efforts from the government.  A deal was struck to remove the Uncompaghre to Utah.  However signatures were needed to ratify the treaty.  After obtaining the signatures from his own band, he traveled to the Southern Band to get signatures, and died en route, August 1880.  A negotiator bribed Utes for the remaining signatures and the Uncompaghre were removed to the Uintah Ouray Reservation in 1881.   Ouray never lived on the reservation that bears his name.

Ute Chief Colorow

 Ute Chief Colorow was born Comanche.  When just five years old there was a battle in northern New Mexico and he was kidnapped Muache band of Utes.  He had red skin so was given the nickname Colorado, which was pronounced poorly, Colorao with the d swallowed and when heard by White people was pronounced and spelled Colorow.  Colorow as a youth tra veled throughout Colorado.  He participated in a couple battles against Arapaho, one near Aspen where he was declared a hero, and another near Golden Colorado.  This battle was so severe the valley was abandoned after.  

By 18868 Colorow was a sub chief of the Northern Ute.  He was involved in treaty negotiations.  Despite this White settlers continued to encroach upon Ute land and the treaty negotiations favored the Whites.  Colorow began to not trust the government.  He signed the treaty of 1878 identifying himself as a Yampa and Grand River Ute.  Nathan Meeker tried to force the Utes to be farmers by with holding the agreed upon food allotments.  Colorow tried to negotiate for peace, but Colorow stabbed Meeker in the mouth for lying.  This resulted in the deaths of Meeker and about ten others.  It also resulted in the Battle of Mink Creek where Ute warriors ambushed an intervening military force.  Meeker's wife was held hostage.  The final result of this was that he and his people were forced to leave Colorado, as were the Uncompahgre who were not involved.  The forced removal became the Northern Ute's trail of tears.  Colorow was removed to the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in Utah.  He would return to Colorado to hunt as per treaty agreement, but this made Whites nervous and lead to Colorow's War.  The Buffalo Soldiers from Fort Duchesne had to intervene between the Ute and the Colorado local militias.  

In later life Colorow suffered from obesity, diabetes and kidney failure.  He died of pneumonia in 1888.  His body was buried by the White River.

Fort Fred Steel Cemetery and the Battle of Milk Creek

 The cemetery has a greater than expected number of graves for young children under five.  25 percent of the graves are for young children.  Life expectancy for children wasn't very great in this remote area.  It was also the final resting place for a group of soldiers from the fort, who were sent to intervene in the Meeker affair in Colorado.  The BIA agent Nathan Meeker there was having what he called issues with the Utes in the area.  He was trying to force them to become farmers.  He asked for help from the army and a unit under Major Thomas Tipton Thornburgh.  The troops were warned not to enter the reservation, which they did anyway which lead to the Utes ambushing the soldiers in Bad Canyon.  Thornburgh was killed as well as 13 of his command with 44 wounded.  The survivors holed themselves in and were surrounded for seven days.  They were finally rescued by the fifth calvary.  19 Ute warriors were killed.  In addition the Utes did kill Nathan Meeker and seven others at his agency.  The Utes were forced to abandon their reservation and were moved to Utah where they now live on the Uintah Ouray Reservation.

When the fort was later abandoned many of the soldiers were disinterred by family and moved elsewhere.  

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, by Rose Houk

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, by Rose Houk, Western national park Association, 2004.

Gunnison Canyon does not have a significant amount of human history.  However it has millions of years of geologic history.  There is at least one place to hike down to the canyon floor.  The hike is only a mile long, and drops 1800 feet.  Going down reportedly is hard, but it is not the problem.

The canyon has been carved over millions of years, at the rate of about an inch every century.  Before being controlled by dams, the spring runoff was significant and could push large boulders along.  This run off, over time has shaped the narrow canyon.  The narrowest point at the base is but 40 feet, “The Narrows.”  The Gunnison accounts for the depth, while the lack of side streams account for the narrowness of the canyon.  The narrowness is also the result of the steep grade of the river.  It descends 2100 feet over the course of the canyon, forty-three feet per mile. 

The black rocks of the canyon are basement rocks (meaning very old), estimated to be 1/7 billion years old.  Normally old rocks are beneath the surface.  Fault line action forced the layers of gneiss and schist to the surface.  They are interlaced with granite-like rock, pegmatite, which makes the lines on the rock.  Painted Wall is the highest cliff in all of Colorado, and would dwarf the Empire State Building.

History of Colorado

Colorado has an extensive pre-Columbian history.  Many native American groups lived in parts of Colorado.  The Apache lived in Southern Colorado, but moved south before white population came to the area.  This void was filled by Cheyenne and Arapaho, both eventually moved to Indian Territory.  Shoshone lived in Northern Colorado.  The Ute occupied most of the Western mountainous area, from the Colorado divide to the western border. 
The first White encroachment in the area was from the Spaniards as early as 1598 Spanish explored the area, and eventually established settlements to trade with the native populations. 
The U.S. had their first claim to the area with the Louisiana Purchase.  However this claim was disputed.  Zebulon Pike headed an army exploration into the area, but he and his men were arrested by the Spanish and sent away.  However after the area was controlled by the Mexican government, after their independence, their claim was not so heavily pursued.  It was then the presence of the Ute Indians that kept settlers away, until a treaty in 1850. 
Gold is what attracted whites to the area.  First they had only limited success, but in the late 1850s the Pikes Peak Gold Rush brought over 100,000 people to the area. 
A U.S. territory was established in 1861, with boundaries the same as the state.  During the territorial period, the Colorado War was  conducted between the whites and native populations on the southeastern pains.  This included the Sand Creek Massacre, and resulted in the Cheyenne and Comanche being removed to Oklahoma.
Colorado became the thirty-eighth state in 1876. 
The Ute Indians followed a similar fate for the most part as the Cheyenne, there land being slowly whittled away, making room for white miners and farmers.  By 1881 the Uncompahgre Ute were removed to Utah.  Only a small reservation of the White River Ute remains in southwest Colorado.
Colorado's history is very closely associated with the mining industry.  It is almost two states, with the plains where farming is popular, of the East and the mountains of the West.  Western Colorado is now a place of tourism and skiing.  There are four National Parks in Colorado, Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Grand Canyon of the Gunnison and Great Sand Dunes.  There are also numerous National Monuments and other tourist attractions.