Early history of Fremont County, Colorado
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Early history of Fremont County, Colorado includes life of Native Americans and events prior to the establishment of the Colorado Territory.
Native peoples[edit]
Starting more than 10,000 years ago, indigenous people inhabited the present-day Cañon City area in Fremont County.[1]: 30 Ute people ranged through the area and left traces of their being there for centuries before Europeans appeared.[2] Ute, Arapaho, and Pueblo people hunted buffalo in the Cañon City area.[2][3] Plains cultures—including Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne—also visited and hunted the area.[3][4] Archaeological sites held limited remaining evidence of Native American habitation, including portable skin tents, wooden articles, hearths, and evidence of stone tool manufacturing.[4]
Utes visited the Soda Springs, camping nearby. They drank the water for its healing properties.[5] One of the city's parks, Temple Canyon, about 30 by 70 feet (9.1 by 21.3 m), would have been accessed after a hike along Grape Creek. A legend states that Blackfeet and Ute warriors fought at the canyon to marry a maiden. It is reportedly the site of a battle between U.S. soldiers and Ute people.[6]: 58
The Tabeguache band of the Uncompahgre Utes, including Chief Ouray and Chipeta, spent the winters at Cañon City due to its hot springs and mild weather.[6]: 12, 104 Ute chief Colorow was a friend of Otto Morganstein, the first settler of Red Canyon Park, north of Cañon City.[6]: 59
Four Fremont County wilderness areas—Lower Grape Creek, Upper Grape Creek, McIntyre Hills, portions of Beaver Creek—were studied for archaeological evidence of prehistoric life with negligible findings.[1]: 19–23
Fremont County has been a fruit-growing area of Colorado at least since settlement during territorial days,[7]: 37 and perhaps before than when Native Americans managed peach and apple orchards in Colorado for generations, after apples and peaches were brought to the New World by the Spanish conquistadors and missionaries. When European-Americans began to settle in Colorado, Native American peach orchards were destroyed by American armies to starve and displace Indigenous peoples.[7]: 6, 10–11 Utes were forcibly removed to reservations: Ute Mountain Indian Reservation in southwestern Colorado in the Four Corners region and the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in southern Colorado.[7]: 37
Explorers[edit]
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In 1540, explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado claimed the area for Spain. Zebulon Pike explored the Arkansa River area in Colorado in 1806.[2] Pike wrote in his journal about a spring where he built a blockhouse for his company in December that year. The spring is believed to be the Soda Springs that existed in Cañon City.[5] Part of the Stephen H. Long's Expedition of 1820, traveled from the Canadian River to the Arkansas River. John C. Frémont, sent on a series of expeditions from 1842 to 1848 by the United States government, traversed the Arkansas River area in 1844. On a survey expedition for a railroad in 1848, Frémont traveled to Hardscrabble Creek (near Hardscrabble), Mosca Pass over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, to the San Luis Valley. Eleven men were lost in the San Juan Mountains.[8]: 106
Fur traders[edit]
Trading posts were established at Fort Le Duc in the 1830s and Hardscrabble, an early farming settlement and cattle ranch to support 70 people who lived in placitas enclosed within an adobe wall, from 1844 to 1845.[2][8]: 118
Gold rush[edit]
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The Pike's Peak gold rush brought people into Fremont County in 1859. One year later, The Cañon City Claim Club was platted.[2] Using Native American trails, Joseph Lamb created a pack trail between Cañon City and Salida in 1860 to deliver supplies to placer mines. Within a few years, a wagon road was constructed along the Arkansas River between Cañon City and Salida.[8]: 92
See also[edit]
- Garden Park, Colorado, a paleontological stie
- Indian Springs Trace Fossil Natural Area, a National Natural Landmark, at Indian Springs Ranch
References[edit]
- ^ a b Canon City District Wilderness Planning Amendment. U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. 1982.
- ^ a b c d e "Inscription of First People, Explorers & Settlers Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved June 3, 2024.
- ^ a b City of Cafion City Comprehensive Plan Update 2001. URS. 2001. p. 1.
- ^ a b Royal Gorge Resource Area Resource(s) Management Plan (RMP), Canon City District: Environmental Impact Statement. 1995. pp. 2–65.
- ^ a b Johnson, Brooke (August 30, 2020). "Back In Time: Famous Soda Point once a hot spot for locals, visitors". Retrieved June 4, 2024.
- ^ a b c Vinnola, Anne C. (2010). Canon City. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-8037-1.
- ^ a b c Schuenemeyer, Jude; Schuenemeyer, Adalyn. Colorado's Fruit Growing History (PDF). Montezuma Orchard Restoration Project, Prepared for History Colorado, State Historical Fund.
- ^ a b c Greubel, Rand A. (March 2017). Synthetic Cultural Resource Overview of the Bureau of Land Management’s Royal Gorge Field Office, Eastern Colorado (PDF). Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc. for Bureau of Land Management.