American acquisition of New Mexico and Colorado changed trade relationships for the Utes and led to the free passage of Anglo-Americans through Ute territory. Military posts and Indian agencies were established in Ute territory to help maintain peace between the groups. Euro-American presence in Colorado increased dramatically in 1859 when gold was discovered in Colorado’s Front Range. (© and Courtesy of Ute Ethnographic and Ethnobotanical Research in the Bonita Peak Mining District, in-text citations removed)

Pike’s Peak Gold Rush Graphic, Courtesy of Legends of America — Pike’s Peak Gold Rush Graphic
*Courtesy of Legends of America*

Group of Uncompahgre Men Once Known, undated, CSPM Collection — Group of Uncompahgre Men Once Known, undated
*CSPM Collection*

American prospectors coming to Colorado dreamed of easy riches and were oblivious to or simply ignored the fact that their incursions into the Rocky Mountains were trespassing on unceded Ute traditional homelands. In an era when unskilled laborers made less than a dollar a day, one optimistic newspaper report claimed miners could expect to make “$2 to $12 and often $15 per day” and over 100,000 mostly inexperienced Americans made their way west into present-day Colorado. Along the way, some men did strike it rich and others scratched a crude living from the mines, but many others turn to “mining the miners.”

Mining is not a subsistence job. You cannot survive on the product of your day’s work the way a farmer could. Miners needed an extensive support system in order to continue working. Farmers and ranchers supplied them with food. Merchants sold them canned goods, clothing, and tools. Laborers cut the timber and dug the coal needed for shelter and warmth. Lawyers resolved claim disputes and journalists collected and printed the latest news. As mining camps and their supply centers spread across the area, Colorado became an official territory of the United States and a complex economic network was formed. Mining laid the groundwork for the even larger waves of settlement to come.

Colorado Springs Drawing — Founded in 1859 as “El Dorado,” Colorado City supplied “Pikes Peakers” heading west up Ute Pass. Known today as “Old Colorado City,” it is located on the westside of Colorado Springs.
*CSPM Collection*

Uncompahgre River
*© and Courtesy of Sean G. Xu, Xu’s Studio*

By 1860, prospectors had traveled into the Animas Valley and opened up mining claims on Ute lands. These incursions resulted in clashes between the Utes and miners. As a result, a commission was formed in 1863 to negotiate with the Ute bands with the goal of obtaining title to some of their lands. A meeting was called at Conejos, Colorado. It was attended almost exclusively by members of the northern Tabeguache band (also called Uncompahgre). (© and Courtesy of Ute Ethnographic and Ethnobotanical Research in the Bonita Peak Mining District, in-text citations removed)

The Tabeguache people who attended the Conejos meeting agreed to cede nearly all of the territory of interest, excluding the area bounded by the mouth of the Uncompahgre River, the Bunkara River, Roaring Fork River, and the mountain range that divides the Arkansas and Gunnison rivers. The treaty allowed the government to mine, construct military forts, and construct railroads and roads on Indian lands not ceded. In exchange, the Tabeguache band received $10,000 worth of goods and provisions, a blacksmith shop, 150 head of cattle, and 1,000 head of sheep that were given to the band “chief.” (© and Courtesy of Ute Ethnographic and Ethnobotanical Research in the Bonita Peak Mining District, in-text citations removed)