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It would be interesting to know who were the occupants of the Pike's Peak
region during prehistoric times. Were its inhabitants always nomadic Indians? We
know that semi-civilized peoples inhabited southwestern Colorado and New Mexico
in prehistoric times, who undoubtedly had lived there ages before they were
driven into cliff dwellings and communal houses by savage invaders. Did their
frontier settlements of that period ever extend into the Pike's Peak region? The
facts concerning these matters, we may never know. As it is, the earliest
definite information we have concerning the occupants of this region dates from
the Spanish exploring expeditions, but even that is very meager. From this and
other sources, we know that a succession of Indian tribes moved southward along
the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains during the two hundred years before the
coming of the white settler, and that during this period, the principal tribes
occupying this region were the Ute, Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and
Sioux; and, further, that there were other tribes such as the Pawnees and
Jicarilla Apache, who frequently visited and hunted in this region.
The Jicarilla Apaches are of the Athapascan stock, a widely distributed
linguistic family, which includes among its branches the Navajos, the Mescalaro
of New Mexico, and the Apaches of Arizona. Notwithstanding the fact that they
were kindred people, the Jicarilla considered the latter tribes their enemies.
However, they always maintained friendly relations with the Ute, and the Pueblos
of northern New Mexico, and inter-marriages between members of these tribes were
of frequent occurrence. The mother of Ouray, the noted Ute chief, was a
Jicarilla Apache.
From the earliest period, the principal home of the Jicarilla Apaches was along
the Rio Grande River in northern New Mexico, but in their wanderings they often
went north of the Arkansas River and far out on the plains, where they had an
outpost known as the Quartelejo. By reason of the intimate relations existing
between the Jicarilla and the Pueblo Indians, this outpost was more than once
used as a place of refuge by members of the latter tribes. Bancroft, in his
history of New Mexico, says that certain families of Taos Indians went out into
the plains about the middle of the seventeenth century and fortified a place
called "Cuartalejo," which undoubtedly is but another spelling of the name
Quartelejo. These people remained at Quartelejo for many years, but finally
returned to Taos at the solicitation of an agent sent out by the Government of
New Mexico. In 1704, the Picuris, another Pueblo tribe, whose home was about
forty miles north of Sante Fe, abandoned their village in a body and fled to
Quartelejo, but they also returned to New Mexico two years later. Quartelejo is
frequently mentioned in the history of New Mexico, and its location is described
as being 130 leagues northeast of Santa Fe. In recent years the ruin of a
typical Pueblo structure has been unearthed on Beaver Creek in Scott County,
Kansas, about two hundred miles east of Colorado Springs, which, in direction
and distance from Santa Fe, coincides with the description given of Quartelejo,
and is generally believed to be that place.
Aside from the Jicarilla Apaches, the Ute, living in the mountainous portion of
the region now included in the State of Colorado, were the earliest occupants of
whom there is any historical account. They were mentioned in the Spanish records
of New Mexico as already inhabiting the region to the north of that Territory in
the early part of the seventeenth century. At that time, and for many years
afterward, they were on peaceable terms with the Spanish settlers of New Mexico.
About 1705, however, something occurred to disturb their friendly relations, and
a war resulted which lasted fifteen to twenty years, during which time many
people were killed, numerous ranches were plundered, and many horses stolen.
Although the Ute already owned many horses, it is said that in these raids they
acquired so many more that they were able to mount their entire tribe. During
that time various military expeditions were sent against the Ute as well as
against the Comanche, who had first appeared in New Mexico in 1716. In 1719, the
Governor of New Mexico led a military force, consisting of 105 Spaniards and a
large number of Indian auxiliaries, into the region which is now the State of
Colorado, against the hostile bands. The record of the expedition says that it
left Santa Fe on September 15th and marched north, with the mountains on the
left, until October l0th. In this twenty-five days' march the expedition should
have gone far beyond the place where Colorado Springs now stands. Although the
expedition failed to overtake the Indians, the latter ceased their raids for a
time, but their subsequent outbreaks showed that their friendship for the New
Mexican people could not be entirely depended upon, although they mingled with
them to such an extent that a large portion of the tribe acquired a fair
knowledge of the Spanish language.
The Ute were an offshoot of the Shoshone family, the branches of which have been
widely distributed over the Rocky Mountain region from the Canadian line south
into Mexico. It is now generally conceded that the Aztecs of Mexico and the Ute
belong to the same linguistic family. It is probable that in the march of the
former toward the south, many centuries ago, the Ute were left behind, remaining
in their savage state, while the Aztecs, coming in contact with the
semi-civilized nations of the South, gradually reached the state of culture
which they had attained at the time of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards.
I am firmly of the opinion that these Indians, and in fact all the Indians of
America, are descendants of Asiatic tribes that crossed over to this continent
by way of Bering Strait at some remote period. These tribes may, however, have
been added to at various times by chance migrations from Japan, the Hawaiian and
South Sea islands. It is known that in historic times the Japanese current has
thrown upon the Pacific Coast fishing-boats, laden with Japanese people, which
had drifted helplessly across the Pacific Ocean. It is, therefore, fair to
assume that what is known to have occurred in recent times might also have
frequently occurred in the remote past, and if this be so, the intermarriage of
these people with the native races would undoubtedly have had a decided
influence upon the tribes adjacent to the Pacific Coast. There seems to be no
reason why the people of the Hawaiian Islands should not have visited our
shores, as those islands are not much farther distant from the Pacific Coast
than are certain inhabited islands in other directions. These same conclusions
have been reached by many others who have made a study of the question.
The National Geographic Magazine of April, 1910, contained an article written by
Miss Scidmore on "Mukden, the Manchu Home," in which she says:
When I saw the Viceroy and
his suite at a Japanese fete at
Tairen, whither he had gone to
pay a state visit, I was
convinced as never before of the
common origin of the North
American Indian and the Chinese
or Manchu Tartars. There before
me might as well have been Red
Cloud, Sitting Bull, and
Rain-in-the-Face, dressed in
blue satin blankets, thick-soled
moccasins, and squat war-bonnets
with single bunches of feathers
shooting back from the crown.
Manchu eyes, Tartar cheekbones,
and Mongol jaws were combined in
countenances that any Sioux
chief would recognize as a
brother.
The Ute Indians were well-built, but not
nearly as tall as the Sioux, Cheyenne,
Arapaho, or any of the tribes of the plains.
Their type of countenance was substantially
the same as that of all American Indians.
They were distinctly mountain Indians, and
that they should have been a shorter race
than those of the plains to the east is
peculiar, as it reverses the usual rule.
Might not this have been the result of an
infusion of Japanese blood in the early days
of the Shoshones when their numbers were
small? And possibly from this same source
came the unusual ability of the Ute in
warfare.
As Indians go, the Ute were a fairly
intelligent people. They had a less vicious
look than the Indians of the plains, and as
far as my observation goes, they were not so
cruel. They ranged over the mountainous
region from the northern boundaries of the
present State of Colorado, down as far as
the central part of New Mexico. Their
favorite camping-place, however, was in the
beautiful valleys of the South Park, and
other places in the region west of Pike's
Peak. The South Park was known to the old
trappers and hunters as the Bayou Salado,
probably deriving its name from the salt
marshes and springs that were abundant in
the western part of that locality.
Game was to be found in greater abundance in
the South Park and the country round about
than in almost any other region of the Rocky
Mountains, and for that reason its
possession was contended for most
strenuously year after year by all the
tribes of the surrounding country. For a
time in the summer season, the Ute were
frequently driven away from this favorite
region by the tribes of the plains who
congregated in the South Park in great
numbers as soon as the heat of the plains
became uncomfortable. However, the Ute
seldom failed to retain possession during
most of the year, as they were remarkably
good fighters and more than able to hold
their own against equal numbers.
In point of time, the Comanche were the next
tribe of which we have any record, as
inhabiting this region. These Indians also
were a branch of the Shoshone nation. They
led the procession of tribes that moved
southward along the eastern base of the
Rocky Mountains during the seventeenth and
the first half of the eighteenth centuries.
When first heard of, they were occupying the
territory where the Missouri River emerges
from the Rocky Mountains. Later, they were
driven south by the pressure of the Sioux
Indians and other tribes coming in from the
north and east. For a while they occupied
the Black Hills, and then were pushed still
farther south by the Kiowa. They joined
their kinsmen the Ute in raids upon the
settlements of New Mexico in 1716, and it
was to punish the Comanche as well as the
Ute, that the Governor of New Mexico, in
1719, led the military expedition into the
country now within the boundaries of
Colorado. In 1724, Bourgemont, a French
explorer mentions them under the name of the
Padouca, as located between the headwaters
of the Platte and Kansas rivers, but later
accounts show that before the end of that
century they had been pushed south of the
Arkansas River by the pressure of the tribes
to the north.
During the stay of the Comanche in this
region, they were for a time friendly with
the Ute, and the two tribes joined each
other in warfare and roamed over much of the
same territory, but later, for some unknown
reason, they for a time engaged in a deadly
warfare. The old legend of the Manitou
Springs mentions the possible beginning of
the trouble. The incident around which the
legend is woven, may be an imaginary one,
but it is a well-known fact that long and
bitter wars between tribes resulted from
slighter causes. It is said that a long war
between the Delaware and Shawnees originated
in a quarrel between two children over a
grasshopper.
The Comanche were a nation of daring
warriors, and after their removal to the
south of the Arkansas River, they became a
great scourge to the settlements of Texas
and New Mexico, finally extending their
raids as far as Chihuahua, in Mexico. As a
result of these operations, they became rich
in horses and plunder obtained in their
raids, besides securing as captives many
American and Spanish women and children. One
of their most noted chiefs in after days was
the son of a white woman who had been
captured in Texas in her childhood, and who,
when grown, had married a Comanche ref. The
Government arranged for the release of both
the American and Spanish captives, but in
more than one instance women who had been
captured in their younger days refused to
leave their Comanche husbands,
notwithstanding the strongest urging on the
part of their own parents.
Following the Comanche came the Kiowa, a
tribe of unknown origin, as their language
seems to have no similarity to that of any
of the other tribes of this country.
According to their mythology, their first
progenitors emerged from a hollow cottonwood
log, at the bidding of a supernatural
ancestor. They came out one at a time as he
tapped upon the log, until it came to the
turn of a fleshy woman, who stuck fast in
the hole, and thus blocked the way for those
behind her, so that they were unable to
follow. This ,they say, accounts for the
small number of the Kiowa tribe.
The first mention of this tribe locates them
at the extreme sources of the Yellowstone
and Missouri rivers, in what is now central
Montana. Later, by permission of the Crow
Indians, they took up their residence east
of that tribe and became allied with them.
Up to this time they possessed no horses and
in moving about had to depend solely upon
dogs. They finally drifted out upon the
plains; here they first procured horses, and
came in contact with the Arapahoe, Cheyenne,
and, later, with the Sioux. The tribe
probably secured horses by raids upon the
Spaniards of New Mexico, as the authorities
of that Territory mention the Kiowa as early
as 1748, while the latter were still living
in the Black Hills. It may not be generally
known that there were no horses upon the
American continent prior to the coming of
the Spaniards. The first horses acquired by
the Indians were those lost or abandoned by
the early exploring expeditions, and these
were added to later by raids upon the
Spanish settlements of New Mexico. The
natural increase of the horses so obtained
gave the Indians, in many cases, a number in
excess of their needs. Previous to acquiring
horses, the Indians used dogs in moving
their belongings around the country. As
compared with their swift movements of later
days this slow method of transportation very
materially limited their migrations.
By the end of that century, the Kiowa had
drifted south into the region embraced by
the present State of Colorado, probably
being forced to do so by the pressure of the
Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho, who were at
that time advancing from the north and east.
As the Kiowa advanced southward, they
encountered the Comanche; this resulted in
warfare that lasted many years, in the
course of which the Comanche were gradually
driven south of the Arkansas River. When,
finally, the war was terminated, an alliance
was effected between the two tribes, which
thereafter remained unbroken. In 1806, the
Kiowa were occupying the country along the
eastern base of the mountains of the Pike's
Peak region. From Lieut. Zebulon Pike's
narrative, we learn that James Pursley, who,
according to Lieutenant Pike, was the first
American to penetrate the immense wilds of
Louisiana, spent a trading season with the
Kiowa and Comanche in 1802 and 1803. He
remained with them until the next spring,
when the Sioux drove them from the plains
into the mountains at the head of the Platte
and Arkansas rivers. In all probability
their retreat into the mountains was through
Ute Pass, as that was the most accessible
route. In the same statement Lieutenant Pike
mentions Pursley's claim to having found
gold on the headwaters of the Platte River.
By the year 1815, most of the Kiowa had been
pushed south of the Arkansas River by the
Cheyenne and Arapaho, but not until 1840 did
they finally give up fighting for the
possession of this region.
The Cheyenne and Arapaho were of the
Algonquin linguistic family, whose original
home was in the New England States and
southern Canada. When first heard of, about
1750, the Cheyenne were located in northern
Minnesota. Later, about 1790, they were
living on the Missouri, near the mouth of
the Cheyenne River. Subsequently they moved
west into the Black Hills, being forced to
do so by the enmity of the Sioux. Here they
were joined by the Arapaho, a tribe of the
same Algonquin stock, and from that time on
the two tribes were bound together in the
closest relations.
Beginning about 1800, these two federated
tribes, accompanied by some of the Sioux,
with whom they had made peace, gradually
moved southward along the eastern base of
the Rocky Mountains. Dr. James, the
historian of Long's expedition which visited
the Pike's Peak region in 182o, mentions the
fact that about four years previous there
had been a large encampment of Indians on a
stream near Platte Canon, southwest of
Denver, which had assembled for trading
purposes. It appears that the Cheyenne had
been supplied with goods by British traders
on the Missouri River, and had met to
exchange these goods for horses. The tribes
dwelling on the fertile plains of the
Arkansas and Red rivers always had a great
number of horses, which they reared with
much less difficulty than did the Cheyenne,
who usually spent the winter in the country
farther to the north, where the cold weather
lasted much longer and feed was less
abundant. After many years of warfare with
the Kiowa, the Cheyenne and Arapaho were
victorious, and by a treaty, made in 1840,
secured undisputed possession of the
territory north of the Arkansas River and
east of the mountains. As this was only
eighteen years before the coming of the
whites, the Cheyenne and Arapaho could not
rightfully claim this region as their
ancestral home. The country acquired by the
Cheyenne and Arapaho, through their victory
over the Kiowa, embraced a territory of more
than eighty thousand square miles. As in
those two tribes there were never more than
five thousand men, women, and children, all
told, the area was out of all proportion to
their numbers.
Early in 1861, the Government made a treaty
with the Cheyenne and Arapaho by which these
tribes gave up the greater part of the lands
claimed by them in the new Territory of
Colorado. For this they were to receive a
consideration of four hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, to be paid in fifteen
yearly installments, the tribes reserving
for their own use a tract about seventy
miles square located on both sides of the
Arkansas River in the southeastern part of
the Territory.
From the time of their first contact with
the whites, the Cheyenne and Arapaho were
alternately friendly or hostile, just as
their temper or whim dictated upon any
particular occasion. With the old trappers
and hunters of the plains, the Cheyenne had
the reputation of being the most treacherous
and untrustworthy at all times and in all
places, of any of the tribes of the West.
The Arapaho, while occasionally committing
depredations against the whites, were said
to be somewhat different in temperament, in
that they were not so sullen and morose as
the Cheyenne, and were less treacherous and
more open and trustworthy in their dealings.
This estimate of the characteristics of the
two tribes was fully confirmed in our
contact with them in the early days of
Colorado.
The Cheyenne were continuously hostile
during the years 1855, 1856, and 1857,
killing many whites and robbing numerous
wagon-trains along the Platte River, which
at that time was the great thoroughfare for
travelers to Utah, California, Oregon, and
other regions to the west of the Rocky
Mountains. In 1857, the Cheyenne were
severely punished in a number of engagements
by troops under command of Colonel E. V.
Sumner of the regular army, and as a result,
they gave little trouble during the next
five or six years.
In the early days, the Arapaho came in touch
with the whites to a much greater extent
than did the Cheyenne. The members of the
latter tribe usually held aloof, and by
their manner plainly expressed hatred of the
white race. Horace Greeley, in his book
describing his trip across the plains to
California in 1859, tells of a large body of
Arapaho who were encamped on the outskirts
of Denver in June of that year, because of
the protection they thought it gave them
from their enemies the Ute. I saw this band
when I passed through Denver in June of the
following year.
The Sioux were one of the largest Indian
nations upon the American continent. So far
as is known, their original home was upon
the Atlantic Coast in North Carolina, but by
the time Europeans began to settle in that
section they had drifted into the Western
country. Their first contact with the white
race occurred in the upper Mississippi
region. These white people were the French
explorers who had penetrated into almost
every part of the interior long before the
English had made any serious attempt at the
exploration of the wilderness west of the
Allegheny Mountains. The friendly relations
between the French and the Sioux continued
for many years, but when the French were
finally supplanted by the English in most
localities, the Sioux made an alliance with
the latter which was maintained during the
Revolutionary War, and continued until after
the War of 1812. Subsequent to the year
1812, the Sioux gradually drifted still
farther westward, and not many years later
their principal home was upon the upper
Missouri River. The recognized southern
boundary of their country was the North
Platte River, but on account of their
friendly relations with the Cheyenne and
Arapaho, the Sioux often wandered along the
base of the mountains as far as the Arkansas
River, and, being at enmity with the Ute,
they frequently joined the Cheyenne and
Arapaho in raids upon their common enemy.
While the Pawnees seldom spent much time in
this region, they often came to the
mountains in raids upon their enemies the
Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Kiowa and upon
horse-stealing expeditions. The Pawnee were
members of the Caddoan family, whose
original home was in the South. In this they
were exceptional, since almost every other
tribe in this Western country came from the
north or east. From time immemorial their
principal villages were located on the Loup
Fork of the Platte River and on the
headwaters of the Republican River, about
three hundred miles east of the Rocky
Mountains. The Pawnee were a warlike tribe
and extended their raids over a very wide
stretch of country, at times reaching as far
as New Mexico. They carried on a bitter
warfare with the Sioux, Cheyenne, and
Arapaho, and at times were engaged in
warfare with almost every one of the
surrounding tribes. They were a courageous
people, and were generally victorious, where
the numbers engaged were at all nearly
equal. The Spaniards of New Mexico became
acquainted with this tribe as early as 1693,
and made strenuous efforts to maintain
friendly relations with them; with few
exceptions these efforts were successful.
In 1720, the Spanish authorities of New
Mexico learned that French traders had
established trading stations in the Pawnee
country, and were furnishing the Indians
with firearms. This news greatly disturbed
the Spaniards and resulted in a military
expedition being organized at Santa Fe, to
visit the principal villages of the Pawnees
for the purpose of impressing that tribe
with the strength of the Spanish Government,
and thus to counteract the influence of the
French. The expedition started from Santa Fe
in June of that year. It was under the
command of Lieutenant-Colonel Villazur, of
the Spanish regular army, and was composed
of fifty armed Spaniards, together with a
large number of Jicarilla Apache Indians as
auxiliaries, making the expedition an
imposing one for the times. The route taken,
as nearly as I can determine from the
description given in Bancroft's history of
New Mexico, was northerly along the eastern
base of the mountains, passing not very far
from where Colorado Springs is now located.
After reaching the Platte River, at no great
distance east of the mountains, the
expedition proceeded down the valley of that
stream until it came in contact with the
Pawnees, but before a council could be held,
the latter surprised the Spaniards, killed
the commanding officer, and in the fight
that ensued almost annihilated the party.
The surviving half-dozen soldiers, who were
mounted, saved themselves by flight. Not yet
having acquired horses, the Pawnees could
not pursue them. These survivors, after
untold hardships, reached Santa Fe a month
or two later to tell the tale. Another
instance of a Spanish force visiting the
Pawnees occurred in 1806. When Lieutenant
Pike on his exploring tour visited the
Pawnees on the Republican River in September
of that year, he found that a Spanish
military force had been there just ahead of
him. This force had been dispatched from
Santa Fe to prevent him from exploring the
country north of the Arkansas River, to
which the Spanish Government insistently
laid claim. However, the expedition failed
of its purpose, inasmuch as it marched back
up the Arkansas River to the mountains, and
returned to Santa Fe without having seen or
heard of Lieutenant Pike.
When Colonel Long on his exploring
expedition visited this tribe in 1819, he
found the Pawnee mourning the loss of a
large number of their warriors who had been
killed in an encounter with the Cheyenne and
Arapaho in the region adjacent to the Rocky
Mountains. It seems that ninety-three
warriors left their camp on the Republican
River and proceeded on foot to the mountains
on a horse-stealing expedition. The party
finally reached a point on the south side of
the Arkansas River, having up to that time
accomplished nothing. Here they were
discovered and attacked by a large band of
Cheyenne and Arapaho. During the fight that
followed, over fifty of the Pawnees were
killed; but the attacking party suffered so
severely that after the fighting had
continued for a day or more, they were glad
to allow the surviving Pawnees, numbering
about forty, to escape. Most of the latter
were wounded and it was with difficulty that
they succeeded in reaching their homes.
All the tribes that I have mentioned were
purely nomadic, and, aside from the Pawnees,
depended entirely upon game for a living.
The Pawnee were the only tribe that engaged
in agriculture. Their summer camps were
generally located at some favorable spot for
growing corn, beans, pumpkins, and other
vegetables. They usually remained at such
place until their crops were harvested, when
they made large excavations in the ground in
which they stored their grain and vegetables
for future use. After covering the
excavation they carefully obliterated all
evidence of it, in order to prevent
discovery. They would then go off on hunting
expeditions, returning later in the winter
to enjoy the fruits of the summer's toil of
their squaws-for the warrior never degraded
himself by doing any labor which the squaw
could perform. Their habitations, when
staying any length of time in one locality,
were made of poles, brush, grass, and earth,
and were more durable structures than the
lodges used by the other tribes of the
plains.
The Ute, Comanche, Kiowa, Sioux, Cheyenne,
and Arapaho used the conical wigwam, which
was easily erected and quickly taken down.
The conical wigwam consisted of a framework
of small pine poles about two and one-half
inches in diameter and twenty feet in
length. In its erection, three poles were
tied together about two or three feet from
the smaller end; the three poles were then
set up, their bases forming a triangle
sufficiently far apart to permit of a lodge
about twenty feet in diameter. The remaining
sixteen to eighteen poles used were then
placed in position to form a circle, their
bases about four feet apart and their tops
resting in the fork of the three original
poles. Among the plains Indians, where
buffalo were plentiful, the covering for
this framework consisted of buffalo skins
which had been tanned and sewed together by
the squaws. It was so shaped that a flap
could be thrown back at the top, leaving an
opening through which the smoke could
escape, and another at the bottom for use as
a door. The bottom of this covering was
secured by fastening it to small stakes
driven into the ground. All of the bedding,
buffalo robes, and other belongings of the
Indians were taken into the wigwam and piled
around the sides; a small hole was then dug
in the center of the earthen floor, in which
the fire was built. In taking down the
tents, preparatory to moving about the
country, the squaws removed the covering
from the framework, and folded it into a
compact bundle; they took the poles down and
laid them in two parallel piles three or
four feet apart, and then led a pony in
between them. The upper end of each pile was
fastened to the pack-saddle, leaving the
other end to drag upon the ground. Just back
of the pony's tail the covering of the tent
was fastened to the two sets of poles, on
top of which the babies and small children
were placed. In this way the Indians moved
their camps from place to place. The squaws
did all the work of making these tent
coverings, procuring the poles, setting up
the tents, and taking them down. The warrior
never lifted his hand to help, as it was
beneath the dignity of a warrior to do any
kind of manual labor.
Among the favorite camping-places of the
Indians in El Paso County, Colorado, the
region extending along the west side of
Cheyenne Creek just above its mouth was
probably used most frequently. There were
evidences of other camping places at
different points farther up the creek, that
had been used to a lesser extent. Their
tent-poles, in being dragged over the
country, rapidly wore out, and for that
reason the Indians of the plains found it
necessary to come to the mountains every
year or two to get a new supply. The
thousands of small stumps that were to be
seen on the side of Cheyenne Mountain at the
time of the first settlement of this region
gave evidence that many Indians had secured
new lodge poles in that locality. It is
probable that this was the reason why their
tents were so often pitched in the valley of
Cheyenne Creek, and undoubtedly this is the
origin of the name by which the creek is now
known.
On account of its close proximity to the
country of the Ute, the Indians of the
plains must necessarily have had to come to
this locality in very considerable force and
must at all times have kept a very sharp
lookout in order to avoid disaster. It is
known that the Ute maintained pickets in
this vicinity much of the time. In the early
days, any one climbing to the top of the
high sandstone ridge back of the United
States Reduction Works at Colorado City
might have seen numerous circular places of
defense built of loose stone, to a height of
four or five feet, and large enough to hold
three or four men comfortably. These
miniature fortifications were placed at
intervals along the ridge all the way from
the Fountain to Bear Creek and doubtless
were built and used by the Ute. From these
small forts, the Indian pickets could
overlook the valley of the Fountain, the
Mesa, and keep watch over the country for a
long distance out on the plains. At such
times as the Ute maintained sentinels there
it would have been difficult for their
enemies to reach this region without being
discovered.
