Not all trapper encounters with Utes were friendly. In the 1840s trappers working for John Jacob Astor established a stockade on the west side of Battle Mountain at the confluence of Two Elk Creek and the Eagle River. Trappers plied the area in the 1830s and established trading relationships with the Utes. Powell.Īfter the explorers came the fur trappers, who found the Eagle River valley, with its lush pine forests and network of pristine streams, to be prime beaver country. Famed western explorer John Wesley Powell also explored the range in 1868 and made the first ascent of its highest summit, a 13,566-foot peak known thereafter as Mt. George Gore-commonly referred to as Lord Gore-roamed the area near present-day Vail and lent his name to Gore Creek and the jagged Gore Range. After locating the source of the Arkansas, Frémont likely continued west into the Eagle River Valley before heading north toward Wyoming. Frémont led an expedition to find the source of the Arkansas River in the Rocky Mountains. For instance, a legend holds that in 1868 Utes and Arapahos clashed at Battle Mountain in southeastern Eagle County. Their seasonal treks into the high country often brought them into conflict with the Ute, and the two tribes developed a fierce rivalry. Like the Ute, the Arapaho moved with the seasons, but they predominantly lived on the plains, ranging into the mountains to hunt during the summer. Horse racing became a popular pastime Utes had a horse-racing track on Brush Creek in what would become Eagle County.īy the early nineteenth century the Arapaho began making seasonal ventures into the Rocky Mountains. The animals greatly improved Ute mobility and changed Ute culture. By the mid-seventeenth century the Utes had obtained horses via the Spanish. In addition to hunting, they were proficient gatherers and took from the landscape a wide assortment of wild berries, roots, and plants, such as the versatile yucca plant. From about the mid-sixteenth through the late nineteenth century, the Eagle County area was inhabited by two bands of Utes: the Yampa, or “root eaters,” and the Parianuche, or “elk people.” The Utes spent their summers hunting elk, mule deer, and other game in the Eagle River valley and nearby Middle Park before returning to their winter camp in present-day Glenwood Springs. Prehistoric hunter-gatherers lived in the Eagle County area some 10,000 years ago, as demonstrated by projectile points, grinding slabs, and other tools recovered by archaeologists. Interstate 70 enters Eagle County from Vail Passto the east and from Glenwood Canyon to the west it intersects with US Highway 24 near Minturn and with State Route 131 at the tiny community of Wolcott. Much of the public land in the county is managed by the US Forest Service as part of the White River National Forest, including the iconic Mount of the Holy Cross in southern Eagle County. Today, Eagle County is known for its ski resorts at Vail and Beaver Creek, as well as for its picturesque mountain scenery. The Pando valley, in the southeastern part of the county, was home to Camp Hale, where the famous US Army Tenth Mountain Division trained for alpine combat in World War II. The Eagle River valley was the site of Colorado’s main east-west highway, which over the course of the twentieth century became part of the Interstate 70 corridor from Denver to Glenwood Springs. Once summer hunting grounds for Ute Indians, Eagle County attracted Anglo-American prospectors in the late nineteenth century. The county’s southwest corner also includes the community of El Jebel (3,801) and parts of Basalt (3,857) in the Roaring Fork valley. The town of Eagle (population 6,508) is the county seat, but the largest community is Edwards (10,266). The county has a population of about 53,000. Eagle County is bordered by Routt and Grand Counties to the north, Summit County to the east, Lake and Pitkin Counties to the south, and Garfield County to the west. It is named for the Eagle River, which begins in the mountains in the county’s southeast corner, flows westward alongside Interstate 70, and meets the Colorado River near the small community of Dotsero on the county’s western edge. Eagle County, formed in 1883, covers 1,692 square miles of mountainous terrain in northwest Colorado.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |