Gunnison County, Colorado
Gunnison County, Colorado
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2294960

Gunnison County, Colorado

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2294960

Gunnison County, Colorado

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Gunnison County, Colorado

Gunnison County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,918. The county seat is Gunnison. The county was named for John W. Gunnison, a United States Army officer and captain in the Army Topographical Engineers, who surveyed for the transcontinental railroad in 1853.

Archeological studies have dated the Ute people's appearance in the Uncompahgre region of Colorado as early as 1150 A.D. Possibilities exist that they are descendants of an earlier people living in the area as far back as 1500 B.C. They were a nomadic people moving about the Western Slope of Colorado in the various parts of the year. In the early to mid-1600s the Spaniards of New Mexico introduced the horse which changed their patterns of hunting taking them across the divide to the eastern slopes and into conflict with the Plains Indians which soon became their bitter enemies.

The first recorded expedition of Western Colorado wilderness was led by Don Juan Rivera in 1765. In 1776, two Spanish priests, Fathers Escalante and Domínguez, led a party into the area around Montrose and Paonia.

The 1830s brought the mountainmen into the area to trap beaver. An old cabin located on Cochetopa Creek discovered by Sidney Jocknick was most likely built between 1830 and 1840 and a crude fort was discovered on a tributary of Tomichi Creek bore signs of a conflict.

In 1853, Capt. John W. Gunnison surveyed the area for the transcontinental railroad route.

In 1858, gold was discovered near Denver bringing the white man across the divide into the western slope in search of the precious metal. In 1859 a party settled on Texas Gulch in Union Park.

Placer gold was found at Washington Gulch in 1861 as part of the Colorado Gold Rush.

In 1861, the Territory of Colorado was organized. The territorial governor was made ex officio Superintentant of Indian Affairs. A conference on October 1, 1863, established a boundary line for a reservation. This treaty averted a possible dangerous situation by giving the Utes some cattle and sheep, a blacksmith and 20,000 dollars a year in goods and provisions. The government failed to fulfill any these obligations straining the relations further. The treaty of 1868 recognized Chief Ouray as the sole spokesman for seven tribes of the Ute People. He held this power over his people through diplomacy and understanding.

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