Man's claiming of the Colorado River Basin has provided a colorful chapter in American history—and one which is not closed. Whether people came as missionaries to the Indians, seekers of gold, trappers and traders, explorers, immigrants crossing to more attractive areas, or as pioneers and settlers, the basin presented a challenge. It taxed the courage and resourcefulness of the people themselves. Those who survived to claim the basin as their home are vigorous Americans, who earned their "stake" in the land and its future. To them and to their children and to others who will elect to make this land their home, the challenge remains. What further use will be made of the basin, rich in resources of land, water, minerals, power, and recreational opportunities, is for them to determine. They are the empire builders.

Accumulating evidence shows the basin to have been widely populated thousands of years ago and here and there to have been intensely cultivated under irrigation systems. Spaniards came as early as the sixteenth century seeking gold or bringing the gospel to the Indians, but most of them failed to establish a lasting civilization. The immigrant waves which started rolling to the Pacific in the gold rush of 1849 hurried through the bleak plains of Wyoming to the north and avoided the hostile Indians and scorching deserts of the south. Permanent occupation of the basin by American settlers dates from the middle of the last century. Although settlement and development of the basin have slowly and steadily progressed, today it is still one of the most sparsely settled regions of the United States. It has a total population still below a million people, an average density of fewer than four persons to a square mile, and only two cities of more than 20,000 people.

This chapter deals with the people-who they are, why they came, where they settled, what towns and cities they established, and other related factors. A study of the human resources is fundamental to an understanding of the problems, the needs, and the opportunities for future development of this great basin.

Primitive Peoples

Archeological evidence indicates that the southern part of the Colorado River Basin was inhabited by ancient

peoples-cave, cliff, and mud-house dwellers-eight to ten thousand years ago. Indian legends relate that these people were forced to leave the region because of volcanic eruptions in the vicinity of the San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff, Ariz.

Ruins of dwellings and storehouses, and the remains of pottery, arrowheads, and other artifacts scattered throughout the Colorado River Basin bear mute evidence of the existence of scattered Indian tribes, many of whom had disappeared before the coming of the white man. Some of these, like the present-day Hopi, developed a simple agriculture and lived in permanent compact villages adjoining their cultivated fields. Some, like the Pima-speaking tribes of southern Arizona, harvested seeds and fruits, irrigated their lands and had small village settlements. Others, like the Utes and Paiutes of the plateaus to the north, lived an open, roving life, depending for a livelihood on hunting animals and collecting herbs. They built crude shelters of bark or skins, and seldom resided permanently in large settlements. Dwellings in the valleys were mostly of adobe but other pueblos near and on the cliffs were made of stone. Virtually fourstoried apartment houses containing hundreds of rooms have been found.

The present Navajos and Apaches entered the basin as roving bands about 600 years ago and established a civilization which has persisted to the present day. The Pimas, Maricopas, and Papagos of the lower Gila Valley are among the most advanced Indian tribes found in the United States. The Chemehuevi ("Digger Indians") of west-central Arizona are among the least progressive. (See chapter VIII, Office of Indian Affairs.)

Farming by irrigation as now practiced in the Gila and Salt River Valleys may be a modern revival of an ancient agricultural development. Present canals are found to follow closely the route of an ancient canal system and the valleys contain numerous ruins of the villages and storehouses used by a people whose history is still in doubt. Extensive remains of the old agricultural development are found throughout almost the entire Gila River Valley. The ancient canals probably were capable of serving as much as 250,000 acres in all, though the area actually under cultivation at any one time may have been comparatively small. Primitive construction tools restricted the size of irrigation works. All irrigation was

done by direct diversion. As the low-lying irrigated lands became waterlogged, the community moved to another location and developed new land. The numerous ruins are believed to be the evidence of those successive migrations. The cause of the final exodus of the original tribes from the region is not known, but is believed to have been severe drought. The present modern irrigation works are simply making more efficient use of the same streams which at one time made possible the agriculture which supported a primitive people.

Explorations

The deep canyons, obstructing cliffs, and desert wastes long hindered travelers in penetrating the Colorado River Basin. The Spanish conquistadors, exploring north from Mexico, were the first white men to enter the basin. In 1539 the Spanish explorer Francisco de Ulloa sailed to the head of the Gulf of California and because of the turbid water inferred that a stream entered the gulf in that vicinity. He did not see a river, but drew a rough map showing its supposed location.

The Colorado River actually was discovered in 1540 by Hernando de Alarcon, who explored the stream from its mouth to a point near the present site of Ehrenberg, Arizona, about 100 miles above the mouth of the Gila River. Two years later Lopez de Cardenas discovered the Grand Canyon but was unable to descend its sheer walls. To traverse the country and to obtain food and supplies seemed so hopeless to early explorers and missionary priests that 2 centuries elapsed before a crossing was made in the canyon section.

In the sixteenth century, Spanish explorers forded the Little Colorado River near the present site of Holbrook, Ariz. They named the river "Rio Alameda" or "River of the Groves," which would indicate that the stream flow characteristics at that time must have been materially different from the erratic flow of the present.

Father Escalante's expedition crossed the Virgin River in 1776 near St. George, Utah, after an unsuccessful search for an overland route from Santa Fe, N. Mex., to Monterey, Calif.

As time passed, stories of these early Spanish explorers combined with Indian legends grew into fabulous tales of this unknown land. It was said that the Colorado had great falls and whirlpools and that it ran underSo formidable were the ground for hundreds of miles. actual conditions that the Colorado River was long considered a dangerous obstacle to be circumtoured.

Spanish explorations continued to the beginning of the nineteenth century, the region being covered rather thoroughly. During this period two missions were built along the Colorado River, both of which were later destroyed by Indians. Some encouragement was given to Indian

agriculture, but the Spaniards' main interest in the area lay in the exploitation of its mineral resources.

Venturesome traders, trappers, and explorers entered the area during the period 1820-1840. Beginning in 1824 General William Henry Ashley with a large band of expert trappers explored part of the Green River canyons. Other trappers and explorers who visited the basin during this period were James O. Pattie (1825), R. W. H. Hardy (1826), Jedediah Smith (1826), Kit Carson (1826), Ewing Young (1827), William Wolfskill (1830), Capt. Benjamin L. E. Bonneville (1832), and Thomas J. Farnham (1839). By the year 1840 this wilderness had been traversed throughout by white men except for the deep canyons of the Colorado.

The trapping of wild animals for their pelts was the first exploitation of the resources of the basin by Americans. From 1824 to 1840 General Ashley's fur company and its successors, eventually the Rocky Mountain Fur Co., met other trappers and Indians at annual rendezvous on the Green River. The trappers traded furs to Ashley's company for ammunition, whiskey, and various supplies and trinkets. The trapper's life was extremely arduous and hazardous, and few trappers survived for many years the attacks of hostile Indians. After 1840 the beaver was so depleted that trapping was no longer profitable.

In 1843 Jim Bridger established a trading post on a branch of the Green River. John C. Fremont's explorations of the Colorado and the West covered the period 1842-46.

The historic march of the Mormon Battalion, a group of 500 officers and men mustered by the Mormon Church for service in the war with Mexico, crossed the southern part of the basin in 1846, marking a wagon road from Santa Fe to San Diego.

The treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, signed in 1848 at the end of the war with Mexico, and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853 gave to the United States much of the territory now included in the seven Colorado River Basin States.

In 1849 after gold was discovered in California at Sutter's Mill, adventurers began to pour across the Colorado River at two main points, one near Yuma, Ariz., and the other at "The Needles" about 200 miles farther north. The gold seekers also used a northern route which crossed the Green River in Wyoming. At the same time the Mormons were crossing the upper part of the basin en route to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah, and many emigrants following the Oregon Trail traversed the Green River country.

With the establishment of Fort Yuma on the lower Colorado River in 1851 steamboating on the river began. Navigation was the first use made of the main Colorado River.