On the 150th anniversary of the establishment of La Plata County, on Febrary 10, 1874, the Animas Museum took a look at the history of the county.
The Utes
Over 150 years ago, the land we now call La Plata County was home to the Nuche or Ute people. Three of the seven bands, the Weeminuche, Capote, and Muache traversed the land. They would spend the winters in the southern part of their territory, modern northern New Mexico, traveling along the rivers up into the mountains to hunt in the summers. They lived in tepees or wickiups that were perfect for their migratory lifestyle. The Utes traded extensively with other tribes for what they needed beyond what their lifestyle could provide.
Ute camp near Ignacio, Colorado. Photograph probably taken by Susie Aspaas Turner. Catalog number: 13.23.24
Originally, Ute territory encompassed what is now known as Colorado. Various treaties over the years have pushed them onto smaller and smaller reservations. Even though the Utes agreed to the demands of the U.S. the government never fulfilled their part of the agreements. By 1868, the western third of Colorado Territory was allocated to the Utes, but that was soon to change.
These maps show how Ute territory diminished with successive treaties as mining and white settlement encroached on their land.
Spanish Explorers
The Spanish, including Juan Maria Antonio de Rivera in 1765 and Dominguez and Escalante in 1776, ventured into the area looking for gold, silver, and routes west. They left behind the names we know now for the mountains and rivers like the San Juans, the Animas, and the La Platas or “Silver Mountains”. The Spanish traded with the Utes, who exchanged the “shiny rocks” they found to the Spanish for one thing they really needed: horses.
Map made by Bernardo de Miera y Pacheco, cartographer for the 1776 Dominguez and Escalante Expedition showing the “Sierra de la Plata” for which the county was named.
Source: Lord, M., BERNARDO DE MIERA Y PACHECO - MAP OF THE 1776 DOMINGUEZ-ESCALANTE EXPEDITION. Voces De Santa Fe.