Spanish traders and explorers made frequent trips into southern Colorado
during the eighteenth century. Those of record were led by Capt. Juan
Marie de Rivera, in 1765, and Padre Francisco Escalante, in 1776. Each
party followed approximately the same route from Santa Fe to the San
Juan Basin, westward to the Mancos River, thence northward across the
forest through the Dolores and San Miguel Valleys to the vicinity of the
present town of Placerville. From this point they crossed the Dallas
Divide to the Uncompahgre and Gunnison Valleys. De Rivera’s route beyond
that point is unrecorded. Escalante continued through Colorado, Utah,
Arizona, and New Mexico to Santa Fe.
[Illustration: F-376867
T-I-M-B-E-R!]
During these expeditions, Spanish names were given to many of the
geographical and topographical features and were retained throughout the
forest. Farther north, they were replaced by English names.
In 1831, the St. Louis Fur Company employed a party under command of W.
G. Walton to trap along the headwaters of the San Juan River. The party
spent the summer of 1833 in the valley of the Rio Dolores and at Trout
Lake. Parties under the command of Lieutenant Howard in 1861 and Colonel
Nash in 1866 were also in the Dolores Valley. Prospectors soon followed,
and claims were located in the vicinity of Rico in 1869. Ranchers came
in very soon after the prospectors, and the mining and cattle industries
were principally responsible for settlement and development within and
adjacent to the forest.