The Colorado Gold Rush caused more Americans to migrate to Colorado, leading to problems for Indigenous people.

Indigenous nations interacted with white people through trade, and fought against them when they harmed the land or impacted hunting.

How did mining impact Indigenous groups in Colorado?

Look over the events that show changes to indigenous land in Colorado during the years of mining in the region.

Since Cheyenne and Arapaho people lived on the plains, they were the first to encounter the miners coming into Colorado. Before the Colorado Gold Rush, the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1851 said that the land in Eastern Colorado belonged to Cheyenne and Arapaho people. Americans could only pass through on their way further West. When Americans found gold, however, they started to settle anyway. 

Treaty of Fort Laramie

Many white leaders felt that Cheyenne and Arapaho people were in the way of Colorado becoming a “successful” state and wanted to force them out. So, in 1861, American leaders tried to have Cheyenne and Arapaho people sign a new treaty that took away most of their land. Only some leaders signed this agreement, but they had been tricked about what the treaty was about and did not like their new land. Even so, by 1890, the United States government forced Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders to agree to move their people to reservations in Wyoming, Montana, and Oklahoma, leaving their homeland of Colorado.

Treaty of Fort Wise

Since Ute people mainly lived in the mountains on the Western side of Colorado, it took longer for miners to directly impact them. Even though miners came to the San Juan Mountains in 1861, many did not stay because they had not found the ore that would be so valuable in the future. Because of this, Ute people were able to make an agreement with the United States government to keep most of Western Colorado as their reservation in 1868. 

Ute Reservation

However, by the 1870s, miners came back to the San Juan Mountains and created mines on Ute territory. When the Ute people asked the United States government for help protecting their territory against miners, the government instead made a different treaty that would take this land away from Ute people and give it to miners.

After that, the United States government tried to force Ute people to change their lifestyle and become farmers. This caused conflicts that made Ute people lose most of the rest of their land, leaving Ute people with the smaller reservations they have today.


Standards for Indigenous Land in the Mining Era

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework