History Colorado

You are a homestead farmer in the 1930’s and you need water for your family and cows. Add up how much water you need in a day.

5. How Much Water Did You Use During the Dust Bowl?

Which place and time used the most water?

8. Who Used The Most Water?

The top 10 largest wildfires in Colorado's history burned in the last 20 years. Explore the hotspot map to find out more about what caused these fires and what needs to change to prevent them. 

11. Wildfires in Colorado's History

How much water do you think you’ve used today? Add up all the things you did this morning that need water!


9. Your Water Footprint Today

You are a manager of a ski resort in the Rocky Mountains today and you need water to make snow for ski jumps. Add up how much water you need in a day.

7. How Much Water Did You Use In the Rocky Mountains?

Imagine that you are an Ancestral Pueblo person living over 800 years ago and you need water for your village. Add up how much water you need in a day for yourself, the people, and turkeys that live in your village. 

3. How Much Water Did You Use in Mesa Verde?

In this resource kit, we’ll explore water in Colorado history, and how important water has been to people in the past and today. People need water for all kinds of purposes including drinking, cleaning, growing food, energy, recreation, and making things. Think about all of the ways that you used water today. Where does water in Colorado come from? Explore this map to discover common water sources in our state like snow, rain, and major rivers.

1. Where’s the Water? 

Ancestral Pueblo people thrived for thousands of years in a dry environment by respecting water. In the Mesa Verde region, water filters through the sandstone and emerges from seep springs. Ancestral Pueblo people often settled near these natural seep springs across the plateau and in canyon alcoves. They farmed in places that got the most rain and built check dams and terraces to keep water from running off. As the population grew, they built reservoirs to collect spring snowmelt and summer rain. At the end of the 1200s, a twenty-four year-long drought is one factor that may have led the ancestral Pueblo people to migrate out of the Mesa Verde region. 


2. The Mesa Verde Region in the 1200s

This timeline explores major droughts throughout Colorado's past. 

10. Droughts in Colorado's History

Homestead farmers needed water for their families and cows. In Baca County, farmers got water from wells and from irrigation projects that used small canals and ditches to move water to fields from reservoirs. 

4. The Dust Bowl in the 1930s

Mountain towns like Breckenridge were once camps for Ute people who hunted here. Then miners and ranchers settled in and changed the landscape. Now, a growing ski industry and the flood of people visiting and living in our high country have transformed the mountains again. More people and a changing climate have led to a crucial moment in Colorado history: it’s up to us to determine our future.

6. The Rocky Mountains Today

This is a live test page for the Apples to Oranges game for the Water Quest resource kit. 

12. Water Quest - Apples to Oranges

From Mesa Verde to the Dust Bowl, and to the changing contemporary landscape of the Rocky Mountains, discover the important role water has played in Colorado history — and the environmental challenges people faced in the past and present.

Students explore the relationships three different communities had with this precious resource through STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) and geography activities, and consider implications for water usage in times of drought today. This resource kit is designed for upper elementary and middle school earth science and geography classes and can be adapted for lower elementary and high school students.

Guiding Questions for the Water Quest resource kit:

Where does water in Colorado come from? 

How have people in Colorado used water in the past and today? 

How much water have people used for themselves and different activities over time? 

Visit the Living West Exhibit at History Colorado Center in Denver

https://www.historycolorado.org/exhibit/living-west 

Drought and newcomers threaten Southern Colorado's traditional water systems

Ancestral Pueblo Indians of Southwestern Colorado

New Deal Resources on Colorado’s Eastern Plains

Burning Truth: The Beginning of the End for Colorado’s Forests

Colorado River Water Conservation District

Water Quest

Earth and Space Science

Science

Geography

Social Studies

U.S. History

Ancestral Pueblo people collected water and stored it in jars with small necks, sometimes called ollas, to minimize evaporation. 


The ledger entry for O.373.1, other number 160, states that James Collins of Red Cliff, CO donated a large water jar, accessioned in 1913. It was found in 1893 by Thos Collins in Aztec, NM. There are two catalog cards for O.373.1. The first contains the same information as ledger. The second states the jar was found by Thomas Collins, brother of donor, in Mancos Canyon, Colo. In 1893.

Water Jar, Mesa Verde Black-On-White

Water is an important component of making pottery. In this video, Dolly Naranjo from Santa Clara Pueblo (Kha’po Owingeh) describes how to prepare and make clay the way her ancestors did. 

This video clip features Dolly Naranjo from the Santa Clara Pueblo.  She describes how to prepare and make clay the way her ancestors did.

214_01_meetpotter_640x480

Making Pottery Video

Corn is Life! Ancestral Pueblo people planted after the last frost, when the soil was moist from snowmelt. They used digging sticks to plant seeds about a foot deep to reach moist soil. 

They planted in clumps with about six plants in each hole, and spaced the clumps about three paces (nine feet) apart, in rows. Summer rains allowed young plants to mature.

After harvest, corn stalks left in fields stopped erosion, helped soil hold moisture, and provided organic matter. Ancestral Pueblo farmers planted the next year’s crop in new rows between last year’s rows. 


Print depicts an ear of maize corn with the siulk strans at top, open leaves on stalk.
*Printed bottom under illustration, black ink: "Ear of Maize Corn emerging from its sheath, and spreading its tassel of pistils to catch the pollen of the stamineferous flowers."

Lithograph, Ear of Maize Corn

Turkey droppings, gizzard stones, and remnants of turkey pens at archaeological sites show that ancestral Pueblo people started keeping turkeys more than 2,000 years ago. They used feathers on arrows, to make robes, and for ritual objects. By 1100 overhunting had made large game scarce, so people started keeping more turkeys and began using them for food. There was a downside to keeping turkeys: they needed corn and water, just like people did. After 1250 corn was scarce, so people had a choice: feed the turkeys or feed themselves. Each turkey needed up to half a pound of corn and three cups of water a day. 


Resource Kits

Object Library

Museums

Water Quest

2. The Mesa Verde Region in the 1200s

Guiding Question

Map of the Mesa Verde region in Colorado