1.
Indian reservation
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Each of the 326 Indian reservations in the United States are associated with a particular Nation. Not all of the countrys 567 recognized tribes have a reservation—some tribes have more than one reservation, some share reservations and this jumble of private and public real estate creates significant administrative, political, and legal difficulties. The collective geographical area of all reservations is 56,200,000 acres, while most reservations are small compared to US states, there are 12 Indian reservations larger than the state of Rhode Island. The largest reservation, the Navajo Nation Reservation, is similar in size to West Virginia, Reservations are unevenly distributed throughout the country, the majority are west of the Mississippi River and occupy lands that were first reserved by treaty or granted from the public domain. Because tribes possess tribal sovereignty, even though it is limited and these laws can permit legal casinos on reservations, for example, which attract tourists. The tribal council, not the local or federal government, generally has jurisdiction over reservations, different reservations have different systems of government, which may or may not replicate the forms of government found outside the reservation. Most Native American reservations were established by the government, a limited number, mainly in the East. The name reservation comes from the conception of the Native American tribes as independent sovereigns at the time the U. S, the term remained in use even after the federal government began to forcibly relocate tribes to parcels of land to which they had no historical connection. A majority of Native Americans and Alaska Natives live somewhere other than the reservations, often in big cities such as Phoenix. In 2012, there were over 2.5 million Native Americans with about 1 million living on reservations, from the beginning of the European colonization of the Americas, Europeans often removed native peoples from lands they wished to occupy. The means varied, including voluntary moves based on agreement, treaties made under considerable duress, forceful ejection. The removal caused many problems such as tribes losing means of livelihood by being subjected to an area, farmers having inadmissible land for agriculture. In 1764 the “Plan for the Future Management of Indian Affairs” was proposed by the Board of Trade, additionally, this plan dictated that the Indians would be properly consulted when ascertaining and defining the boundaries of colonial settlement. For much of North America, the American Revolution was more of a battle against the Indians than a war against the British, the treaty was seen by Americans as a confirmation of their conquest of Indian land. The private contracts that once characterized the sale of Indian land to various individuals and this protocol was adopted by the United States Government after the America Revolution. On March 11,1824, John C. Calhoun founded the Office of Indian Affairs as a division of the United States Department of War, to solve the land problem with 38 treaties with American Indian tribes. The passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 marked the systematization of a US federal government policy of forcibly moving Native populations away from European-populated areas, some of the lands these tribes were given to inhabit following the removals eventually became Indian Reservations. In 1851, the United States Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act which authorized the creation of Indian reservations in modern-day Oklahoma, relations between settlers and natives had grown increasingly worse as the settlers encroached on territory and natural resources in the West
2.
Colorado
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Colorado is a state in the United States encompassing most of the Southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is part of the Western United States, the Southwestern United States, Colorado is the 8th most extensive and the 21st most populous of the 50 United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Colorado was 5,540,545 on July 1,2016, the state was named for the Colorado River, which Spanish travelers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains. The Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28,1861, Colorado is nicknamed the Centennial State because it became a state in the same year as the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is noted for its landscape of mountains, forests, high plains, mesas, canyons, plateaus, rivers. Denver is the capital and the most populous city of Colorado, residents of the state are properly known as Coloradans, although the term Coloradoan has been used archaically and lives on in the title of Fort Collins newspaper, the Coloradoan. Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are the states which have boundaries defined solely by lines of latitude and longitude. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado, Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies entirely above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County, Colorado and this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than one half of the area of Colorado is flat, East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from roughly 3,350 to 7,500 feet. The Colorado plains were mostly prairies, but they have many patches of forests, buttes. Eastern Colorado is presently covered in farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages. Precipitation is fair, averaging from 15 to 25 inches annually, corn, wheat, hay, soybeans, and oats are all typical crops, and most of the villages and towns in this region boast both a water tower and a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from the South Platte, the Arkansas River, and a few other streams, however, heavy use of ground water from wells for irrigation has caused underground water reserves to decline. As well as agriculture, eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as cattle ranches. Roughly 70% of Colorados population resides along the edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne, Wyoming, and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado. The Front Range includes Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and other townships, on the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction, Durango, and Montrose
3.
New Mexico
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New Mexico is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. It was admitted to the Union as the 47th state on January 6,1912 and it is usually considered one of the Mountain States. New Mexico is fifth by area, the 36th-most populous, inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before European exploration, New Mexico was colonized by the Spanish in 1598 Imperial Spanish viceroyalty of New Spain. Later, it was part of independent Mexico before becoming a U. S. territory and eventually a U. S. state as a result of the Mexican–American War. Among U. S. states, New Mexico has the highest percentage of Hispanics, the major Native American nations in the state are Navajo, Pueblo, and Apache peoples. The demography and culture of the state are shaped by these strong Hispanic and Native American influences and its scarlet and gold colors are taken from the royal standards of Spain, along with the ancient sun symbol of the Zia, a Pueblo-related tribe. New Mexico, or Nuevo México in Spanish, is incorrectly believed to have taken its name from the nation of Mexico. The name simply stuck, even though the area had no connection to Mexico or the Mexica Indian tribes, Mexico, formerly a part of New Spain, adopted its name centuries later in 1821, after winning independence from Spanish rule. New Mexico was a part of the independent Mexican Empire and Federal Republic of Mexico for 27 years,1821 through 1848, New Mexico and Mexico developed as neighboring Spanish-speaking communities under Spanish rule, with relatively independent histories. The states total area is 121,412 square miles, the eastern border of New Mexico lies along 103° W longitude with the state of Oklahoma, and 2.2 miles west of 103° W longitude with Texas. On the southern border, Texas makes up the eastern two-thirds, while the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora make up the western third, the western border with Arizona runs along the 109°03 W longitude. The southwestern corner of the state is known as the Bootheel, the 37° N latitude parallel forms the northern boundary with Colorado. The states New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and Utah come together at the Four Corners in the corner of New Mexico. New Mexico, although a state, has very little water. Its surface water area is about 250 square miles, the New Mexican landscape ranges from wide, rose-colored deserts to broken mesas to high, snow-capped peaks. Despite New Mexicos arid image, heavily forested mountain wildernesses cover a significant portion of the state, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the southernmost part of the Rocky Mountains, run roughly north-south along the east side of the Rio Grande in the rugged, pastoral north. The most important of New Mexicos rivers are the Rio Grande, Pecos, Canadian, San Juan, the Rio Grande is tied for the fourth-longest river in the United States. Tourists visiting these sites bring significant money to the state, other areas of geographical and scenic interest include Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and the Gila Wilderness in the southwest of the state
4.
Montezuma County, Colorado
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Montezuma County is the southwesternmost of the 64 counties in the U. S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 25,535, Montezuma County is also home to most of the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation, home of the Weeminuche Band of the Ute Nation, known as the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, with its headquarters at Towaoc. Montezuma County has been settled since approximately AD600, and had an population of approximately 100,000, four times its current population. Montezuma County was created out of the portion of La Plata County by the Colorado Legislature in April 1889. It was named in honor of a chief of the Aztec Indians in Mexico. The building ruins in Mesa Verde National Park were thought to be of Aztec origin at the time. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 2,040 square miles. A large county, roughly 1/3 of its area is land, 1/3 is federal land. It is also varied topographically, ranging in elevation from about 6,000 feet to more than 13,200 feet, the county has the second largest reservoir in Colorado, McPhee Reservoir, many other large reservoirs, and hundreds of private lakes and ponds. Much of the county is irrigated cropland, and it produces fruit, large numbers of cattle and sheep, highways 160 and 491, and by Cortez Municipal Airport. It has no service, although both Mancos and Dolores were established as railroad towns in the 1890s. The border with San Juan County, Colorado, is, however, the population density was 12 people per square mile. There were 10,497 housing units at a density of 5 per square mile. 9. 50% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,24. 60% of all households were made up of individuals and 9. 30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the family size was 3.04. In the county, the population was out with 27. 50% under the age of 18,7. 10% from 18 to 24,26. 30% from 25 to 44,25. 30% from 45 to 64. The median age was 38 years, for every 100 females there were 96.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.20 males, the median income for a household in the county was $32,083, and the median income for a family was $38,071
5.
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
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The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is one of three federally recognized tribes of the Ute Nation, and are mostly descendants of the historic Weeminuche Band who moved to the Southern Ute reservation in 1897. Their reservation is headquartered at Towaoc, Colorado on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation in southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe are descendants of the Weeminuche band who moved to the Southern Ute reservation in 1897. The use of lands in the Four Corners area, where the Ute Mountain Ute tribe now live, though, most anthropologists agree that Utes were established in the Four Corners area by 1500 C. E. The Ute people were hunters and gatherers who moved on foot to hunting grounds, the men hunted animals, including deer, antelope, buffalo, rabbits, and other small mammals and birds. Women gathered grasses, nuts, berries, roots, and greens in woven baskets, They also processed and stored meat, Ute in the western part of their territory lived in wickiups and ramadas, Hide tipis were used in the eastern reaches of their territory. As a result of American westward expansion, the Utes now possess only a fraction of the land that they once traveled seasonally. The Ute people consist of three populations of people, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation near Fort Duchesne in northeastern Utah, the Southern Ute live on a reservation in southwestern Colorado near Ignacio. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe headquartered in Towaoc, Colorado, the subjects of this article, the Mesa Verde Region, the present day area containing the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe reservation and the Mesa Verde National Park, was the northern most edge of the colonial territory of Spain. Initial exploration of the American Southwest by the Spanish occurred in 1540 and they established their first capital near the pueblo of Ohkay Owingeh, which they renamed San Juan de los Caballeros. In 1626 an account was taken of the Utes by a Spanish scribe in New Mexico, about 1640 the Utes began trading with the Spanish for horses. Spanish traders followed trails to Ute villages and Utes traveled to New Mexican towns, the Utes brought buckskin, dried meats, furs, and slaves to exchange for horses, knives, and blankets. Spanish officials negotiate the first peace treaty with the Utes in 1670, in search of gold, Juan de Rivera made three expeditions between 1761 and 1765 from Taos through southwestern Colorado to the Gunnison River. He did not return with gold, but did trade with Utes. Beset by hunger and illness, the men turned back at Salt Lake Valley, the maps and information provided from the expedition provided useful information for future travel and their route from Santa Fe to the Salt Lake Valley became known as the Old Spanish Trail. The Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819 established a boundary line between Spanish and United States possessions in the southwest. Spanish territory included the southern plains, a part of the western Rocky Mountains. Even with the boundary, the Spanish did little to maintain their northern borders, when Mexico gained its independence from Spain, the Spanish lands became Mexican land. American fur trappers headed into the frontier in 1811 and encountered the Utes
6.
Rio Grande
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The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States, along the way, it forms part of the Mexico–United States border. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission, its length was 1,896 miles in the late 1980s. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is the fourth- or fifth-longest river system in North America. The river serves as part of the border between the U. S. state of Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León. A very short stretch of the river serves as part of the boundary between the U. S. states of Texas and New Mexico. Since the mid–20th century, heavy consumption of farms and cities along with many large diversion dams on the river has left only 20% of its natural discharge to flow to the Gulf. Near the rivers mouth, the heavily irrigated lower Rio Grande Valley is an important agricultural region, the Rio Grande is one of 19 Great Waters recognized by Americas Great Waters Coalition. The Rio Grandes watershed covers 182,200 square miles, many endorheic basins are situated within, or adjacent to, the Rio Grandes basin, and these are sometimes included in the river basins total area, increasing its size to about 336,000 square miles. The Rio Grande rises in the part of the Rio Grande National Forest in the U. S. state of Colorado. The river is formed by the joining of several streams at the base of Canby Mountain in the San Juan Mountains and it then continues on a southerly route through the desert cities of Albuquerque, and Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. In the Albuquerque area, the river flows past a number of historic Pueblo villages, including Sandia Pueblo, below El Paso, it serves as part of the border between the United States and Mexico. The official river border measurement ranges from 889 miles to 1,248 miles, a major tributary, the Rio Conchos, enters at Ojinaga, Chihuahua, below El Paso, and supplies most of the water in the border segment. Other well-known tributaries include the Pecos and the smaller Devils, which join the Rio Grande on the site of Amistad Dam. Despite its name and length, the Rio Grande is not navigable by ocean-going ships, in New Mexico, the river flows through the Rio Grande rift from one sediment-filled basin to another, cutting canyons between the basins and supporting a fragile bosque ecosystem on its flood plain. From El Paso eastward, the flows through desert. Although irrigated agriculture exists throughout most of its stretch, it is extensive in the subtropical Lower Rio Grande Valley. The river ends in a small, sandy delta at the Gulf of Mexico, during portions of 2001 and 2002, the mouth of the Rio Grande was blocked by a sandbar
7.
Sangre de Cristo Mountains
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The Sangre de Cristo Mountains are the southernmost subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States, the mountains run from Poncha Pass in South-Central Colorado, trending southeast and south, ending at Glorieta Pass, southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The mountains contain a number of fourteen thousand foot peaks in the Colorado portion, the name of the mountains may refer to the occasional reddish hues observed during sunrise and sunset, and when alpenglow occurs, especially when the mountains are covered with snow. Although the particular origin of the name is unclear, it has been in use since the early 19th century, before that time the terms La Sierra Nevada, La Sierra Madre, La Sierra, and The Snowies were used. According to tradition, sangre de Cristo were the last words of a Catholic priest who was killed by Indians, sometimes the archaic Spanish spelling Christo is used. Much of the mountains are within various National Forests, the Rio Grande and San Isabel in Colorado, and these publicly accessible areas are popular for hunting, camping, hiking, mountain biking, backpacking, climbing, and cross-country and downhill skiing. The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve lies on the southwest side of the mountains in Colorado, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains are divided into various subranges, described here from north to south. They form a ridge separating the San Luis Valley on the west from the watershed of the Arkansas River on the east. The Crestones are a group of four 14, 000+ foot peaks in the Sangre de Cristo Range above Crestone, Colorado. The Spanish Peaks are a pair of mountains, West Spanish Peak,13,626 feet/4,153 m. The Spanish Peaks were designated a National Natural Landmark in 1976 as one of the best known examples of igneous dikes. The mountains can be seen as far north as Colorado Springs, as far west as Alamosa, points south to Raton, New Mexico, and points east to La Junta, Colorado. The Culebra Range runs almost due north and south, with its limit at La Veta Pass in Colorado. Its highest point is Culebra Peak, which is notable for being the only fourteener in Colorado which is on private land, climbers wishing to ascend Culebra must pay a fee, and the number of climbers per year is limited. Standing to the east of the main crest are the two prominent Spanish Peaks, unlike the rest of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, these are volcanic, with conical shapes and prominent dikes radiating outward. These peaks were important landmarks on the branch of the Santa Fe Trail. The Taos Mountains span the western lobe of the range from Costilla Creek in the north and they include the highest point in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak 13,161 feet, which is part of the small Wheeler Peak Wilderness. Other notable peaks include Pueblo Peak 12,305 feet, which rises dramatically above Taos Pueblo, williams Lake is located below Wheeler Peak in the Wheeler Peak Wilderness
8.
Animas River
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Animas River is a 126-mile-long river in the western United States, a tributary of the San Juan River, part of the Colorado River System. The Animas-La Plata Water Project was completed in 2015, spanish explorer Juan Maria de Rivera of Santa Fe recorded the name Rio de las Animas in 1765. One theory is that the name of the river was once Rio de las Animas Perdidas. At Silverton, the flows into the Animas Canyon. The Durango and Silverton Narrow gauge railroad follows the river through the canyon to Durango, from Durango the river flows south into New Mexico through the town of Aztec to its confluence with the San Juan River at Farmington. The only major tributary of the Animas River is the Florida River which confluences just north of the Colorado–New Mexico border, numerous irrigation ditches serve the surrounding farmland along the river. The Durango Pumping Plant, completed in 2011, as part of the Animas-La Plata Water Project, draws an average annual of 57,100 acre-feet from the river, for storage in Lake Nighthorse. The Animas serves as habitat to resident and migratory bald eagles arrive in the winter months to take advantage of the ice-free river. The plug was removed while investigating a leak at the abandoned Gold King Mine. The mine was last active in the 1920s, but it had been leaking toxic water at a rate of 50 to 250 gallons a minute for years, the spill contained the toxic metals arsenic, cadmium, and lead, as well as the metals aluminum and copper. There may be other toxic heavy metals in the plume, the rivers fish population might also be at risk due to the toxic waste that now runs through the river. In February 2016, the Associated Press reported that the spill dumped 880,000 pounds of metals into the Animas River, the metals considered are cadmium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, zinc, and possibly others. The Animas is a freestone fishery well populated with rainbow, brown, Colorado River cutthroat and it is considered a gold medal fishery above Rivera Bridge Crossing in Colorado. Recreational fishing with artificial lures and flies on the Animas is available due to moderate winter weather. Insect hatches of aquatic diptera and mayflies occur in the winter, in late spring, summer and through fall the Animas sees caddisfly and mayfly hatches as well as terrestrials such as grasshoppers. Animas trout average 12 to 16 inches, larger trout in the 17 to 22 inches are occasionally caught by anglers. Brown trout as large as 36 inches have been caught in the Animas, List of rivers of Colorado List of rivers of New Mexico List of tributaries of the Colorado River Animas-La Plata Water Project Lake Nighthorse Thompson, Jonathan. Acid-neutralizing potential of igneous bedrocks in the Animas River headwaters, San Juan County, reston, VA, U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey
9.
Chama, New Mexico
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Chama is a village in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 1,022 at the 2010 census, Chama is located at 36°53′41″N 106°35′4″W, on the Rio Chama. According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has an area of 2.6 square miles. It is the remaining 64 mile portion of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroads San Juan Extension built in the 1880s between Alamosa, Colorado, and Durango, Colorado. The route was abandoned in the late 1960s and the tracks from Chama westward to Durango were torn up soon afterwards, at the 2000 census, there were 1,199 people,467 households and 312 families residing in the village. The population density was 467.9 per square mile, there were 601 housing units at an average density of 234.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the village was 67. 56% White,1. 58% African American,2. 67% Native American,0. 08% Asian,25. 10% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 71. 23% of the population. 26. 3% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.57 and the average family size was 3.13. 26. 6% of the population were under the age of 18,6. 7% from 18 to 24,26. 3% from 25 to 44,28. 2% from 45 to 64, the median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.1 males. The median household income was $30,513, and the family income was $31,983. Males had an income of $27,167 compared with $20,054 for females. The per capita income for the village was $16,670, about 11. 9% of families and 17. 9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28. 6% of those under age 18 and 13. 7% of those age 65 or over. This climatic region is typified by large temperature differences, with warm to hot summers. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Chama has a continental climate. Chama, Colorado Rio Chama Cumbres Pass San Juan Mountains San Juan Express Village website Chama Valley Chamber of Commerce
10.
Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
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Rio Arriba County is a county in the U. S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 40,246 and its county seat is Tierra Amarilla. Its northern border is the Colorado state line, Rio Arriba County comprises the Española, NM Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM Combined Statistical Area. The county was one of nine originally created for the Territory of New Mexico in 1852, originally extending west to the California line, it included the site of present-day Las Vegas, Nevada. The county seat was initially sited at San Pedro de Chamita, in 1860 the seat was moved to Plaza del Alcalde. Since 1880 Tierra Amarilla has been the county seat, the Battle of Embudo Pass took place in the southern part of the county during the American invasion in January 1847. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 5,896 square miles. It is the fifth-largest county in New Mexico by area, the highest point in the county is the summit of Truchas Peak at 13,102 feet. The county acquired its present proportions after the creation of San Juan County, the population density was 7 people per square mile. There were 18,016 housing units at a density of 3 per square mile. 72. 89% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,23. 50% of all households were made up of individuals and 7. 80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the family size was 3.19. In the county, the population was out with 28. 60% under the age of 18,8. 90% from 18 to 24,28. 80% from 25 to 44,22. 90% from 45 to 64. The median age was 34 years, for every 100 females there were 98.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.70 males, the median income for a household in the county was $29,429, and the median income for a family was $32,901. Males had an income of $26,897 versus $22,223 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,263, about 16. 60% of families and 20. 30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23. 30% of those under age 18 and 22. 90% of those age 65 or over. As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 40,246 people,15,768 households, the population density was 6.9 inhabitants per square mile
