An exploration into the past
From the Coastal Plain to the High Desert
July 27-28, 2014
FROM MESA VERDE TO THE RIO GRANDE
One of the many enigmatic topics about the Pueblo people of today is their origin. Another puzzling question is why did the people of the Mesa Verde region abandon in the 1300s their fertile plateau, including the Mesa Verde proper.
Scientific evidence points to climatic and environmental stresses that lasted for nearly three generations as a major source of change. Prolonged drought in an already fragile desert economy may have been the trigger. Change may have included a socio-political-religious collapse, invasion by other groups and emigration. Some went further into the southern deserts of Arizona, merging into today's Hopi and Zuni people. Others moved east to the Rio Grande Basin, where there were other related and unrelated settlements. Emigration may have started as a gradual process (based on familial/clan independent decisions) that lasted many years. Near the end, it seems that there was a massive, collective decision to leave the area. The Tewa speaking pueblos of today (Santa Clara, San Juan, San Ildefonso, Pojoaque, Nambe and Tesuque) claim the Mesa Verde proper as their origin.
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| Fig. 1 - Map of Mesa Verde and upper Rio Grande regions |
Whatever their origin, the fact remains that the Rio Grande became the backbone of the diverse Pueblo people of today. That is what the Spanish explorers found in the XVII century, and that is where the remaining Pueblo communities live today. Many communities were also abandoned during the Spanish-Mexican colonial period and during the annexation to the U. S. Their ruins stand today as quiet testimony to their past, even though the remnant populations survive.
The cultural change and adaptation required from the ancestral Pueblo once they moved from Mesa Verde to the Rio Grande basin was not small. The weather pattern is different, water availability is more reliable but requires different technology. From being dry-farmers, they had to become farmers by irrigation in low alluvial plains. From being on the high mesas, cliff alcoves or canyons, they had to live in valleys and plains. Older residents of the area had already developed this knowledge, including building patterns. The Towa and Tiwa people may have been residing in the region for several centuries.
I had a specific interest in understanding this significant change in habitat for two reasons. The connection of the Puebloan culture to Texas is by understanding the river basins as roads. (See the last map on this page). One remaining Pueblo is located in Ysleta del Sur, near El Paso. The connection of the Texas plains to the dissapeared Pecos Pueblo at the headwaters of the Pecos River is evident. These connections were no doubt stronger in the distant past, during the Paleo-Indian and archaic times. The ancient Piro-Jumano people, supposedly extinct, claim to be surviving on the Mexican side canyons of the Big Bend.
To better understand this framework, I traversed through the Continental Divide back to the east, in search of the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAIN RANGE
Mesa Verde is on the southwestern Colorado plateau, at the foot of the San Juan Mountains. They are a high and rugged mountain range in the Rocky Mountains, and parts of it receive different names, such as La Plata Mountains. The last large scale mines were the Sunnyside Mine near Silverton, which operated until late in the 20th century and the Idarado Mine on Red Mountain Pass that closed down in the 1970s. Famous old San Juan mines include the Camp Bird and Smuggler Union mines, both located between Telluride and Ouray.
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| Fig. 2 - The San Juan Mountain range from a hike trail |
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| Fig. 3 - Book Cover The old Skyway route |
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| Fig. 4 - The current San Juan Skyway. |
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| Fig. 5 - The Idarado mine on Red Mountain |
I took the route from Dolores to Durango, Silverton to Ridgway, and continued to Montrose and Gunnison to the high mountain pass in the Rio Grande National Forest near Saguache (Not in the map).
The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Major towns, all old mining camps, include Creede, Lake City, Silverton, Ouray, and Telluride. Large scale mining has ended in the region, although independent prospectors still work claims throughout the range.
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| Fig. 6 - View from Molas pass at 10,900 feet in altitude |
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| Fig. 7 - Black Mountain near Silverton |
The Ute Indians were a significant group of Native Americans that roamed the Four Corners area. They were hunters and gatherers in the same area where the ancestral Pueblo people lived and farmed. At times their relations may have been peaceful and mutually beneficial with trade. At times of stress, I have no doubt that their incursions and foraging expeditions were the major threat to the Pueblo. After the Pueblo abandoned the Mesa Verde Region, the Ute occupied the region. Their current reservation territory includes the Mesa Verde that is not part of the National Park, and other lands in Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
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| Fig. 8 - Entrance to Ute Museum |
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| Fig. 9 - Tipis on Ute Museum grounds. Utes did not adopt the tipi until after they also adopted horses. After the buffalo became nearly extinct in the XIX century as part of the military policy of reducing the Indians to reservations, tipis were built of heavy canvas, as are these. |
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| Fig. 11- Medium size tipi for one family |
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| Fig. 10 - Structure and cover of tipis |
The museum lies on the original 8.65-acre homestead owned by Chief Ouray and his wife, Chipeta. Built in 1956 and expanded in 1998, the museum offers one of the most complete collections of Ute Indian artifacts anywhere. The grounds include the Chief Ouray memorial park, the crypt where Chipeta was buried after her death on reservation lands in Utah in 1924, and a native plants garden.
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| Fig. 12 - High mountains near Gunnison |
After leaving the pasture lands of the Montrose area, I returned to the high mountains towards Gunnison and Crested Butte. Gunnison is another cowboy town, blessed by a college whose major major seems to be "adventure in nature". I was finally able to get good access to internet and phone. We take for granted many of the benefits of the modern times. In this area, time moves at a much slower pace and self-reliance is still more important than "selfies".
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| Fig. 13 - The quarry at Marble, near Crested Butte Marble from this mountain was used to build the Lincoln Memorial and his statue The mountain peak has an altitute of 14,180 feet in altitude. The quarry is not open to the public and is not visible in the picture |
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| Fig. 14 - Looking towards the eastern sierras |
From the Gunnison area, I began to travel south towards Alamosa, in search of the Rio Grande. The cowboy pastures of the narrow highland valleys soon gave way to the eastern sierras and the Rio Grande National Forest.
IN SEARCH OF THE HEADWATERS OF
THE RIO GRANDE
The Rio Grande is the fourth longest river system in North America. Its total length was 1,896 miles (3,051 km) in the late 1980s, though course shifts occasionally in the lowlands, resulting in length changes. For New Mexico, Texas and northern Mexico it has been the most important source of water in the middle of semi-arid and desert regions.
For the Pueblo people it became the backbone of their culture in their cultural manifestations of the last 700 years. It was also the reason for the colonization that came from the south during the Spanish domination, and also the later invasion by settlers coming by the Santa Fe trail.
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| Fig. 15 - Diagram with the current location of Pueblo settlements along the Rio Grande. Not included is Ysleta del Sur, near El Paso, in Texas. The delineated areas separate the language/ethnic origins. The Pueblo culture is of diverse origin, but it developed very common distinguishing cultural patterns. |
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| Fig.16 - A mountain stream feeding the Rio Grande |
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| Fig. 17- Near the continental divide at 10,149 feet high |
The Rio Grande rises in the western part of the Rio Grande National Forest. The river is formed by the joining of several streams at the base of Canby Mountain in the San Juan Mountains, just east of the Continental Divide. From there, it flows through the San Luis Valley, then south into New Mexico, Texas and Mexico.
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| Fig. 18 - The Rio Grande Gorge, northwest of Taos Pueblo, in New Mexico Notice the high sierras on the Colorado side. The river has eroded its deep channel on the high desert plateau for millions of years |
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| Fig. 20 - At the rafting center between Taos and Santa Fe |
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| Fig. 19 - At the western Gorge lookout. Taos Mountain in the background |
The Rio Grande rises in high mountains and flows for much of its length at high elevation; Albuquerque rises above 5,000 feet and El Paso is 3,762 feet (1,147 m) above sea level.
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. The Pueblos were situated on the margins of the river, or on those of its small tributaries. From El Paso eastward, the river flows through desert. Only in the sub-tropical lower Rio Grande Valley is there extensive irrigated agriculture.
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| Fig. 21 - The Rio Grande Basin |
Key words: Texas 4th-7th grade Social Studies, Native American tribes, habitat and lifezones, cultural adaptation, Anazasi, Ancestral Pueblo, Rio Grande cultures, New Mexico and Colorado tribes, Paleo-Indians, Archaic and Classic Indians of the Southwest, Geography of the Rio Grande, Mesa Verde, Chaco, Taos, Acoma, Indian ruins, archaeological artifacts, teacher resources, Fund for Teachers, Texas.
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