The area that comprises the San Luis Valley and Rio Grande National Forest is rich in history relating to the first settlement of what is now the State of Colorado. Native American Paleo-Indian cultures, beginning 11,000 years ago with the Clovis and Folsom Complexes, were the first known inhabitants of the area. Until 1880, these and the following cultures of the Archaic Stage and the Ute Indians lived by hunting and gathering the native plants and animals found here. During the latter part of this period, expeditions were sent out from the Province of New Mexico, established in 1598, and its capital city of Sante Fe. In 1779 Don Juan Baustista de Anza traveled through the San Luis Valley and over Poncha Pass in an attempt to crush the Comanches who threatened the New Mexican settlements. Fur trapping, an important activity from the early 1820's to the 1840's, preceded permanent settlement.
Land grants by Mexico, aimed at filling the area with settlers, remained virtually unsettled until the area became American territory after 1848. The first permanent settlement in Colorado, known as San Luis de la Culebra, was established in 1851 on the Rio Culebra River upon the Sangre de Cristo Grant. In 1852 Fort Massachusetts was established, north of San Luis, in order to protect the early settlements. La Loma de San Jose, near present Del Norte, was first inhabited in 1859 by Hispano families who left the Sante Fe area. Here they built irrigation ditches and began farming. More extensive farming activities began in the 1880's near Hooper and then to the area near Monte Vista where large scale irrigation systems were built.
Mining activity was important in the history of the area, with gold and silver being discovered near Summitville in 1870. Other mining settlements followed at Bonanza, Creede, and along the Sange de Cristo Mountains. Del Norte, one of Colorado's first cities, established in 1872, served as a supply point and gateway to the San Juan mining camps and was a busy wide open frontier town.
In 1891 an Act of Congress authorized the establishment of Timber Reserves in order to conserve the nation's timberland, rangeland, and water resources. Portions of these reserves were combined to form the Rio Grande National Forest, established in 1908.
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