As T-Road heads east, it climbs gradually out of the
greasewood and rabbitbrush of the San Luis Valley into
the cottonwood groves and pinon-juniper woodlands
of the Crestone/Baca area. This shift in vegetation is
indicative of the changes in elevation and precipitation
that occur between the valley center and the hills of
Crestone/Baca. At 8,000 feet, Crestone/Baca is only
600 feet higher than the valley center, but it receives
almost twice as much precipitation (fourteen inches).
As the elevation climbs further, the vegetation pro-
gresses to ponderosa pine forests, aspen glades, spruce-
fir forests, and finally alpine tundra on the high peaks.
The first inhabitants of the area were the Ute,
probably around 1500 A.D. Small family groups of
the Capote band traveled through the San Luis Valley
each summer as they hunted deer, elk, and antelope
and gathered seeds, fruits, and berries. These nomadic
people spent their winters in areas that are now in
northern New Mexico and Arizona.
Comanche nomads also visited the San Luis Valley
before it was settled by Spanish and American farm-
ers and ranchers. Through contact with the Spanish
to the south, the Comanche obtained horses, which
allowed them to make raids on Ute and other settle-
ments. As farming and ranching began in the valley,
conflict between the new settlers and the Ute and
Comanche developed. After many Comanche were
massacred in Pueblo in 1783, the Comanche signed a
peace treaty with the Spanish and left the valley. The
Ute remained in the valley until they were forced out
in the mid-1800s.
In 1823, Mexico granted 600,000 acres of land near
what is now Los Vegas, New Mexico, to Juan Maria
Cabeza de Baca. The grant was one of several that were
made in an effort to secure claims against the governments
of Texas and The United States. In 1860, the original
Baca Grant in New Mexico was traded for several hun-