The Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa were the most important plains tribes. They were nomadic, hunting and making clothes from the skins of buffalo and deer, living in teepees, and depending on berries and roots for vegetables. The Spanish found Navajo in southwestern Colorado. The Apache frequently came into the state from New Mexico and Arizona. The Utes inhabited the state' s mountains and appear to have been the only indigenous tribe of Colorado.
Utes remaining in Colorado today live in the southwestern corner of the state.
The Cheyenne and Arapaho roamed the state's eastern plains. The discovery of gold in California in 1849 touched off a search for gold in other regions including the Rocky Mountains and accounted for the first extensive settlement of Colorado. In July of 1858, William Green Russell, a Georgia miner, discovered several hundred dollars worth of gold at the mouth of Dry Creek in the present-day Denver suburb of Englewood. Historians estimate that approximately 50,000 people came to Colorado in search of gold in 1858-59. After Russell and his brothers made another gold discovery on Cherry Creek, General William Larimer led a group of men from the Kansas Territory to establish a settlement there.