oks, rivers, and lakes
abound, and the waters are filled with trout. Not many years ago the
hills were covered with game--elk on the mountains, deer on the
plateaus, antelope in the valleys, and beavers building their cities on
the streams. The plateaus are covered with low, dwarf oaks and many
shrubs bearing berries, and in the chaparral of this region cinnamon
bears are still abundant.

From time immemorial the region drained by the Grand, White, and Yampa
rivers has been the home of Ute tribes of the Shoshonean family of
Indians. These people built their shelters of boughs and bark, and to
some extent lived in tents made of the skins of animals. They never
cultivated the soil, but gathered wild seeds and roots and were famous
hunters and fishermen. As the region abounds in game, these tribes have
always been well clad in skins and furs. The men wore blouse, loincloth
leggins, and moccasins, and the women dressed in short kilts. It is
curious to notice the effect which the contact of civilization has had
upon these women's dress. Even twenty years ago they had lengthened
their skirts; and dresses, made of buckskin, fringed with furs, and
beaded with elk teeth, were worn so long that they trailed on the
ground. Neither men nor women wore any headdress except on festival
occasions for decoration; then the women wore little basket bonnets
decorated with feathers, and the men wore headdresses made of the skins
of ducks, geese, eagles, and other large birds. Sometimes they would
prepare the skin of the head of the elk or deer, or of a bear or
mountain lion or wolf, for a headdress. For very cold weather both men
and women were provided with togas for their protection. Sometimes the
men would have a bearskin or elkskin for a toga; more often they made
their togas by piecing together the skins of wolves, mountain lions,
wolverines, wild cats, beavers, and otters. The women sometimes made
theirs of fawnskins, but rabbitskin robes were far more common. These
rabbitskins were tanned with the fur on, and cut into strips; then cords
were made of the fiber of wild flax or yucca plants, and round these
cords the strips of rabbitskin were rolled, so that they made long ropes
of rabbitskin coils with a central cord of vegetal fiber; then these
coils were woven in parallel strings with cross strands of fiber. The
robe when finished was usually about five or six feet square, and it
made a good toga for a cold day and a warm blanket for