Experience America: Capitol Reef National Park

Park History:

Capitol Reef National Park protects a rich background of American Indian habitation throughout the Colorado Plateau. Archaeologists have discovered information about the indigenous people who lived in the region for nearly 10,000 years, relying on radio-carbon methods and oral traditions from tribal communities.

 

Earliest Records of Paleo-Indians

The earliest records of Paleo-Indians in Utah date back to 12,000 years ago. Archaeologists believe these people arrived during the Pleistoscene (last Ice Age) by the Berring Land Bridge and were the first North Americans. Sites from this era are extremely rare and fragile. Few artifacts remain, making their lifestyle difficult to interpret and understand. However, archaeologists suggest that Paleo-Indians did not build homes but rather used rock shelters and caves. These people used projectile points called Clovis and Folsom to hunt small animals and megafauna, such as mammoths. When megafauna became extinct due to climate change, Paleo-Indians adapted to an Archaic lifestyle. Archaeologists suspect that Paleo-Indians migrated through the Waterpocket Fold but have found no Paleo artifacts to date.

 

Settelers of Capitol Reef

Explorers, Mormon pioneers and others arrived in the 1800s, settling in what is now the Fruita Rural Historic District. They planted and nurtured orchards of apples, pears, and peaches.