The oldest evidence of humans in the area dates back about 11,000 years. Some of the first people to enter the San Luis Valley and the Great Sand Dunes area were nomadic hunters and gatherers whose connection to the area centered around the herds of mammoths and prehistoric bison that grazed nearby. They were Stone Age people who hunted with large stone spear or dart points now identified as Clovis and Folsom points. Like nearly everyone else until about 400 years ago, they walked into the San Luis Valley. They apparently spent time here when hunting and plant gathering was good, and avoided the region during times of drought and scarcity.

In 1694, Don Diego de Vargas became the first European known to have entered the San Luis Valley, although herders and hunters from the Spanish colonies in present-day northern New Mexico probably entered the Valley as early as 1598. De Vargas and his men saw and hunted a herd of 500 bison, apparently in the southern part of the Valley, before returning to Santa Fe.

Gold and silver rushes occurred around the Rockies after 1853, bringing miners by the thousands into the state and stimulating mining businesses that operate to this day. Numerous small strikes occurred in the mountains around the San Luis Valley. People had frequently speculated that gold might be present in the Great Sand Dunes.

U. S. Geological Survey project used LiDar (Light Detection and Ranging) technology and mapped the San Luis Valley. The USGS  discovered that an estimated 1.5 cubic miles (6.5 cubic meters) of sand covers the San Luis Valley!

Credits and Sources:

“Great Sand Dunes: History and Culture.” http://www.nps.gov/grsa/learn/historyculture/index.htm. Accessed on June 28, 2015.

“Visitor Guide: A Park for All Seasons,” National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/grsa/planyourvisit/upload/visitor_guide-2014-final-webversion.pdf, Accessed on June 28, 2015.