Special to the HT
MEEKER | Since most of Rio Blanco County was considered public domain in 1883, it was available for homesteading. The Utes had relinquished the White River Reservation but not the right to hunt in the area. This treaty exception was to cause friction for many years.
There were a series of homesteading acts beginning with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. The purpose was to put public land into production and generate…