Archeological studies have dated the Ute people's appearance in the Uncompahgre region of Colorado as early as 1150 A.D.

Possibilities exist that they are descendants of an earlier people living in the area as far back as 1500 B.C.

[3] They were a nomadic people moving about the Western Slope of Colorado in the various parts of the year.

[4] In the early to mid-1600s the Spaniards of New Mexico introduced the horse which changed their patterns of hunting taking them across the divide to the eastern slopes and into conflict with the Plains Indians which soon became their bitter enemies.

[5] The first recorded expedition of Western Colorado wilderness was led by Don Juan Rivera in 1765.

In 1776, two Spanish priests, Fathers Escalante and Domínguez, led a party into the area around Montrose and Paonia.

[8] In 1858, gold was discovered near Denver bringing the white man across the divide into the western slope in search of the precious metal.

[11] This treaty averted a possible dangerous situation by giving the Utes some cattle and sheep, a blacksmith and 20,000 dollars a year in goods and provisions.

[12] The treaty of 1868 recognized Chief Ouray as the sole spokesman for seven tribes of the Ute People.

In 1871, a cow camp was started near the present site of Gunnison with James P. Kelley in charge.

In this year, Jabez Nelson Trask, a Harvard grad, relieved Speer as agent upon orders from Governor Edward M.

In 1875, orders from Washington to move the agency to the Uncomphgre Valley were completed in November.

The county rests in the Gunnison Basin formed by the Continental Divide to the east, Collegiate Peaks Wilderness rises in the northeast, Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness and the White River National Forest to the north, the West Elk Wilderness rises in the west of the county with Delta and Montrose Counties on its western slopes.

WCU is a public four-year university with an enrollment of roughly 3,500 students in the 2022-2023 academic year.

However, beginning in the late 1980s, it began trending more Democratic, as Bill Clinton won the county both times in 1992 and 1996.