The Cañada Alamosa Project is also interested in more recent history and is actively involved in pursuing the historic records and stories that apply to the canyon. The domain of the Chiende or Red Paint People, later known as the Warm Springs Apache, the canyon did not see European settlement until 1864 when the modern community of Monticello, then known as Cañada Alamosa was founded. Ten years later, President Ulysses S. Grant, approved the establishment of the Southern Apache Reservation in the area of the warm spring. Decisions by the Interior Department in 1877-78 forced the Apache from the reservation, resulting in the Victorio War. Many Warm Springs Apaches were killed and the remainder eventually sent to Florida with Geronimo.
In the years following the Victorio War, the canyon flourished with farms, ranches and mines. This way of life continued until the Great Depression and World War II took young people out of the community. Recently Monticello has seen a revival with new people moving into the valley and descendents of old families reclaiming their heritage.
The Cañada Alamosa Project is currently involved in an oral history project focused on obtaining the stories that are an important part of the multicultural history of the canyon. These individuals have come from all over the United States and Canada to participate in the project while receiving an intensive archaeological field school.