Since glaciers from the last Ice Age retreated about 16,000 years ago, people have journeyed into Sinks Canyon, a natural pathway into and over the southern Wind River Mountains. For thousands of years, people and wildlife moved up from the Lander Valley through the canyon and over the mountain passes and back again, with wildlife migrating seasonally in search of forage and prey. Prehistoric people came to hunt, quarry valuable stone for tools, and gather abundant fall berries, and archeological evidence shows people camped in the canyon 9,000 years ago. Native American use continued over the centuries, with tribes such as the Crow and Shoshone using the canyon's resources in much the same way as prehistoric hunters. In more recent times, European explorers, fur trappers, cattlemen, and settlers also traveled this route. Mountain men trapped beaver in the river, lumber mills and stone quarries helped build the new town of Lander in the late 1800s, and cattle and sheep herders moved their animals through the canyon in spring to reach lush high mountain meadows. People have long visited the canyon for its scenic and geologic wonders, and preserved today as a state park and National Forest, it remains a corridor to the Winds for people and wildlife.