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BACKGROUND INFORMATION >n settlement Walsenburg, county seat of Huerfano County, is located in south-central Colorado. It is on Interstate 25, approximately 49 miles south of Pueblo and 37 miles north of Trinidad. The area is nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range at an elevation of 6,182 feet. Walsenburg and the surrounding area were first settled by Spanish Americans who migrated from what is now New Mexico. Origin- ally named Plaza de Los Leones after the padron, Don Miguel Antonio Leon, Walsenburg acquired its present name in 1813 in honor of Fred Walsen, a respected trader of the area. He was largely responsible for the influx of the German population into the community and the temporary prosperity of the area. With his realization of the po- tential for the coal industry, walsenburg entered into an era of unprecedented growth, including the incorporation of the city on June 16, 1873. The arrival of the railroad in Huerfano County in 1876 brought with it a new population, mainly of European extrac- tion, to work in the coal mines. As the coal industry in the area began to decline, Huer- fano County and Walsenburg were no longer able to sustain the degree of prosperity and prestige which had been associated with the boom era of the mines. )d The Stream and Its Valley The Cucharas River rises in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains about 35 miles west of Walsenburg and flows 62 miles in a general north-easterly direction through Huerfano and Pueblo Counties to join the Huerfano River about 30 mile. above its mouth. The Cucharas River Basin is about 50 miles long and has a maximum width of about 20 miles. It comprises an area of about 735 square miles. The drain- age area above the lower limit of the study is 136.06 square miles.