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OOH20 CHAPTER II RESOURCES AND USES . uncongested areas attract many summer visitors. Many of the old mining roads in the San Juan Mountains are now utilized as jeep trails and commercial tours have been established to conduct visitors through t he area. Most of the lands in the Uncompahgre River drainage that are suitable for intensive agricultural usage are located in stream valleys or on low mesas near the valley floors. Smaller areas of arable lands are situated on higher benches and atong the lower slopes of the Uncompahgre Plateau. Project Land Classification Much of the land initially planned for irrigation development under the project was determined to be unsuitable for cultivation and crop producti~n. This situation led to several adjustments in the project acreage at intervals following the initial development period as discussed previously in this report. . With few exceptions, the soils on the east side of the Uncompah- gre Valley are derived principally from the Mancos shale formation and are heavy clays referred to locally as "adobe" soils. The soils in large portions of this area are shallow over the shale bedrock. Soils in the west side of the Uncompahgre Valley are known locally as "mesa" soils and are generally deeper and lighter in texture than the soils of the east side of the valley. The west side soils are mostly of alluvial origin although there are small areas of shallow residual soils derived from sandstone. All lands that could be irrigated by gravity service from the project, except those initially electing not to participate in the project, were subjected to a detailed land classification survey during the period 1946 to 1948. Little basic land classification data hBNebeen collected since that time but the status of some of the lands has changed. In the 1946-1948 land classification survey, the physical factors of soils, topography, and drainage as related to the economic factors of productivity and costs of production and land development were used to aelect lands suitable for irrigation farming and to separate the lands into different classes. The lands not meeting the standards established for arability were classified as Class 6 lands without delineation between the presently irrigated Class 6 and the non- irrigated Class 6 lands. . Lands that were considered temporarily unsuitable for irrigation farming due to deficiencies that were judged to be economically cor- rectable were placed in a Class 5 category. With correction of these deficiencies the Class 5 landa would meet standards established for 23