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<br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />002132 <br /> <br />Description o~ Drainage Basin <br /> <br />The upper Gunnison River, above the lIIOuth of but excluding <br />North Fork, drains an area o~ approximately 4,175 square miles. <br />The East and Taylor Rivers, whose origins 11e in the snow cov- <br />ered slopes o~ the Continental Divide in northeastern Gunnison <br />County, tini te a1l Almont, Colorado, to ~orm the Gunnison R1 ver <br />which flows about 130 miles in a general northwesterly direction <br />to its junction vi th the Colorado River at Grand Junction. <br /> <br />The Elk Mountains to the north, aa_tch Mountains to the <br />east, and Cochetopa Hills to the south (all part o~ the Conti- <br />nental Divide), border the drainage basin of the Gunnison River. <br />At the downstream end o~ the upper Gunnison River is the Black <br />CaDYOn of the Gunnison National Monument. <br /> <br />East and Taylor Ri Vel'll below Taylor Park Dam flow through <br />narrow canyons. The upper course o~ the Gunnison River 1. a <br />broad mountain valley about 5 miles in width. Ohio Creek which <br />, <br />drains the eastern slope o~ the West Elk Mountains, and Tomichi <br />Creek which drains the slopes o~ the aa_tch Range and the <br />Cochetopa Hills, are the principal tributaries in this portion <br />o~ the basin. Tarlchi Creek ~10W8 'south from its headwaters <br />through a narrov valley for a distance of 16 miles and then <br />turns and flows northwestward to its junction vith the Gunnison <br />River, 2 miles below the town of Gunnison. The broad valley of <br />the Gunnison River extends up both Ohio and Tomichi Creeks. <br /> <br />The Lake. Fork o~ the Gunnison River drains the northeast <br />slopes of the San Juan Mountains. It rilles in a small lake <br />below Bandies -Peak at an altitude of 13,000 ~eet. Its course <br />is northwestward through a caDYOn, which videns into a Il8rrov <br />valley containing Lake San Cristobal with an area of 322 acres. <br />Below the lake, Ialte Fork flows north_rd thrQU8h a narrov <br />valley which becomes a canyon 12 miles long cut t1hrough the <br />gneisses ~orm1ng the south wall of the Gunnison River canyon. <br />Lake Fork enters Blue Mesa Reservoir, which at m..-r11111V" capacity <br />vill exbend B miles up Ialte Fork to a point in sec. 29, T. 48 If. , <br />R. 3 W., NoM.P.Mo. Colorado. Its prinCipal tributary is Henson <br />Creek which rises in the San Juan Mountains just north of Lake <br />Fork and ~lows through a canyon to its junction with that <br />stream at Lake City. <br /> <br />6 <br />