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<br />extensive flat lands of the Arkansas Valley which surround the city <br />of Las Animas. <br /> <br /> <br />While climatic conditions vary considerably between the high <br /> <br /> <br />mountains and the valleys east of Trinidad, Colorado, the climate of <br /> <br /> <br />the basin is largely semiarid, Average annual precipitation varies <br /> <br /> <br />from approximately 30 inches in the high mountains to 12.25 inches at <br /> <br /> <br />Las Animas. The basin is characterized by low relative humidity. <br /> <br /> <br />The greater portion of the basin is very sparsely settled. The popula- <br />tion is largely concentrated in Las Animas County (pop. 15,700, 1970 <br />census) and in particular, in the city of Trinidad (pop. 9,901). <br />Agriculture, mining, manufacturing and government are the principal <br />industries of the basin. <br />2. The Upper Watershed. <br />a. Topo~raphy. The Purgatoire River watershed upstream <br />from Trinidad, Colorado, covers about 749 square miles of which about <br />671 are upstream from the damsite. It extends about 38 miles west of <br />Trinidad and has a maximum width of about 25 miles. This portion of <br />the watershed is rugged and mountainous. Relief varies about 9,000 <br />feet from the source of the Purgatoire River to its confluence with <br />San Francisco Creek. The western boundary is defined by the Culebra <br />Range where several mountain peaks, including Culebra Peak, exceed <br /> <br /> <br />13,000 feet. The northern drainage divide descends from Trinchera <br /> <br /> <br />Peak to near Ludlow, Colorado, a descent of about 7,500 feet in a <br /> <br /> <br />distance of 30 miles. The southern boundary roughly parallels the <br /> <br /> <br />Colorado-New Mexico State line, extending about 45 miles from the <br /> <br /> <br />Sangre de Cristo Mountains easterly to Raton Kesa. The general <br /> <br />11-2 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br />