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~o C') Cy) ..-4 GENERAL. DESCRIPTION OF THE BASIN Location and Size The Gunnison River BaSin is located in West-Central C.olorado. Its boundary encompasses an area of 8,020 square miles and includes all or majO'r portions of Gunnison, Montrose, Delta and Ouray Counties and port:Lons .of Mesa, Hinsdale, Saguache and San Juan Counties. The Continental Divide forms the east and southeast boundary of the Basin and the San Juan Mountains and Uncompahgre Plateau form the sauth and s,authwes t boundary. .:rhi:iaain is bounded on the narth by the Elk Mountains and the Grand Mesaand;6n. the nO'rthwest by the Grand Valley. It is appraximately 145m;l:lesl~,. east and west and 95 miles wide at its widest paint narth and.,$outh.'1'he GunniSon River and its tributaries drain about 8 percent of the area of the State of Colarado. Climate Climate in the GunniSon River Basin varies cansiderably but generally could be considered as semiarid. Variation is due largely to' the wide range in elevations. The elevation of UnCQll1pahgre Peak on the SQut;hern edge of the Basin is 14,301 feet above sea level, while at Grand Junction, where the GunniSon River enters the Colarado River, the elevation.is 4,550 feet. Average annual precipitation varies fram more than 40.inches in the upper reaches of the Basin to less than 10 inches in the lower valleys. Measured average annual snowfall varies from more than 460 inches at Ruby and 400 inches at Savage Basin,. to approximately 170 inches at Crested Jl:utte in Gunnison County and 20 inches at Grand Junction. Upper basin landsha~ an annual frost-free period of less than 70 days, while lower basinyalleys near Grand Junction average around 190 days. History of Settlement The first explorations in the Basin were made by the Spanish. Many of the names of streams and mountains still bear the names given them by Captain Juan Marie de Rivera in 1765 and Father Escalante in 1776. In 1853 Captain Gunnison was commissioned by the Government to search for a feasible rail- road route across the Continental Divide. His party did much oIthe early exploration in the Basin. The Ute Indians retained possession of the Gunnison Ri'\'er:&asin until 18,73 when they ceded to the Federal Government a large tra.ctoJ upper basin land, which was innnediately opened for settlement. The lower basin was nat settled until the compromise of 1881 between the U. S. Government and the Ute Indians. As a result of the compromise, the Indians agreed to leave the area and locate in the Uintah Reservation in the territory of Ut~. . = 3 -