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<br />r-- <br />en <br />,I') <br />..001 <br /> <br />The lure af gold, silver and octher minerals caused an influx a.f pecI1Jle and <br />the pGpUlatian increased ra~idly untiLl893. With the decline flf the mining <br />industry, agriculture became: the basic industry o-f the Basin. Many of the <br />miners, disappointed in their searcl1 for gGld and silver, turned to st.(JC'k <br />raising and growing ocf crops as a means of livelihood. Irrigatio-n was fQ111ld <br />necessary to mature crops and by 1900 mosta.f the readily available flqur-ees <br />of irrigati011 water had. been developed by private individuals and small <br />irrigation companies. <br /> <br />~lati.n <br /> <br />The papulation of the Gunniso-n River Basin in 1960 is estimated at ap,roxi- <br />mately 36,000. MontrGSe is the largest inea~rsted city with a 1960 <br />population af 5,044. .1lelta had a 1960 population of 3,832, Gunnison 3,477, <br />Pa.onis 1,083.and Ouray 785. <br /> <br />Population of the BaSin by cocunties, based on 1960 U. S. Census, is as fallows: <br /> <br />Gunnison. Riwr Basin Plwula:tion.1960 <br /> <br />County <br /> <br />Delta <br />Gunnison <br />Hinsdale * <br />Mesa * <br />Mo-ntrose* <br />~uray <br />Saguache * <br /> <br />1960PopulatiGn <br /> <br />15,602 <br />5,477 <br />147 <br />451 <br />12,811 <br />1,601 <br />138 <br /> <br />Total <br /> <br />36,227 <br /> <br />*.Estimat.ed far partian of county within Basin. <br /> <br />Soill> <br /> <br />Sails af the Gunnison River Basin have developed an gently to strangly <br />sloping floodplains and terrsces, moderately to' strangly sloping mesas and <br />low rolling hills, and steep to very steep rough mountainous uplands. '!hey <br />have developed in alluvium,. residuum andcolluvitnn fr.om shale, sandstQIle, <br />rhyo1il:e, breccia and tuff, under low to' high effective precipitatilm, at: <br />elf.vations rsnging from 5,000 to 14,000 feet. Natural vegetation -eensists <br />of desert shrubs" sagebrush, oakbrush, juni~r. pinyon pine, ponderosa pine, <br />lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, Engleman spruce, alpine fir, aspen, alpine <br />willows and aSsoCiated climatically adapted grasses and farbs. <br /> <br />On the baSis of the climatic influence on soil characteristics. five major <br />grO'upings of great soil groups have been recognized. These groUJl'ings have <br /> <br />- 4 - <br />