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<br />OOlJ7J8 <br /> <br />Beckwith Ridge, West Elk Range. . .Storm Ridge. the Anthracite Range. Numerous streams <br />have their sources on these ranges and flow to all points of the compass forming canyons of <br />varying descriptions with many interesting features. . . . The 'Castles' is one example. . . . <br />Their rocks rise with sheer walls for hundreds of feet. forming fantastic towers. domes. <br />minarets and battlements. and when seen from a distance have every semblance of the <br />feudal castles of Europe." <br /> <br />Sapinero District Ranger A. J. Ebert and Forester John C. Miller submitted a report and <br />management plan to Gunnison National Forest Supervisor H. O. Robe on April 20. 1953. <br />recommending reclassification of the Primitive Area as a Wild Area under Regulation U.2. <br />This recommendation was approved by Robe on the same day and in turn by ..R.B.M.... <br />Acting Regional Forester. on June 9. 1953. Forest Service Chief R. E. McArdle approved <br />the establishment of the enlarged 62.000 acre West Elk Wild Area on April 2. 1957. <br /> <br />Congressional enactment of the Wilderness Act in 1964 resulted in the automatic inclusion <br />of all Wild and Wilderness Areas in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Now <br />known as the West Elk Wilderness. some 61,412 acres of the Gunnison National Forest <br />remain, as in 1931. "primitive in the real sense of the word." <br />