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George Way discovered traces of gold at what was to become Hahn's Peak (DeKraay 1951), <br />and in 1861 a party led by Joseph Hahn returned to the region to work the placer gold <br />deposits. Being remote and inhospitable in winter, the area didn't have year-round settlers <br />until the 1870s -the Hahn's Peak mining district was formed in 1874 (Athearn 1976:36-37). <br />The area boomed between 1866 and 1887, during which time over one million dollars worth <br />of gold was mined, but there was no big strike (DeKraay 1951:45). <br />Captain E. L. Berthoud traveled both the White and Yampa River valleys in 1861, <br />looking for a more direct route from Denver to Salt Lake City (Powell 1961). The influence <br />of this journey on the later location of a railroad into the region is suspected. John Wesley <br />Powell visited northwestern Colorado in 1868-1869 during his exploration of the Colorado <br />River. In 1868 he wintered at an area since called Powell's Park near the present town of <br />Meeker. (It was to this site that Nathan Meeker moved the White River Ute Agency in <br />1879.) Powell noted that the area was of only marginal quality for agriculture without <br />massive irrigation; stating: <br />The region is one of great desolation: arid, almost treeless, with bluffs, hills, ledges <br />of rock, and drifting sands... and the time must soon come when settlers will <br />penetrate this country and make homes... It will be remembered that irrigation is <br />necessary in this dry climate to successful farming (Powell 1961:182). <br />The Hayden Survey passed through northwestern Colorado in the mid-1870s. In a <br />promotional article boosting Colorado for Hayden's “The Great West,” W. B. Vickers noted: <br />..the area was virtually uninhabitable summer and winter, but that Routt County, in <br />the extreme northwestern corner of the state, is covered with mountain ranges and <br />spurs, and agricultural pursuits to some extent could be successfully carried on. The <br />country at present is attracting but little attention, but when communication can be <br />had with it easier than at present, it will be found capable of supporting a vast <br />population (Hayden 1880:126). <br />The Hayden Survey publication also noted that: <br /> “Coal is found in a number of localities along the Yampah [sic], between it and the <br />White, as well as north of it, and although it has not been thoroughly explored and <br />tested, yet it promises to be very abundant and of good quality, equal to any in the <br />territory” (Ladd 1876:438). <br />In addition to coal, Hayden recorded the presence of oil and oil shale in the Piceance <br />Creek/Roan Plateau area, but lack of transportation inhibited development. <br />Early Settlement <br />Colorado's population was slow to increase in the post-Civil War era. In 1869, the <br />English investor William Blackmore said that “Colorado now contains a population of <br />41