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wanted a line which ran west of the city. The Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway <br />(DNW&P) was to originate in Denver and terminate in Salt Lake City, Utah. Although the <br />line was never completed as a separate route to Salt Lake City, it eventually connected with <br />the D&RGW's line near Dotsero, Colorado. It initially featured a severe grade over Rollins <br />Pass. DNW&P was placed into receivership in 1912 and in 1913 was reformed as the <br />Denver and Salt Lake Railroad. <br />Many problems beset the Denver and Salt Lake Railroad (D&SL): high operating <br />expenses on Rollins Pass, accidents, complaints by livestock shippers of stock frozen to death <br />in some cars on the pass, deteriorating maintenance, and lack of money (Athearn 1977:105). <br />The railroad applied for abandonment but was refused. The year 1922 saw the passage of the <br />Moffat tunnel bond issue. From 1906 to until the late 1920s, constant efforts were made to <br />promote the region. The coming of the tunnel promised another boom for the region, but it <br />did not pan out. When the coal boom gave out — causing a series of towns in northwest <br />Colorado to lose population — the whole region fell into depression during the late 1920s. <br />Also, not everyone benefitted from the railroads arrival. David Gray noted: <br />The railroad came and coal mining began on a larger scale. Mail contractors and <br />freighters were put out of business. Farmers immediately felt the effect of this when <br />there was no sale for long grain and hay. The country was thrown in competition with <br />the outside world. As a consequence, grain farming for profit was a thing of the past <br />because of loss of home market and high freight rates for outside markets (Gray <br />1941). <br />Mining <br />Mining and energy development played an important part in the economic <br />development of the region. In particular, coal mining in the Yampa Coal Fields was a strong <br />draw for settlers, despite the boom/bust cycles that have occurred since the 1900s. Coal tends <br />to be difficult to mine and expensive to transport and convert into energy. Coal usage rose in <br />the 1900s as the number one energy commodity in America, boomed again between 1941 to <br />1950, and again the 1970s. The coal at Twentymile Park (east of the Moffat-Routt county <br />border), was considered good for domestic usage only is it could be transported cheaply in <br />order to be competitive (Mehls and Mehls 1991:19). <br />STUDY OBJECTIVES <br />The cultural resource survey was undertaken to ensure the project's compliance with <br />federal legislation governing the identification and protection of cultural resources. For <br />federally funded or licensed projects, such studies are done to meet requirements of the <br />National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321), Executive Order <br />11593 (36 F.R. 8921), the Historical and Archaeological Data -Preservation Act (AHPA) of <br />1974 (16 U.S.C. 469), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. <br />14 <br />