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5.0 General Discussion of the History and Land Use of the Nucla / New Horizon Mine <br />Permit Area <br />An understanding of the major land use of irrigated agriculture is benefitted by an insight into the <br />background of the present community and land use in the Nucla area. Peterson (1949) and <br />Mercer (1967), respectively, authored articles on the history of the town of Nucla and the <br />Colorado Cooperative Company, the latter being the driving force behind the present situation at <br />Nucla. The following summary discussion is taken from the above two references. <br />In 1894, the Colorado Cooperative Company was incorporated in Denver in order to establish a <br />utopian or socialist community somewhere in Colorado with agriculture as the basis for the <br />economy of the community. Based on evaluations of many sites, it was decided to settle in an <br />area known as Tabeguache Park located a few miles north of the San Miguel River and Naturita, <br />Colorado - then a post office and stage stop. The site was selected because of the availability of <br />cheap federal lands under several Acts, including the Desert Land and Homestead Acts, and the <br />positive results of a survey that indicated water could be brought from the San Miguel River to <br />the Park. The first group of people arrived at Naturita in 1895 and began farming in that area <br />while surveying the ditch, building roads and establishing a sawmill. In 1896, the colony <br />established the site of Pinon where Cottonwood Creek enters the San Miguel, while also <br />beginning work on the ditch five miles upstream. All lumber for the town, trestles, and flumes, as <br />well as lath for fruit boxes in Montrose, was supplied by the Company's sawmill 13 miles up <br />Cottonwood Creek. Work went slow because of the amount of cut and fill, rock blasting, and <br />trestle/flume construction needed to complete the canal. Worker dissatisfaction caused many <br />delays for a project that was dependent on community cooperation and effort. This was <br />overcome by contracting the ditch work to shareholders for credits (redeemed at the Company <br />store) or shares with the requirement that a given amount of ditch in a certain time frame be <br />completed. By 1904, the first water reached the east side of First Park (used in preference to <br />Tabeguache Park by the local population) and lands which had been filed on by private <br />individuals were cleared, tilled, and irrigated. By 1910, the ditch had been extended to Second <br />Park north of Tuttle Draw. In 1905, the town of Pinon was moved essentially lock, stock, and <br />barrel to the present site of the town of Nucla - a name derived from the Latin word Nucleus. The <br />ditch, an accomplishment for late 19th century technology, has a fall of 4 feet per mile and is <br />approximately 20 miles long. At one time, the Cottonwood Creek trestle and flume was the <br />highest and longest in the world, but has since been replaced with a siphon. Though a store, <br />dairy, sawmill, and laundry, along with the ditch were Company businesses and cooperatively <br />owned and operated, only the ditch remains a cooperatively owned and run venture. <br />The land use and ownership patterns today are probably a reflection on the early days of the <br />Colorado Cooperative Company. Mercer (1967) states that individuals were permitted water <br />rights on up to 40 acres for each share of stock, though it required several shares of water to <br />June 2016 (TR -73) 2.04.3-9 <br />