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<br /> <br />remains today as the only vehicular access to the upper Williams Fork <br />• River. The first successful wagon road over this section of the <br />Continental Divide was completed in 1875 via Berthoud Pass, too late <br />for the railroad. <br />Mining operations in the upper reaches of the Williams Fork <br />Valley were never very profitable. The Bobtail and Ready Cash mines <br />were fairly prosperous for a short time, but the only vehicular access <br />was from the east via Jones Pass and the pass is blocked by a 50-foot <br />snow cornice 10 to 11 months of the year. <br />The Denver Water Board has constructed part of an intricate <br />network of water-diversion facilities in the vicinity of the Bobtail <br />Mine. Interceptor canals in the area feed Jones Tunnel (Gumlick <br />Tunnel) which carries water from the western to the eastern slope of <br />~• the Continental Divide. Jones Tunnel surfaces on the perimeter of the <br />Henderson mine yard. At that point, Vasquez Tunnel returns the water <br />to the western slope where the Moffat Tunnel is the last leg back to <br />the eastern slope. <br />Mill Site <br />The Williams Fork Valley probably got its name from Colonel <br />Beverly D. Williams. He made the first recorded white man exploration <br />into the valley via Vasquez Pass. His mission, like Jones', was an <br />effort to locate a wagon route across The Divide. <br />According to Black (1969), the Ute Indians played a signi- <br />ficant role in the history of the area. it is reported that in 1879. <br />they indiscriminately slaughtered cattle and game and set numerous <br />forest fires across the entire north central travel route of the state <br />3-3 <br />