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<br />• <br />• <br />s <br />RECONNAISSANCE INVESTIGATION FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE <br />POTENTIAL ALLUVIAL VALLEY FLOORS IN THE <br />DIRECT VICINITY OF THE NUCLA MINE <br />At the request of the Colorado Department of Mine Land Reclamation, Peabody Coal <br />Company has completed a reconnaissance investigation of alluvial valley floors in the <br />direct vicinity of the Nucla Mine. This survey was done in concurrence with the Office <br />of Surface Mine's "Alluvial Valley Floor Guidelines, Part I". Basic conclusions were <br />drawn from visual observation and from studies currently being conducted by Peabody <br />Coal Company. <br />There are three parts to This report. The first part gives a brief description of the study <br />area. The second concerns the basic study components such as water availability for all <br />drainages in the vicinity of the Nucla Mine, both for flood irrigation and subirrigation, <br />and geomorphic characteristics of the drainages. Finally, conclusions are drawn on <br />whether or not there are alluvial valley floors in The direct vicinity of the Nucla Mine. <br />A. Study Area <br />The Nucla Mine is located within the drainage basin of Tuttle Draw, two miles northwest <br />of the town of Nucla, Colorado. Tuttle Draw is a tributary of the San Miguel River <br />which in turn flows into the Colorado River. Exhibit I delineates the major drainage <br />basins in the direct vicinity of the Nucla Mine. Subbasins are somewhat more difficult to <br />define. This is primarily due to the intricate transbasinal irrigation system of the <br />Colorado Cooperative Ditch Company <br />Irrigation ditches transect basins and often go <br />along basin divides. <br />Peabody Coal Company has been operating the Nucla Mine for approximately 20 years. <br />The mining method employed is The traditional area mining technique. The coal being <br />mined is from the Dakota Formation. <br />B. Study Components <br />i. Water Availability -Flood irrigation as mentioned earlier, in the direct vicinity of the <br />Nucla Mine, is composed of an intricate system of irrigation ditches. Exhibit II is a <br />U.S.G.S. Quadrangle Map showing the location of The ditches in the system. Of primary <br />