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fruit industry and attendant urbanization in fruit centers, such as Paonia, relate to a second basic historical phase in the Euroamerican Occupational Pattern of the area (Baker 1977). Although the Homesteading Tradition continued in conjunction with the basic tradition of fruit farming, urbanization, and other patterns of intensive land use, such as coal mining, its pattern did change and one must view the actual Euroamerican occupation as involving at least two basic historical phases, namely: 1) primary settlement with extensive land exploitation, and 2) urbanization and intensive development of the area. Both of these involve homesteading, although its This crude taxonomic structure was first worked in connection with cultural resource studies in The taxonomy is still rough and tentative but is step in applying some sort of cultural tradition employed in discussion of aboriginal occupation Urbanization and Intensive Land Exploitation pattern did change. out by this writer the Paonia area (Baker 1977). offered as a first breakdowns as generally patterns. In the first two decades of white occupation in the North Fork Valley, people exploited the regional environment on an extensive basis, rather than an intensive one. In this capacity they utilized the native range and grasses in order to feed cattle and sheep. The activity depended on large tracts of land in the mountains while the valley floor was used mainly for harvesting native grasses for hay and production of some grains and fruits. The ranch homesteads were focused in the valley, and there appears to have been little .occupation of the high country around the North Fork except occasional cow camps and saw mills. This extensive exploitation was superseded by an intensive form of exploitation involving fruit ranching and coal mining. The Fruit Industry: The first fruit trees were purportedly brought into the Morth Fork in the spring of 1882 via the Wade Ranch at Paonia. The first trees grew well, and in the early 1880's several thousand root grafts were shipped in for nurseries of Sam Wade, Enos Hotchkiss, and W. S. Coburn. By the mid-1880's the Paonia and Hotchkiss area were beginning to show signs of a promising fruit industry. In that year the first fruit and vegetable show was sponsored by the Delta County Branch of the State Horticultural Society. At that show the potential for local fruit and vegetable ranching was amply demonstrated in exhibits of apples, peaches, small fruits and vegetables. These crops had been produced free of pests in the virgin farmlands of the North Fork and included 105 lb. squashes, huge pumpkins, 22 lb. onions, 30 lb. beets, and potatoes measuring 14 inches long and weighing 4 pounds. Some fruit trees in the Valley were known to bear 2D to 30 boxes of apples apiece. By 1890 an acre of pear trees is said to have been worth $1,000 annual net profit to its owner. Peach trees could 10