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that a few homesteads may have been estahlished early in the century • around the higher parks under the Preemption Act, the majority seem to have been taken up under later acts. The incentives provided by the increased acreages of the later acts favored the stockmen and worked together with a heavier population of land seekers and depression of the local fruit industry, and perhaps even the cattle market, to make subsistence settlement and acquisition of the more marginal land a worthwhile goal for many individuals. As one example, the three to four miles of narrow parks along Stevens Gulch near Paonia (Baker 1977) witnessed contemporaneous, and seemingly seasonal, homesteading by about eight different family heads. As in other areas of marginal lands, the majority of the homesteaders "proved-up" and promptly sold out their holdings (Baker 1976 and 1977; and Morrell 1977). The end result was accumulation of large tracts of land by a few ranchers who managed to hold on economically while the majority of individuals found it necessary or at least advantageous to sell out. Today, one will note the presence of larger tracts of land held by a few successful ranchers and the ruins of many, many small homesteads or cow camps in the high country of the Gunnison Country. The higher parks above the North Fork and Gunnison, and major features such as Grand Mesa (Peck .1945), unquestionably witnessed some seasonal occupation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in conjunction with the range cattle industry. At that time there were, however, few people, many head of stock, and vast open lands. Even if every rancher from the Valley had maintained a "cow camp" in the high country, • the density of these features would not have been great. Simply stated, a cow camp is a seasonally utilized ranching facility which serves as a local base of operations for those who work the cattle. Homesteading is closely involved with the evolution of ranching and the phenomenon of "cow camps." The Homesteading Tradition thus evolves through some basic evolutionary stages but is nevertheless a basic cu]tural tradition in the Euroamerican occupational record of the area. As a tradition, however, its evolution is associated with the basic phases of occupation herein summarized. 15