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USFS Road 711, historically known as Hammond Trail, follows the course of the Dry Fork before crossing Deep Creek and ascending the west flank of Coal Creek Mesa. The elevation of the proposed Lions Mesa exploration area ranges from 7200 ft. in the drainage of East Fork of Minnesota Creek and increases southeastward to 8500 ft. on Lions Mesa. The terrain is comprised of slopes and benches within the Wasatch and Mesa Verde Formations. Lick Creek and South Prong Creek form the most conspicuous features within the proposed exploration azea. Lick Creek is an intermittent drainage and South Prong Creek is a perennial stream with both draining westwazd into East Fork. East Fork of Minnesota Creek drains west and south into Minnesota Creek. Minnesota Creek in turn joins the North Fork of the Gunnison River at the town of Paonia. Geology Both the proposed Dry Fork and Lions Mesa exploration application areas lie along the southeastern edge of the Piceance Basin within the Somerset Coal Field, occurring on the Minnesota Pass U.S.G.S. 7 1/2 minute quadrangle map. Refer to Figure 1B. Initial geological work in this azea was done by W. T. Lee (1912) who reported his findings in "Coal Fields of Grand Mesa and the West Elk Mountains, Colorado" (USGS Bulletin 510). Later in 1948, Vard H. Johnson published a USGS map of the Paonia Coal Field incorporating drill hole data generated through a USGS and U.S. Bureau of Mines drilling program. The following yeaz Johnson further described the geology of the Minnesota Creek azea in USBM Technical Paper 721. More recently, in 1989, C.R. Dunrud compiled a coal resources map of the region (USGS Map C-115). In progress from the Colorado Geological Survey is report on the coal resources of the Somerset Quadrangle (CGS OFR 98-6). The general stratigraphy of the azea consists of members of the Mesa Verde Formation of the Upper Cretaceous System underlying the Wasatch Formation of Tertiary Age (see Figure 2). The Barren Member of the Mesa Verde formation crops out lowest in the exploration azea with the overlying Ohio Creek member exposed along many of the steeper slopes. Above the Mesa Verde, rocks of the Wasatch Formation aze exposed. Capping most of the higher terrains are colluvial deposits. The Upper and Lower Coal Members of the Mesa Verde Formation aze the major coal- beazing units in the area. The A (King), B (Somerset), and C (Beaz) coal beds of the Lower Coal Member and the D (Oliver), E (Hawks nest), and the F-Seam coal beads of the Upper Coal Member have all been mined within the North Fork Valley. The extent of these coal beds beneath the exploration area is only marginally defined. The strata in the Dry Fork and Lions Mesa areas dip generally at 4 degrees to the north and northeast. Steeper dips are assumed to occur in the proximity of the Mt. Gunnison laccolith although the extent of folding is unknown at this time. •~ 3