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he built a ornpany foam and substantially improved the mine. The name of • the mine became Bowie, and it operated under the management of the Howie family until recent decades (Rockwell 1975:164-165) and is now owned by Joseph Coors Conpany but is no longer operating. In addition to large ccmrescial operations such as the Somerset, Oliver, and Bowie mines, many other small mines were opened in the NorU~ Fork. 7n the Paonia area, names such as the Black Diamond, Farmer's Cooperative, Converse, Cowan and Conine are part of the local mining history, but historical detail is obscure for most of these. rbst of these were small locally-owned operations called "wagon mines". Simply stated, they were what one informant describes as "gopher holes" of various sizes, usually worked by one family or a very small paid chew. 7n the main, the coal from the wagon mules was produced solely for the local domestic market with little emphasis on cartnercial production. Today one frequently encounters the evidence for such small wvrkirgs among the cliffs and gulches on the north side of the North Fork (Bakes 1977; Rockwell 1975:165; and Natnrond 1977). As previously mentioned, primary settlement in the North Fork area hux3ed on stock raising anti focused ire the fertile valley floor where homesteads, generally acquired under the Prearption Act of 1842 (Hammond 1977 and Dick 1971:68), served as the nuclei of ranching operations. The homesteads were usually 160 acres as allowed by that act. Rangelands for livestock were drawn fran the extensive foothill and mountain pasturage then still in the public domain. About 1900 much of the mountain land of • Colorado was absorbed into the National Forest system, and ranchers were thereafter required to seek permits to utilize these high vast rangelands. The cod public lands which were not placed in National Forests were eventually homesteaded. lands which were not so taken up eve~~tually fell under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Iand Management. Once the fertile North Fork Valley had tx~en taken up by homesteads and these in turn sold into smaller units for orchards, the only remaining public lands suitable for homesteading were in the surrounding mountains. As in other areas of Colorado, there was a rush to h~xrestead these lands which, due to their harsher climate and scarce arable ground, were less desirable than the lower valleys (see Crowley 1975). Around Paonia, the small parks of tributaries, such as Stevens GUlch, Roatcap Creek and Terror Creek, were subjected to a homesteading rush after Wi7i (U. S. Land Office -Patent Records, Nbrrell 1977 and Hammond 1977). As noted fran other study areas in westen~ Colorado, an impetus for accelerated homesteading in this period was rooted in the Fi~larged Homestead Act of 1909 and the Stack-Raising Hanestead Act of 1916 (Baker 1976:275, 1978c, 1977; and Morris 1970:4G5). Although there are indications that a few hanesteads may have been established early in the century around t}ie higher parks under the Preemption Act, the ma7urity suJ;i to have been taken up under later acts. The incentives provided by the increased acreages of the later acts favored the stockmltll and worked together with a heavier population of land seekers and depression of the local fruit industry, and perhaps evan the cattle market to no}ce • subsistu~ce settienient and aoquisitioi~ of the more marginal land a worthwhile goal for many indiviauals. As one example, thy: three to four ru les of narrow parks along Stevens Gulch near Paonia (Baker 1977) '7