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witnessed contemporaneous, and seemi.rx~ly seasonal, horesteading by about • eight different family heads. As in other areas of marginal lands, the majority of the homesteaders "proved-up" and prrnptly sold out their }ioldings (Baker 1976 and 1977, 1978c; Baker and SYnith 1979; also see kiurvath 1981; and Morrell 1977) . The end result was aocwrulatian of laxcle tracts of land by a few ranchers who managed to hold on economically while the majority of individuals foutui it necessary or at least advantageous to sell wt. Today, one will note the presence of larger tracts of land held by a Yew successful ranchers and the ruins of many, many small homesteads or cow carps in the high country of the (~uuuson Country. The higher parks above the North Fork and Gunnison, and major features such as Grand Mesas (Peck 1945), unquestionably witnessed score seasonal occupation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in ooiijunction with the range cattle industry. At that time there were, however, few people, many head of stock, and vast open lands. E1ren if every rancher fran the Valley had maintained a "cow carp" in the high country, the density of these features would not have been great. Simply stated, a cow carte 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 rand,;*~; and the phenomeron of "cow canes". Z9roe Homesteading Tradition thus evolved through sore basic evolutionary stages but is nevertheless a basic cultural tradition in the I11ro-American occupation record of the area. As a tradition, however, its evolution is associated with the basic • phases of occupation herein summarized. It is within the foregoing general cultural perspective that the historic cultural resources of the North Fork Valley have been considered in regard to Colorado Westmoreland's operations and judged in reference to their significance as either aesthetically or scientifically valuable resources in keeping with the terms of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The 1984 baseline survey effort located an additional 10 historic F~xv-American sites where 19 had been previously recorded (Baker 1984) . The initial work in 1976 (Baker 1977) delimited the basic historic oa~upation of the highlands on the north side of the river and cor~fizmed the geiiesal occupational record drawn from historical sources and summarized herein. 'I'he 1984 study effort added several good haresteads to the historical archaeological data base and these have enhanced our knowledge of the general settlement pattern, particularly for high marginal lands about the North Fork (Baker 1984). • ,g