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•~ <br />.. <br />any event, any minerals disturbed by the sand and gravel opera- <br />tion are still there except for the pit run gravel hauled to <br />Telluride Sand and Gravel. Defendant/Intervenors claim no <br />mineral interest in the property and testified Plaintiff/- <br />Intervenors can mine the property if they wish. <br />The Plaintiffs owned the subject property for a period <br />of approximately five years and Plaintiffs Rudy M. Groom and T. <br />L. Godwin are functioning as trustees for the San Miguel Ranch <br />Trust which owned the property. This property is scattered over <br />a 30-mile area as depicted on the maps and includes the placer <br />claims located on the San Miguel River, some property on the <br />Uncompahgre Plateau and a winter range in Paradox Valley. <br />Testimony indicated the Plaintiffs owned numerous water rights, <br />ditch rights, grazing permits for the BLM and Forest ground, <br />certain improvements upon the property, equipment and approxi- <br />mately a thousand head of cattle. Over the five-year period <br />owned by Plaintiffs, the ranch was operated as a cow-calf opera- <br />tion and involved, to some extent, a dude ranch operation and <br />guiding and outfitting services for hunting. Hay and corn was <br />raised on approximately 350 acres of the placer claims which <br />later included an additional SO to 60 acres. <br />The surface area of the claims, apart from the 400 to <br />410 acres of hay and farm ground, was described as suitable for <br />grazing and consisting primarily of steep and rolling terrain <br />without much [op soil, with spots of large rocks and outcroppings <br />along the river area. The farm ground was described as sandy, <br />loamy areas, generally level with shallow top soil together with <br />lots of rocks in the fields like Che other farm ground in the <br />surrounding area. <br />The testimony established that the patented mining <br />claims comprised approximately 80% of the value of the whole <br />ranch and accounted for approximately 34 to 35% of the total land <br />area. George Glasier testified that the primary functioning and <br />focus of the ranch was to operate as a ranch. Plaintiff Groom <br />testified much the same way. The ranch accommodated a thousand <br />cow/calf units and the mining claims served as the base land for <br />the grazing permits. <br />While approximately 400 to 410 acres of the mining <br />claims have been used for farming operations to grow row crops <br />and hay, the evidence established that sand and gravel and rock <br />is present throughout the soil comprising the mining claims. The <br />31 photographs admitted into evidence, taken by Mr. Glasier and <br />marked with corresponding numbers on the map, show that sand and <br />gravel, together with rock outcroppings, are commonly dispersed <br />throughout the mining claims. Mr. Glasier testified chat he <br />commonly uses a rock picker to clean the fields from rocks and <br />does this each spring. He further testified the soil was shallow <br />with rocks strewn underneath the mining claims. Witnesses Lee <br />3 <br />