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i 1873 expedition included exploration of the central Rockies and Colorado (Grand) River Valley and its tributaries. These explorers, both the public and private ones, provided a tremendous database of information regazding the conditions in and potentials of Colorado Rocky~Mountains. i The discovery oflead-silver cazbonates along the upper Arkansas River in the California Gulch azea during 1876 was a key event in the settlement of Colorado. Numerous prospectors and hangers-on began arriving in the state. Coal mining on the Western Slope has been an important part of the regional economy since the earliest days of settlement. By the 1880s the industry was maturing and the growth continued until the World War I period (1914-18). From then until the eazly 1940s and the advent of World War II many of the mines ]anguished. Alter a brief revival caused by World Waz II the industry again retrenched and only a comparatively small number of mines remained in operation. The current project is located in the historic Uintah coal field. While the coal field was large, ~ stretching into parts of four counties, the center of the activity was in Somerset region of the Grand Mesa subdivision of the field. The Somerset coal veins were discovered by Ira' Q. Sanborn in 1883. He sold the veins to ranchers in the azea including Edd Hanson, a pioneer ` investor and rancher, in 1900. Hanson, making a considerable profit, sold the rights to the Utah Fuel Company in 1902, the yeaz the Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RGW) completed it spur from Delta to Somerset. In 1903, with the opening of the D&RGW North Fork of the Gunnison line, industrial scale commercial coal mining began, marked fast by the opening of the Somerset Mine. Within a few years the Somerset was challenging the Crested Butte mines for leadership in Western Slope production and by 1910 it had surpassed Crested Butte. For many years the mine was a consistent producer, supplying the coal needs of communities such as Grand Junction as well as more local mazkets such as Hotchkiss. Eazlier, small "wagon mines" had operated in the coal beds. These mines could best be described as one to two person operations that got thew moniker because often a day's production was one or wagons of coal. After the Somerset opened most of the small mines closed. The town of Somerset was begun in 1902 as a "tent" city. In 1903 the company erected the first of forty frame homes for company employees. It was named after Somersetshire, a prosperous coal "county" in England and remained a company town until the 1920s when homes were sold off. During the Depression, new investors became interested in the town and company ownership was phased out. Today the town retains some of its earlier layout, however, it does not retain the aura of a "company town." The plateau lands of Delta and Gunnison counties developed into stock raising azeas during the 1880s and 1890s. Even before the cattlemen occupied these lands, the area's potential for grazing was known. However, this meant little until the eazly l 880s when significant obstacles, especially the Ute Reservation, were removed. After the Meeker Massacre and removal of the Ute from most of the Western Slope, the lands around Delta, Paonia and other locals opened for settlement. The agricultural settlement pattern developed into a dichotomy, farmers and orchazdists occupied the river valleys and other lower elevation areas where water was available. 10