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INVENTORY RESULTS <br />A segment of the previously recorded historic Fire Mountain Canal (SGN3711.1) and a segment <br />of the previously recorded D&RG W Railroad (SGN 1661.2) were recorded and evaluated during <br />the Class III inventory of approximately ]330 acres north of Somerset, Colorado. Prehistoric , . <br />resources were not found within the drill site locations or.existing or proposed road locations. <br />Fan facilities (possible ventilator shafts) which had once been located along Bear Creek south of <br />drill site OM-Ol-06 could not be relocated. It was later deternined that these facilities had been <br />removed in the 1980s by U.S. Steel, Inc. (Kathleen Welt, personal communication 2001). <br />SITES <br />SGN3711.1 -Segment of the Fire Mounfain Canal <br />This site is a segment of the Fire Mountain Cana] which has been previously recorded outside of <br />and immediately to the west of the current Project Area in Delta County (SDT1277.1). It is <br />located along the North Fork of the Gunnison River, is in good condition and is in use. This <br />segment is 24 to 30 feet wide and 400 feet long. The length of this segment is defined by the <br />length of the Project Area in this location.. Due to the presence of water in the canal, the prism <br />and depth aze unknown. It does appear to be soil lined. The canal segment runs through a <br />concrete box culvert where the road from Bear Creek crosses it and intersects with Colorado <br />Highway 133. To the west and beyond the boundary of the current Project Area, a pazshall flume <br />and rider's shack were observed but not recorded. <br />The entire canal runs for 32 miles up and down the North Fork of the Gunnison River Valley <br />serving farms and ranches. It was constructed entirely by local people beginning in 1896. It <br />begins about a quarter mile west of the town of Somerset and ends on Roger's Mesa, about three <br />miles west of Hotchkiss. In 1939, under Presidential Approval, it was enlarged to carry water <br />from the new Spring Creek Reservoir. During that construction, the old wooden flumes and head <br />gates were replaced, and the canal was widened and deepened. The entire canal system is still in <br />use and upgraded when necessary. <br />Although the entire Fire Mountain Canal System has not been officially determined eligible, the <br />previously recorded segment to the west in Delta County has been recommended field eligible <br />under Criterion A (Conner and Davenport 2000). It is felt that although the Fire Mountain Canal <br />System has not as yet been determined eligible for inclusion in the NRHP, it is in fact eligible. In <br />spite of the fact that the segment within the Project Area is not large enough and does not serve <br />any of its end users, other portions of the ditch and the ]ands it serves could have the potential to <br />be a rural farming cultural landscape. <br />SGN1661.2 - D&RGW Railroad Trestle and Associated Track Segment <br />This site is a segment of the D&RGW Railroad System including a trestle and a portion of the <br />track. The D&RGW which has been previously recorded in several counties (e.g., Eagle, <br />36 <br /> <br />