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-14- <br />the railroad was no longer profitable and it was taken up. In <br />1957, a slurry pipeline was built from 61atson, Utah to "Sack, <br />Colorado to tarry gilsonite in solutio:~ ar.d tSte gilsonite <br />industry continued to 'tee a major factor in far western Coloraco's <br />30 <br />economy. <br />Other minerals that were ~f importance includad gold. Gold <br />placers were being worked along Fortification Creek and the <br />Little Snake River on a haphazard basis well into the 1920'5. <br />These small operations never netted much, but they did help <br />keep individual prospectors alive. Of more importance was the <br />discovery of copper near Blue `fountain and Douglas *fountain in <br />the late 1890'5. The Bromide Mine on Douglas Mountain became <br />one of the major producers of copper in the region until copper <br />prices fell and the m_ne was abandoned. It has recently been <br />re-opened and copper is currently being mined. The mill has <br />been shut down and trucks haul the raw copper to Utah for <br />31 <br />processing. <br />The other area of importance was coal. Hayden's surve.,s <br />had found coal throughout the region, but in 1876 very few <br />people were interested in the prospects of development. In 1906, <br />the USGS began a series of studies in the Yampa Valley in which <br />coal was carefully located and evaluated. A survey of the valley <br />showed [hat major seams of coal were to be found in the areas of <br />Oak Creek, Trout Creek, Twenty "file Park, idolf Creek, Sage Creek, <br />Dry Creek, the Williams Fork area, Wollihan, Pilot Knob, and on <br />• the Flat Top :fountains. Equally, coal was found in the Axial <br />32 <br />Basin north and south of Craig and along Fortification Creek. <br />