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.~ • 5 DT177 is a lithic scatter at the function of Love Creek and the Fire lack diagnostic material and thus cannot be associated with any cultural tradi- Hountain Canal, west of the areas irnestigated in the upper North Fork Valley. One pro3ectile point recovered from the surface suggests a late prehistoric occupation. Thorough excavation is also proposed for this site. The prehistoric components of sites located by Baker (5 DT86 and 5 DT90) Lion. A small stemmed projectile point was located as an isolated tird (Baker 1977: 14), but no hypothesis as to broad temporal association can be made due to lack oS data. While working on the CDH project, this irnestigator received numerous re- ports of a Ute Indian village located west oS Paonia a~ believed to date to c. 1879. This site was not relocated by this, the CDH, or the Westmoreland Coal study. The CDH personnel also heard reports of Indian graves with wooden head- stones in the Hotchkiss cemetary, but were unable to validate the information. No recorded prehistoric sites will be impacted by proposed activities. Historic BacicRround • European contact in the area was first made when the Dominguez fiscalante Expedition travelled up Hubbard Creek located zest of the areas investigates. Hots ever, the area xas not officially opened to settlers until Ute removal in 1861, and the original Euroamerican exploitation of the area taas by stockmen (Baker 1977: 17). The development of the lower end of the valley (south of Bowie) is discussed in de- tail in Baker (19'T7l The history of cattle and sheep raising and fruit cultiva- tion will not be discussed here, except to state that the settlement of areas west of the Western Slope Carbon project areas was probably the mayor cause for historic activity recorded east of Sommerset. Late nineteenth century Euroamerican presence in the area is attested to by several "graves" on the north side of the Gunnison River. The graves of a fudge ar~d two children located in T13S, R89W, Section 7 are .elieved to date to the late nineteenth or early txentieth century. The graves, fairly well hidden by dense vegetation, consist of rock mounds with no markers. The children were purportedly maabers of a family xho homesteaded the area in the late 1880'a (Bob Harv~v, personal ^oavnunication). An mdditional marker, located adjacent to the highway '3S, R90W, .ie~tion 10 bears the inscription of a Deputy Surveyor acrd the ate 188. It is claimed by some to be a grave stone (and is so markc.. the quad-