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Continent Coal and Coke Company in 1956 was the dawn of a <br /> • new era in the history of the Crystal River Valley--in many <br /> ways more dynamic , and certainly more long-lived , than the <br /> period of initial development . The pick miners and hand <br /> shovelers of the Osgood era, have been replaced by huge <br /> electrically powered continuous miners and longwall machines <br /> that can dig more coal in a minute than a pick miner could <br /> in two days . Mules have been replaced by shuttle cars which <br /> carry 7 tons of coal at a time to the swift , quiet conveyor <br /> belts that deliver the coal to the surface at rates of <br /> hundreds of tons an hour . The narrow gauge steam locomotives <br /> havebeen replaced by a fleet of modern buses for the miners , <br /> by diesel trucks to carry the coal from Coal Basin to be <br /> • loaded on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad at the <br /> Carbondale Unit Train facility . <br /> In the 1950' s , Coal Basin was still a remote area <br /> by any standard . The only access was along the old narrow- <br /> gauge railroad grade . A primitive road , later to be widened <br /> and eventually paved , was pioneered in 1955 from Redstone to <br /> a point near the intersection of Coal Creek and Dutch Creek , <br /> using the railroad grade much of the way . From there , a <br /> completely new road was built to the site of the mine high <br /> above Dutch Creek at an elevation of over 10 , 000 feet . Coal <br /> production began in 1956 , ending a hiatus of 47 years . One <br /> tie to the past was the brief use of a mule to haul supplies <br /> and coal before power was supplied to the mine and modern <br /> • <br /> 11 <br />