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• Griffith and W. D. Perry discovered coal in the Basin and in <br /> 1883 sold their claim to John C. Osgood, an eastern financier <br /> for $500. 00. Osgood, founder and president of the Colorado <br /> Fuel Company, sold the Coal Basin holding to his company in <br /> 1891. <br /> In 1892, Col. William Jackson Palmer of the Denver & Rio <br /> Grande Railroad merged his Colorado Coal and Iron Company with <br /> Osgood' s Colorado Fuel Company to form the Colorado Fuel & Iron <br /> Company in Pueblo, Colorado. <br /> The mine was first opened in 1892, the first log cabin of <br /> the camp being built in the fall of 1892 by William Batt, <br /> Willaim Fell, James Lambert, and the Perham Brothers.l Work <br /> began on the railroad from Carbondale to Redstone and Coal Basin <br /> early in 1893. With repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act <br /> in 1893, work on both the mine, town, and railroad was halted. <br /> In 1898 operations were resumed by the Colorado Fuel & Iron <br /> Company, with developmental work on the Crystal River Railroad, <br /> • the Coal Basin mine, and the coke ovens at Redstone being <br /> completed in 1900. <br /> The first mine superintendant was J. D. Griffiths, followed <br /> by James Stewart, John Shaw, Henry Funder, John Allen, and William <br /> Manly. 2 <br /> The Colorado Supply Company store (Fig. 1, #26) opened its <br /> doors on April 25, 1900. The original log structure was located <br /> near the site of the hotel. 3 (Figure 1) <br /> The spring of 1901 brought an explosion of growth to Coal <br /> Basin. The original log cabin housing the Colorado Supply <br /> Company store was superceded by a larger, modern, two story build- <br /> ing in May. This larger structure served not only to house the <br /> 1. Camp & Plant, Volume II , Number 11, Sat. , Sept. 13 , 1902 . <br /> 2. Ibid. <br /> 3 . Ibid. <br /> 3 <br />