^''^' ig'l^e^"^] Wakren, Birds of the Elk Mountain Region, Colo. 295 



Creek on the west. This does not imply that I have worked 

 that whole region, but I have notes on something from almost 

 every portion of it, and much of my data is applicable to the whole, 

 as a matter of fact to the whole of the northern part of the County. 

 I have been somewhat doubtful as to the advisability of including 

 the region about Muddy Creek, or "the Muddy," as it is collo- 

 quially termed, but I spent nearly the whole of one summer, and 

 portions of the two succeeding summers there, surveying, and 

 gained some interesting information in spite of working strenuously, 

 which it seems unwise not to use. Perhaps if I had not worked so 

 strenuously at surveying I might have made more bird notes, but 

 when the surveying notes had been written up after supper in 

 camp, I was usually ready for bed, and too tired to think about 

 anything else. 



In the last thirty odd years there has been considerable change 

 in the region. The years 1880-81 witnessed a big mining boom in 

 Gunnison County, and the Elk Mountains had their share of the 

 mushroom prosperity which accompanies such things. Irwin, 

 Gothic, and Scofield were quite good-sized places, the former with 

 several thousand people. In 1882, when I first went there, the 

 boom began to fall off, in fact there was no boom. Fewer people . 

 came in, and these dwindled away year by year, until now these 

 towns are nearly deserted, and most of the buildings have been 

 taken down for the lumber in them and carried away. Crested 

 Butte was also settled in the boom days, but it had coal mines to 

 support it, these were an inducement for the railroad to come, 

 and for many years large shipments of coal and coke were made, 

 and are still going on. In those early days practically everything 

 was dependent on the mining industry, both coal and metal, and 

 there were but few ranches. Now most of the desirable land in 

 the East and Slate River Valleys is occupied, the principal, one 

 may say only, crop, being hay. 



With the lapse of time there has also been a change in the charac- 

 ter of the population. Once the miners were practically all English- 

 speaking, if not American-born. When the coal mines were opened 

 many coal miners of British birth came, some from eastern states, 

 others directly from the "old country." It was not long, however, 

 before southeastern Europeans, commonly called Austrians, as 



