hie aa tare | 
DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTER. 169 
into the valley from the south between Parlin and Gunnison. Two 
miles below Parlin Tomichi Creek is joined from the south (left) 
by Cochetopa Creek, down which in 1853 came the exploring party 
which gave its name to this county. This party was one of several 
authorized by Congress to explore for the best route for a Pacific rail- 
road. The party, under the command of Capt. J. W. Gunnison, 
entered the mountains by the pass now known as La Veta Pass, 
through the Sangre de Cristo Range, and crossed the north end of 
San Luis Park, reaching the Continental Divide at Cochetopa Pass 
(altitude, 9,088 feet). (See sheet 3, p. 100.) They descended Coche- 
topa Creek to its junction with Tomichi Creek, and this stream to the 
Gunnison, and so continued down to Colorado River (then the 
Grand). The party crossed Cochetopa Pass on September 2 and 
reached the present site of the town of Gunnison about September 
7, 1853. 
The railroad follows Tomichi Creek to Gunnison, the county seat 
of Gunnison County, which is at the junction of Tomichi Creek and 
Gunnison River. The broad tract of level land on which it stands 
affords an almost ideal site for a town, and Gunni- 
Gunnison. son, which was founded in 1874, has now succeeded 
Sebbemee ee ttt in spreading itself over so large a part of this tract 
Denver 289 miles, that it should be known as the town of “ magnificent 
distances.” It is a railroad junction point of consid- 
erable activity, for a branch line extends from it to Crested Butte and 
Baldwin, in the coal fields to the north.** Before the slump in the 
price of silver in 1893 there were two smelters here, and the town 
was a thriving supply point for a large mining district. Since then 
its business activities are almost entirely due to the fact that it is 
the division headquarters of the narrow-gage line and a railroad 
junction point. The town is the center of one of the best fishing 
regions of the State and the site of one of the State normal schools, 
and, according to some of its inhabitants, it has the finest climate 
and water in the world. ; 
= The coal field of Gunnison County | tion, which is a formation in the upper 
is the southernmost part of the great |} part of the Upper Cretaceous series. 
synclinal basin of coal-bearing rocks | (See table on p. 11.) 
which stretches from this place north- The number and thickness of the 
ward to White River and then west- | coal beds differ greatly from place to 
ward nearly to the Wasatch Moun- | place, and the coal they contain also 
tains in Utah. This basin is crossed | differs in quality, ranging from sub- 
by the main line of the Denver & Rio | bituminous to anthracite. The coal 
Grande Western Railroad between | of highest rank, including anthracite, 
Newcastle and Palisade. The coal | is found in the southern point of the 
beds in this great structural basin | basin, near Crested Butte, only a few 
are contained in the Mesaverde forma- of Gunnison, The coal in 
