DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 



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 Eange, 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 Eiver (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. g^j^^ which was founded in 1874, has now succeeded 



Elevation 7,683 feet. [^ spreading itself over so large a part of this tract 



Population 1,329. ^i -^ i ?i, i i o ,i -n 



Denver 289 miles. that it should be known as the town 01 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 Guunison County 

 is the southernmost part of the great 

 synclinal basin of coal-bearing rocks 

 which stretches from this place north- 

 ward to White River and then west- 

 ward nearly to the Wasatch Moun- 

 tains in Utah. This basin is crossed 

 by the main line of the Denver & Rio 

 Grande Western Railroad between 

 Newcastle and Palisade. The coal 

 beds in this great structural basin 

 are contained in the Mesaverde forma- 



tion, which is a formation in the upper 

 part of the Upper Cretaceous series. 

 ( See table on p. ii. ) 



The number and thickness of the 

 coal beds differ greatly from place to 

 place, and the coal they contain also 

 differs in quality, ranging from sub- 

 bituminous to anthracite. The coal 

 of highest rank, Including anthracite, 

 is found in the southern point of the 

 basin, near Cret^ted Butte, only a few 

 miles north of Gunnison. The coal in 



