CHAPTEE VI. 



MATERIAL EESOURCES. 



With the exception of coal, no mineral substances of practical value 

 were discovered in this district, and it is not thought probable that any 

 others of importance exist within its limits.* The material resources 

 of the district, therefore, both present and prospective, are confined to 

 vegetable productions alone, if we except coal, stone, and clays. One 

 of the series of maps composing the atlas of Colorado that has been 

 prepared by the United States Geological Survey is colored in snch a 

 manner as to show by area the natural productions and capabilities of 

 the State. By this map it will be seen that a very large part of the sur- 

 face is classed as grass-lands, and that only a small fraction of the whole 

 surface is designated as tillable. Bearing in mind also that a large part 

 of the surface which is there classed as aspen-lands, as well as some 

 portions of the cedar and piiion lands, also affords good grazing, it will 

 appear that pastoral interests are destined to exceed all others in the 

 region of which this district forms a part, while in other districts 

 mining interests will doubtless overshadow all others. 



Tillable Lands. — As this district is far within the limits of that portion 

 of the national domain upon which the annual rain-fall is insufficient 

 for the purposes of agriculture, the only tillable land within the district 

 is that which it is practicable to irrigate. Such lands are of course 

 found only along the valleys the streams of which produce a considerable 

 flow of perennial water. No attempt was made to ascertain the precise 

 area of irrigable lands in this district, but the map before referred to 

 will show it to be comparatively small. Small as it is, it is quite suffi- 

 cient for the needs of a considerable pastoral population along the val- 

 leys of White and Yampa Eiversj and the grass-lauds of this district 

 are not too distant from the irrigable lands to be available for pastoral 

 purposes from the homes that may be located in the valleys. The parks 

 that have been described in Chapter II contain the largest bodies of 

 irrigable land within the district, but at many other points along the 

 valleys of all the perennial streams farms of more or less importance 

 may be made. 



The amount of irrigable land in any valley of course depends not 

 only upon its being within reach of water from the adjacent stream by 

 its fall, but it also depends upon the amount of water the stream carries 

 during the part of the year that the crops need irrigating. The valley 

 of a stream may therefore contain more tillable land within reach of its 

 waters than those waters are sufficient to irrigate properly, but this is 

 seldom the case with the larger streams. There is probably no portion 

 of either White or Yampa Eiver valleys within the limits of this district 

 that is accessible to the river water which it is in any case insufiBcient to 

 irrigate if judiciously applied. Under the head of " Water," in a follow- 

 ing paragraph, the gauging of those two streams may be found. 



The elevation of this district above the level of the sea limits the va- 



* This statement may be regarded as a reply to the oft-repeated question, "Is gold 

 or other precious metals likely to be discovered in that legion V 

 58 



