COAL  FIELDS  OF  NORTHWESTERN  COLORADO  AND 
NORTHEASTERN  UTAH. 
By  Hoyt  S.  Gale. 
INTRODUCTION. 
NATURE  OF  THE  PRESENT   INVESTIGATION. 
This  paper  is  a  preliminary  statement  of  the  results  of  work  in  the 
coal  fields  of  northwestern  Colorado  and  northeastern  Utah  during 
the  summer  of  1907.a  In  1905  a  preliminary  reconnaissance  of  the 
Yampa  coal  field,  of  Routt  County,  was  made.6  In  the  summer  of 
1906  similar  work  was  extended  southwestward  from  the  Yampa  field, 
and  the  Danforth  Hills  and  Grand  Hogback  coal  fields,  of  Routt,  Rio 
Blanco,  and  Garfield  counties,  were  mapped.6'  The  work  of  the  past 
season  was  a  continuation  of  that  of  the  two  preceding  years,  extend- 
ing the  area  studied  westward  through  Routt  and  Rio  Blanco  counties, 
Colo.,  and  including  some  less  extensive  coal  fields  in  Uinta  County, 
Utah,  and  southern  Uinta  County,  Wyo. 
ACCESSIBILITY. 
At  present  these  fields  have  no  railroad  connection,  although 
surveys  for  several  projected  lines  have  recently  been  made  into  the 
region.  Of  these  lines,  the  Denver,  Northwestern  and  Pacific  Railway 
("Moffat  road")  is  under  active  construction  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Routt  County  and  bids  fair  to  push  westward  not  far  from  the  lower 
Yampa  and  White  River  fields  in  the  near  future.  An  extension  of 
the  Uintah  Railway  has  been  surveyed  from  Dragon  to  Vernal,  Utah, 
crossing  the  projected  route  of  the  "Moffat  road"  near  Green  River. 
The  Union  Pacific  Railroad  has  made  a  preliminary  survey  south 
from  Rawlins,  Wyo.,  intending  to  reach  the  Yampa  Valley  in  the 
vicinity  of  Craig. 
a  A  more  complete  report  combining  the  results  of  the  preceding  season's  work  in  the  Danforth  1 1  ills 
and  Grand  Hogback  fields  with  those  of  last  season's  work  as  outlined  here,  together  with  detailed 
contour  maps  of  the  whole  area,  will  be  published  as  a  separate  bulletin  of  the  Survey. 
b  Fenneman,  N.  M.,  and  Gale,  H.  S.,  The  Yampa  coal  field,  Routt  County,  Colo.:  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol. 
Survey  No.  297,  1906. 
c  Gale,  H.  S.,  The  coal  fields  of  the  Danforth  Hills  and  Grand  Hogback,  Colorado:  Bull.  U.  S.  Geol. 
Survey  No.  310,  1907,  pp.  2(34-301. 
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