Gunnison news-champion., 1911-08-04
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We are aoca-i lnssd D. thInk 81 the
I JPPer Nerth turk a. az Iuhasplt-
able r.cIon. verv snoWy In WInter
tlms aRd dlfflcult - access IN sam
meT There - no doubi sbaa4t lis
selne dliheuli - access i,r ;. iserset.
ts~B Vt 6asj people, enIpvs the
unique ds-tIaetiau II hesug abe anly
I sissd States Bostofi,ee IA Coiarsao
wltb0st a wagon rad
balv tea mIles ahase the thIck w
settied community 81 Paanla. whsre
a famGly hives oa every ten. tweuty
90 furt, acres. there - vet three
miles II che road, about hall IR
Delta aud hsf Of u % GapnIson
eosHtses where one can auly travel
ga rrsll. foiipwlns she railroad
track sBd the aItch bank It the Fire
Mountain Canal
However, this Isolatloa can not
exist much longer Last wear the
county bstlt eight miles Of new road
from somerset up the Muddy 10 the
JanctI0B 0f thai stream with the
Anthracite ID ~ very good road
and much appreciated by the com
naanIiy, the only question being an
extension down b. Paonla, aud ON sp
the Muddy aud up the Anthracite TO
the eud of the state road. lkenehan
Lost Road which runs about i've
miles from Irwin
And speaking Of roads. it looks as
though the county received more for
the ( 100 spent on the lower eight
miles than for some s6,Oo0 of state
money spent around the horse ranch
Ii Is true the Lost road" can be
easily found Ii is on a good grade,
aud with little attention would be
quite usable, but one wishes that the
state engineer Office in 1904 had
been willing 10 accept the offer Of
our county commissioners 10 take the
$4,000 hrst appropriarel and build
the entire road
The trail down the Anthracite froa
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tkFO6 uosSae nssAc0s q 1Oy'
aud howers, much Of il six feet high
This is a well watered country, like
the section around Baldwin, with
evidence Of even more precipitation.
The Horse Ranch is surely no higher
than Presslers on this side, and
from there down are thousands and
thousands Of acres of fine bench
land, which in time will undoubtedly
grow grain without irrigation. Con
siderable of II in fact can be irri-
gated with reasonable cost, since
streams are abundant, and the
greater the irrigation on the bench
lands, the greater the summer stream
flow for fruit sections still lower down
in Delta county.
From the Schaier ranch. now own
ed by j W Beezley. the Forest ser
vice has cut a new trail down what
is called Snowshoe gulch. 1t is Ger
tainlv Joke For FIVE miles this
hideous nightmare Of trail wsnders
up and down over cliffs, in and about
bouiders. and across the roaring tor
rent. We heard some talk OF get
ting the road survey changed from
ITS present proposed location by
Mahonev flats and the Beezley places
on Anthracite 10 the Snowshoe route.
No doubt it would save q half mile,
but would cost infinitely more.
Somerset is a lively town. The
last census showed population Of
$50 but the Utah Fuel Co. is stead
llv enlarging its output and new
men are being added gradually 80
thai GOO is a conservative estimate
Of its population now year and four
months have elapsed since the cen
sus There are S5 cottages owned
by the company, and l5o men en-
ployed as diggers, in all about 800
at work In 1910 the production of
coal at the Somerset mine ran to
! 7,3Io broad gage cars, in round
numbers 100000 tons, or million
dollars worth of coal. This year
will probably see from seooto 10000
cars produced
All this country is vast coal field.
A couple Of miles above Somerset,
the wagon road crosses a vein Of
coal 2S feet thick This was patent
ed in early days and we understand
Is now owned by Clinton Oliver Of
Paonia. Another bank Just above
has an opening at which the settlers
drive TO help themselves to all the
coal they need Vast areas Of an
thracite and bituminous coal arc
patented, but thousand acres aro
public land to loo yet fled upon.
A great deal of traffic in this ssc-
ton is postponed till winter seasoa.