What we know
W. H. Bassett & Son's sawmill 'on the divide' (1870); their 'Little Giant Saw Mill' advertised from Spring Valley (1869); S. C. Stout hired tie makers there (1871). The post office (1869) was discontinued in April 1872 and Southwater, a D&RG station, 'established instead'. Judy von Ahlefeldt's sawmill chronology puts Alden Bassett's mill (1865-70) '3 miles S.E. of Monument', while her text has William Bassett starting 'the Enterprise Mill in 1865 near Elizabeth' (pp. 22, 113). Neither matches this section. Scott's 1999 trail map puts 'Bassetts Mill 1869' about 1.4 miles west-northwest, in Sec. 33 (S-0106).
Where it was
Center of Sec. 34, T11S R66W, from Place Names of Colorado ('Rural Post Office 1869-1872, moved to Southwater. 8 mi SE of Monument'), via the BLM PLSS survey grid. Medium confidence: the section center is about six miles east-southeast of Monument. Agrees roughly with the 1877 Spring Valley site report ('Bassett's Mill, 9 miles south-west'; this point is 7.3 miles due south) and the 1869 mail route Franktown, Spring Valley, Bassett's Mill, Colorado City; an 1871 ad puts 'Bassett's mill' in El Paso County.
Placed from a written description, such as a land section, a distance from a landmark or an old survey note.
Sources
Sources are named in the text above. Numbers such as S-0080 refer to our source list. Most newspaper quotations were read in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Long quotations from recent books are shortened here.