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Denver Area
Denver to Pueblo
Colorado Springs Area
Royal Gorge Route
Marshall Pass Area
Gunnison River
Uncompahgre River
Tennessee Pass Area
Eagle River
Colorado River
Grand Jct.- Green Riv.
Green Riv.- Provo
Provo- Salt Lake
USGS History
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Royal Gorge Route: Pueblo to Salida
(U.S.G.S. Bulletin 707, 1922)
On leaving the station at Pueblo
the train begins its real westward journey. From Denver to Pueblo its course has been
nearly due south along the mountain front, but when it turns west at Pueblo it must travel
41 miles before it again comes to the foot of the mountains, for the range that forms the
mountain front from the north line of the State to Colorado Springs terminates in Cheyenne
Mountain, a few miles south of Colorado Springs, and here the mountain front is offset to
the west 25 or 30 miles, to a point west of Canon City. This southern range, which is the
Wet Mountains, continues southward for some distance and dies out, and still f arther
south there is another westward offset, the Sangre de Cristo Range, which extends as far
as Santa Fe, N. Mex.
The course of the railroad from Pueblo is directly up Arkansas River to its headwaters
at Tennessee Pass, near Leadville. East of Canon City the river has cut for itself in the
plain a valley which ran ges from half a mile to a mile in width and from 50 to 150 feet
in depth. As the railroad is generally only a few feet above water level the traveler has
few opportunities of seeing the country through which he is passing, except at places
where the hills recede or their height is less than usual. The principal views that he
gets will be those of the valley bottom and of the cliffs that bound it on either side.
The region through which the train is now passing, as well as that which it has traversed
since it left Denver, was once included in the fanciful Territory of Jefferson, which was
fully organized and carried on for a number of years but which failed to be sanctioned by
the United States Congress and consequently never had any legal status. The episode is
interesting as giving an early indication of that "push" which is generally
regarded as characteristic of the people of Colorado.
In the disturbance of the earth's crust that produced the mountains the rocks of the
plains were thrown into low, broad folds or were sharply broken where the stresses were
most severe. Folds of this kind may be seen by the traveler between Pueblo and Canon City,
but they are so slight that he can hardly recognize them with out following closely the
rocks outcropping in the cliffs. Thus, a short distance west of the station at Pueblo the
traveler may notice on the south (left) that the cliffs are composed of a dark shale,
which is the bottom bed of the Pierre shale, of Cretaceous age. A little farther along a
chalky rock rises from below the river, and the dark shale can be seen only in the upper
part of the cliff, and within a short distance it disappears altogether. The chalky rock
is the Niobrara, which in many places consists largely of limestone but here consists
mostly of calcareous shale and thin beds of limestone having a total thickness of 600 or
700 feet. Farther west the Niobrara also rises to the tops of the cliffs, and near
milepost 122, it gives place to the Carlile shale, which is about 210 feet thick. Half a
mile farther on this shale is replaced by a bed of massive limestone (Greenhorn), which
like the others rises gradually westward in a great fold, described below. Below the
Greenhorn limestone lies the Graneros shale, which in its upper part contains considerable
sandstone in thin layers. This formation is 200 feet thick.
The fold in these beds, which is here cut directly through by Arkansas River, has lifted
them into a broad, flat dome. The center of this dome is marked by a thick bed of
sandstone (Dakota), which is just brought to the surface near milepost 126 but which the
river has not yet succeeded in cutting through. The rocks dip slightly in all directions
from this central part. If the, traveler has been following the formations from Pueblo he
has seen at least 1,200 feet of rocks rise from below river level. Originally these rocks
may have formed a large hill at this place, but the river has kept them washed away
possibly as fast as they rose, and to-day, except for the dip of the rocks, there is no
evidence on the surface of such a dome.
From the center of the dome near milepost 126 the beds dip up the river in the direction
in which the train is moving, and they disappear beneath the river in reverse order from
that in which they appeared on the east. At Livesey siding the Greenhorn limestone has
reached water level. It soon disappears, and then the beds lie nearly flat for a long
distance.
All the rocks thus far exposed along Arkansas River except the Dakota contain marine
shells, which indicate that they were laid
down in the sea, and as these rocks are widely distributed through the United States and
Canada the sea must have covered most of the continent, or at least a wide area extending
from north to south. It certainly extended eastward into Iowa and westward as far as the
Wasatch Mountains. The Rocky Mountains were not then in existence, for this region was
occupied by a shallow sea, in which animal life swarmed, much as it does in the warm,
shallow seas of today, and many of these forms were covered with mud and almost perfectly
preserved.
About three-quarters of a, mile beyond milepost 132 Turkey Creek enters the valley from
the north (right). Up this creek there are extensive sandstone quarries from which much
stone has been taken for constructing buildings at Pueblo. The quarries are connected with
Pueblo by a branch railroad. At Swallows the Denver & Rio Grande Western crosses to
the north side of Arkansas River and about a mile farther on it passes under the Santa Fe,
which a short distance beyond crosses to the south side of the stream.
West of milepost 142 the railroad crosses Beaver Creek, a, large, stream that joins the
Arkansas from the north, and a little farther on is the station of Beaver. A short
distance to the northwest is Beaver Park, which is noted for its apples, cherries, and
small fruits. The land is irrigated from Beaver Creek, which derives its supply of water
from the mountains on the north. At Beaver most of the formations already described or
mentioned have disappeared, and the Pierre shale lies at the surface. The Niobrara
formation rises again farther west, and at the towns of Cement and Portland it is used
extensively in the manufacture of Portland cement. The first cement mill to be seen is
that of the United States Portland Cement Co. on the north (right) of the railroad, and a
mile farther on, at Portland, the Colorado Portland Cement Co. has an extensive plant on
the south side of the track.
A short distance beyond milepost 147 the Denver & Rio Grande Western crosses the
Arkansas and remains on its south side for 8 miles. West of Portland the rocks dip gently
toward the west, the formations seen in the dome below Swallows are all below water level,
and the surface of the country is composed of the Pierre shale. This shale is soft and
does not form steep cliffs, and consequently the traveler here may see more of the
surrounding region than he could farther east. Soon after passing milepost 147 he may see
far on the right, if the atmosphere is clear, the summit of Pikes Peak, towering high
above the surrounding plateau. The peak is frequently obscured by clouds which gather
about its summit and stream off to the east in long banners of misty white. In the
sunshine of a clear day it shows yellow or rosy red, but when the evening shadows fall or
the mountain is partly obscured in the distance it is blue and hazy. The mountain. is more
than 30 miles from this point.
Florence Area
As the harder rocks disappear from view and the softer Pierre shale takes its place,
the surface of the country becomes more nearly level and the hills less prominent. In this
shale oil was discovered before Colorado was admitted to statehood. Florence is the natural center
of the oil field, which was developed by sinking a great many wells and to-day produces
more oil than any other oil field in the State.
Refineries at Florence convert the crude oil into many marketable products. As the
train approaches the town oil-well derricks and oil tanks may be seen on both sides of the
railroad. From Florence a branch railroad turns to the south (left) and runs through the
heart of the oil field and to Coal Creek, where there are coal mines that ship their
product both east and west over the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad.
During the early days of mining in the Cripple Creek gold district the entire output of
ore, was refined at Florence. Nine enormous reduction mills were operated in this vicinity
until the Golden Cycle mill was built in Colorado City, when trouble with labor caused the
ore to be sent to Colorado City and Denver. The mills continued to operate for a number of
years but were finally closed. One of these-a million dollar plant-is still standing on
the north side of Arkansas River about half a mile north of Florence.
About three-quarters of a mile west of the station the railroad crosses Oak Creek, and
from this crossing the traveler may see off to the southwest (left) the distant slopes of
the Wet Mountains and nearer, but still 3 or 4 miles distant, the white-banded hills that
mark the outer rim of the Canon City coal field, a basin of Laramie rocks which lies
almost entirely south of the railroad and which furnishes fuel for many of the industries
of Colorado. At a point 1 1/4 miles beyond the station at Florence the Canon City branch
of the Santa Fe Railway crosses the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad -by an
overhead bridge. This branch, which is one of the principal outlets for the coal of the
Canon City field, runs to Rockvale, one of the large mining centers. Just beyond the
bridge. the Chandler branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad turns to the
left and enters the same field, for both roads depend upon this coal for use in their
locomotives, and they also distribute much of it throughout the country for domestic and
manufacturing uses.
Near milepost 154 two prominent cliffs may be seen across the river. The lower 110 feet of
these cliffs consists of dark-green shale (the upper part of the Pierre shale), and this
is capped by about 40 feet of massive sandstone. This sandstone may be the lowermost
member of the Laramie or it may represent the Fox Hills sandstone of the north. Which
sandstone it is has not been definitely settled.
Nearly half a mile beyond milepost 154 is Brewster, a signal tower at the point where the
Santa Fe crosses the Denver & Rio Grande Western to the left and continues to Canon
City on the south side of the river. On the south (left) is the dump of an abandoned mine
on a coal bed directly overlying the sandstone described above. Old prospect entries on
the same bed show on the north (right) a little farther on, and a quarter of a mile beyond
milepost 155 the Denver & Rio Grande Western crosses Arkansas River and remains on the
north side to a point beyond Canon City.
Just before reaching milepost 156 the railroad makes a cut through a cliff of sandstone
that projects from the right. This sandstone, which dips about 10' S., as shown in the
accompanying diagram (fig. 15), is the lowest sandstone of the coal-bearing rocks and
forms a part of the northern rim of the basin. The younger rocks near the middle of the
coal field terminate to the south in the high ridge or escarpment of lightcolored
sandstone, which is a conspicuous feature of this field.
After passing the point of sandstone described above the railway runs through a broad
valley, which has been cut in the same, shale as that seen at Florence. This shale
(Pierre) and the soft underlying formations extend to Canon City, and to them is due the
breadth of the valley at and below that town. Here in the valley, where an ample supply of
water can be had from Arkansas River and its tributary streams and where the crops are
protected from frost by the mountains on the west, fruits- particularly apples-are grown
in abundance. It is said that 50 per cent of the State's apple crop is raised in the
vicinity of Canon City. Near milepost 157 apple orchards can be seen from the train, and
they continue in almost unbroken masses to Canon City.
Oil Creek, so named because oil once seeped from the ground along its course in Garden
Park north of the railroad, is crossed a short distance west of milepost 157.
About 8 miles up Oil Creek, in an open space at the foot of the mountains known as Garden
Park, the bones of some of the most wonderful animals that the world has ever known have
been found. They were embedded in the Morrison formation, and a large quarry was opened
for the sole purpose of obtaining them. The skeletons or the casts of the skeletons are
exhibited in most of the museums of this country. The most abundant remains are those of
giant reptiles called dinosaurs. Many of these animals were 20 feet long and resembled no
animal Dow living except possibly the diminutive so-called horned toad of California. One
of these lizards, called Stegosaurus, roamed through the swamps that then covered much of
this region. This particular species was a vegetable feeder, but he needed protection from
other dinosaurs that were carnivorous, so he was compelled to grow a bony plate of armor.
Dinosaurs inhabited the earth during Cretaceous time and continued to thrive on into
Tertiary time, but they finally and suddenly disappeared. The last survivor appears to
have been Triceratops, a skeleton of which was found years ago in the vicinity of Denver.
Footprints of dinosaurs have been found also in sandstone that was then the sandy shore
of some lake or estuary. Similar tracks were found years ago in the, brown sandstone of
the Connecticut Valley, and specimens may be seen in most museums. At first these
three-toed tracks were thought to have been made by birds, but when the skeletons of the
dinosaurs were found it was realized that the supposed bird tracks were made by reptiles.
Canon City Area
After crossing Oil Creek the traveler may obtain on the left a general view of the
mountain front back of Canon City
-the mountains through which the Arkansas has cut its wonderful canyon, the Royal Gorge.
In this view the gorge itself can not be readily distinguished, for it is so narrow and
winding that from no point of view can it be seen as an open cut. The low gap that is most
prominent from this point is the canyon of Grape Creek, which enters the Arkansas from the
south (left) just above Canon City. After passing through several miles of apple orchards
the train arrives at the station of Canon City.
Canon City is rightly named, for it stands at the mouth of the greatest canyon penetrated
by any railroad. It is the seat of Fremont County, which was named in honor of the
"Pathfinder," Gen. John C. Fremont, who, in returning from his second expedition
in 1842 followed the Arkansas downstream from its headwaters until he emerged from the
mountains at the place where Canon City now stands. The first recorded exploration of the
canyon was that of Lieut. Pike, who camped with his little party near its eastern portal
on December 5, 1806. They built a blockhouse of logs on the north side of the river,
wandered about in the mountains to the north nearly a month, and on their return to their
blockhouse nearly lost their lives in the Royal Gorge. The next visit of which there is a
record was that of Dr. James and Capt. Bell, of the Long exploration party. On July 18,
1820, these men left their camp at the mouth of Fountain Creek (Pueblo) and rode up the
Arkansas to the foot of the mountains. The seven mineral springs near the mouth of the
Royal Gorge were named Bell's Springs in honor of Capt. Bell, who discovered them on that
trip. After this visit the canyon was probably seen by many hunters and trappers, for
several trading posts were maintained on the river. During the " rush " of gold
seekers in 1859 and 1860 a town sprang up near the mouth of the great canyon and was named
Canon City. Like most of the towns of that time Canon City had a varied experience and was
at times nearly deserted. By 1868 it had achieved some prominence, and the Territorial
penitentiary was located here. The dis
covery of petroleum in the county in 1872 helped the new town very much, for thousands of
gallons were collected and sold to the people of other settlements. Since then its growth
has been steady, for the climate is agreeable, the region is well adapted to fruit
raising, and the town affords an outlet for the coal mines to the south. The scenic
features have heretofore been only slightly exploited but will doubtless attract many
visitors.
MAIN LINE OF RAILROAD FROM CANON CITY TO
SALIDA.
As the train leaves the station at Canon
City the traveler in the open-top car is prepared to see and enjoy to the utmost the
magnificent spectacle of the Royal Gorge. This gorge, however, forms only a small part, as
measured in miles, of the grand canyon of the Arkansas, -which stretches from a point a
mile west of Canon City westward to a point about 3 miles beyond the small village of
Cotopaxi, a distance of 34 miles.
On leaving the station the traveler sees on the south (left) the station which marks the
end of this branch of the Santa Fe Railway. He is now at the place where the great
railroad war was waged from 1876 to 1879, and after seeing the canyon he will understand
fully that it is hardly possible for two roads to occupy this narrow gash in the rocks,
and consequently each road made its supreme endeavor to be first to build through the
canyon. In the 40 years that this road has been in operation thousands of travelers from
all parts of the world have passed through the gorge and have admired its awful grandeur.
About a mile from the station the traveler may see on the north (right) the State,
penitentiary with its well-kept grounds, at the extreme farthest point of which is Iron
Spring, one of the attractive features of Canon City. The pavilion that covers the spring
may be seen on the right, and just opposite is the power plant, which at times fills the
beautiful clear air with a dense pall of smoke. This dense cloud of black smoke should not
be permitted, for when the wind is from the east it drifts up the track and conceals much
of the beauty of the Royal Gorge. The rocky ledge that is exposed a few feet beyond the
spring is the Dakota sandstone, which marks the base of the Upper Cretaceous series. This
sandstone is the most resistant bed in the series of rocks here upturned, and it therefore
stands up as a sharp-crested ridge or hogback, which extends for a long distance across
the valley parallel with the mountain front. About 2 miles south of the river there is a
great break (fault) in the beds of rock, separating those of the mountains from those of
the plains, and the Dakota hogback ends against this fault. Along the summit of the
hogback, which in places is wide enough only for a road, the famous Skyline Drive (shown
in Pl.
XXXV) has been constructed.
From the Dakota sandstone to the mountain front the beds are all steeply upturned, but
their position can not be made out very well from the train. These beds of sandstone and
limestone once doubtless extended at least as far west as Parkdale, and when the mountain
was uplifted they were bowed up in a great curve, as suggested in [the figure below], but
the streams cut into these uplifted rocks very actively and in course of time removed them
and even cut down hundreds of feet into the massive granite on which they rest. The first
formation below the Dakota, is the Morrison, which forms the west side of the hogback. It
consists of variegated shale and sandstone, in which green and red beds predominate. It is
in this formation that the bones of the giant reptiles [are] found.
West of the outcrop of the Morrison lies a red sandstone that is in places at least a
thousand feet thick. This sandstone is particularly prominent about Manitou, in the valley
of Fountain Creek, and for this reason is called the Fountain formation. This sandstone is
of middle Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) age. A limestone or gray and pink dolomite 2'
about 100 feet thick and a sandstone of about the same thickness lie below the Fountain
formation. This sandstone rests on the granite of the Front Range. All the rocks below the
Dakota sandstone are prevailingly red, and this color is well displayed in the valley west
of the hogback.
At Burnito siding may be seen some of the canals that carry water to irrigate the valley
below, as well as the pipe line which supplies Canon City with water. The pipe line is
high up on the north (right), and the water is carried by gravity into a settling
reservoir, which may be seen on a hill to the right. Below the city aqueduct is a canal,
which is taken by a tunnel through the hogback to irrigate the orchards on the north side
of the valley. On the south there are two canals, one high up on the hillside and one near
the level of the river bottom. The higher canal receives its water from Grape Creek, which
enters the river just at the edge of the mountain; the lower one takes water from Arkansas
River near the mouth of this creek.
Royal Gorge Area
A short distance above Burnito siding the traveler is face to face with the imposing
portal of the Royal Gorge. (See, Pl.
XXXIII , B.) On the left is the old Hot Springs Hotel, now abandoned, and on the right
and considerably above the railroad are some small tunnels through which the city pipe
line is carried. The passage seems almost barred by the great slab of gneiss which
projects from the north and stands 400 or 500 feet high. The traveler may imagine that the
train will at once plunge into the shadowy depths of the mighty gorge, but after passing
the portal he finds that the canyon, though rocky, is not particularly rugged or
precipitous.
The observant traveler will soon notice that there is close connection between the
character of the rock and the shape and narrowness of the gorge. Where the rock is massive
granite cut by few joint planes the gorge is narrow, but where the rock is intricately
banded and composed of many layers of diverse appearing rocks it is wider and the slopes
are more gentle. The differences in the form and width of the canyon are due to
differences in the resistance which the various kinds of rock have offered to the cutting
power of the stream and to the processes of weathering.
Although the rocks throughout the Royal Gorge are in general similar, they differ
greatly from place to place, their character depending largely on the crushing stresses to
which they have been subjected at great depths in the earth. In some places the rock is
massive granite; it has never been crushed or disturbed in any way. In other places the
rock (probably originally granite, or possibly sandstone and shale) has been so squeezed
and crushed that it has been more or less changed. The minerals of the rock have been
recrystallized, and in the process of change the crystals have been arranged in layers at
right angles to the direction in which the force was applied, and the rock has become a
gneiss. In some places the process has been carried so far that all the rock material has
been recrystallized, and the rock has become an exceedingly soft mica schist, composed
largely of small flakes of mica, and it can be split like a slate. The structure is
complicated also by dikes, which cut across the other rocks, or irregular intrusive masses
which here and there break up the regularity of the banding. In places veins of quartz
have been deposited from mineral-bearing waters that slowly circulated through open
fissures. Finally all these masses have been turned and twisted, folded back upon
themselves, and broken, until the result is a structure which is complicated almost beyond
description.
As the train moves on the canyon walls grow higher and somewhat steeper, and through a
side gulch here and there the traveler may catch glimpses of the most rugged towering
pinnacles. Such a view may be obtained about half a mile above milepost 164, up a small
canyon on the right to a, wall of massive granite that stands at least 1,000 feet high.
At the abandoned station of Gorge, the -Royal Gorge really begins. Below this point the
railroad has had little difficulty in finding a passage, but immediately above the old
station the walls close in until the stream has a width of barely 50 feet. The walls are
massive and rise nearly vertically to heights of 1,000 to 1,200 feet. (See Pls. XXXVI, A,
and XXXVII)
The train here plunges into the vast depths of this narrow cleft, and the traveler is free
to enjoy the scene, without a thought as to how or where he is to emerge, from them. Ile
knows that he will be through the canyon in a few minutes, but the early explorers had no
such knowledge. Lieut. Pike, who visited the Royal Gorge about the first of January, 1807,
had serious difficulty in exploring its narrowest parts. Can anything more difficult be
imagined than that attempt to find a passage through this unexplored gorge at a time of
the year when the water was leecold?
At Gorge the Canon City pipe line crosses the river. In rounding the next point on the
right the traveler may see above him one of the most massive walls in the canyon. It is
probably 1,200 feet high and is nearly smooth as far as one can see. After passing around
this projecting mass into the next bend the traveler on looking ahead may see people on
the crest of the wall, for the automobile road from Canon City leads to this point. The
wall upon which they stand is about 1,100 feet above the railroad, but the rock is so
massive that it is difficult to appreciate its great height. At milepost 166 the traveler
is directly below the point reached by the automobile road, and he may obtain some idea of
the immensity of the gorge, but the view from the bottom, though interesting, does not
compare in grandeur with the view to be obtained from above. One is more accustomed to
looking up at great heights than to looking down into great chasms, and the canyon is
therefore less striking when seen from below than from above.
The train swings around the base of the overhanging walls of the point on the right and
crosses the Hanging Bridge (Pl.
XXXVIII) in the narrowest part of the gorge. In places here the -walls actually
overhang, but pictures of the gorge taken from this point have been so widely circulated
that almost everyone, even before reaching Colorado, is familiar with them. The
engineering feat of hanging a bridge from the walls of the canyon instead of supporting it
by abutments is of course novel and attracts much attention, but few who pass over the
road think of the engineers who made the first location for the road or of the workmen who
hewed their way through the solid rock. It is reported that at some of the construction
camps men and tools and mules and carts were let down the canyon wall by ropes; that the
engineers made their locations on the ice or while struggling through the icy waters; and
that the rockmen were hung suspended in the air while they drilled the holes in the
granite and fired the blasts that sent tons upon tons of rock crashing into the stream
below. If the experiences of these men could be written the story would abound in
thrilling moments of suspense and hairbreadth escapes that would rival the scenes shown in
the, most realistic moving picture.
As already stated, the narrower and more rugged parts of the Royal
Gorge are cut in the harder rocks. This fact is well illustrated near the Hanging Bridge,
for here the walls are vertical because the great joint cracks that cut the granite are
vertical. Whenever a piece, of rock is split from the walls it breaks off along one of
these vertical joints, and the stream has difficulty in undermining a wall that is
composed of huge blocks of rock set on end or rather that have one end deeply buried below
water level. The great open fissures along some of these joints give picturesque detail to
the walls; the best known fissure is one on the right that can be seen to advantage by
looking back just after passing the Hanging Bridge. This crack is 20 feet wide, and down
it flows a stream Of water which in the driest season yields cool water to the thirsty
traveler who may be enjoying a tramp through this great highway. The traveler will
doubtless see many other cracks almost as strongly marked as this one at different places
in the canyon walls. Many of these fissures have been cleaned out by small streams of
water, leaving crevices only a few feet wide, which in many places slope under the
overhanging rock for long distances.
A short distance above the Hanging Bridge, as shown in Plate
XXXIX, the walls diminish in height and the canyon opens and bears little resemblance
to the narrow gorge just below. About three-quarters of a mile above milepost 166 the
slopes are so gentle that they can be scaled, and a trail leading to the top turns up the
slope on the north (right). In this part of the canyon the walls are not composed of
massive granite or even gneiss, as at most places below, but the rock is a schist,
composed largely of flakes of mica that may be recognized by the manner in which they
glisten in the sunshine. This mica schist is very soft, compared with the granite and
gneiss, and therefore weathers more rapidly, so that the canyon is wider and has smoother
and gentler slopes.
Just beyond milepost 168 are the headgate and settling tanks of the Canon City
waterworks. In this vicinity the gray granite is cut by a great many dikes of pink
feldspar (pegmatite). The crystals of feldspar are large, and their brilliant faces
attract attention, especially when the sun is shining on them. In some places these dikes
are so numerous and so large that they make up the bulk of the rock and give it a strong
red color. The pink feldspar is very abundant in the rock from the siding called Sample to
the edge of Webster Park, near Parkdale.
Toward the west the hills grow smaller and the canyon less pronounced, until finally, in
making a sharp turn to the right just before reaching milepost 170, the traveler catches
on the left a glimpse of an open valley of considerable extent, which comes as a pleasing
contrast to the frowning walls of the deep canyon. This open valley is Webster Park, one
of the beautiful natural parks which diversify the mountain scenery of Colorado. The
surface of Webster Park is underlain by soft sedimentary rocks that have been downfolded
or dropped by some fault, thus being preserved from complete destruction by erosion.
The first sedimentary rocks that can be seen from the train are on the right. They are the
variegated shale and sandstone of the Morrison formation, and above them lie the more
somber sandstones of the Dakota. These beds of rock lie nearly horizontal, but doubtless
their contact with the granite, if it could be seen, would show that they rise gently
toward the east at about the same rate as the surface of the granite on which they were
deposited. The traveler may be surprised to find the Morrison formation in Webster Park in
contact with the granite, whereas at Canon City several hundred feet of beds lie between
the Morrison and the granite. The absence of these underlying formations in Webster Park
is probably due to the fact that the upper surface of the granite was for a long time a
land surface and upon this land the sedimentary beds were deposited at different
elevations before the granite was arched and broken by faults, as shown in figure 16. Thus
the lowermost formation at Canon City may have originally extended onto the granite a mile
or so and the next one 2 or 3 miles, and so on, until finally, when the Morrison was
deposited, the entire area was low, and the Morrison beds were laid down continuously f
rom Canon City to Parkdale.
West of milepost 170 the beds dip sharply toward the west and the Dakota disappears under
the dark shale of the Benton. About 1,500 feet beyond milepost 170 the shale is in contact
with the granite, which shows that they must have been brought into this abnormal relation
by a fault that dropped the shale on the east as compared with the granite on the west.
Beyond this fault the hill on the north (right) of the railroad is composed entirely of
granite, but on the south the variegated shale of the Morrison rests on the granite just
as it was deposited ages ago. At the point where the railroad crosses Tallahassee Creek
the Morrison outcrop swings to the north, and a hill composed of this formation, capped by
Dakota sandstone, which dips toward the west, may be seen half a mile away. The
sedimentary rocks can not continue in this direction much farther, for the granite, which
can be seen on the north, makes a high rim completely around the valley.
Parkdale Area
The rock in the middle of the valley is concealed by a deep cover of gravel, which the
river has evidently brought down from the high
mountains farther west. One of the striking features of this gravelcovered terrace is the
great number of big boulders that litter the ground around the station at Parkdale and for
some distance to the cast. These boulders are composed of all sorts of rock from the high
mountains and range from mere gravel stones of the size of a marble up to boulders 10 or
12 feet in diameter. These large boulders have certainly been brought down the river
valley, but by what agency? Could water have transported them? At first sight it would
seem impossible for water to move boulders of this size through a, canyon and then spread
them out in a great fan nearly a mile long, but there seems to be no other agent by which
they could have been transported. Some may suggest that possibly the glaciers of the Ice
Age may have extended down as far as Parkdale and carried the boulders and dropped them
where the ice melted. It is well known that glaciers do carry such boulders, but a glance
at the rugged walls of the canyon above Parkdale (see Pl.
XL, A) will soon convince the traveler that no glacier has ever moved down this
canyon. Water, therefore, is apparently the only agent that could have transported these
boulders.
Just as the train emerges from the canyon into Webster Park it crosses the Rainbow
automobile road, which was last seen at Canon City. It was manifestly impossible for this
road to follow the river through the Royal Gorge, so it takes a more circuitous route to
the north and then returns to the river in Webster Park. Here it crosses to the south side
of the river and follows that side until the river emerges into the broad valley at the
foot of the Sangre de Cristo Range. above Cotopaxi. The construction of this road through
the canyon above Parkdale, involved a large amount of rock work, and the State and county
deserve to be congratulated on its completion. (See Pl.
XLI, B.)
Webster Park is an oasis of valley land in a wilderness of mountains. Near the river some
of the soil is too gravelly for farming, but back f rom the river there are good farms.
Stock raising is the principal occupation, and the cattle find good summer pasture upon
the mountain slopes. At the station of Parkdale, the traveler, on looking back, can see
the low range of mountains, or rather the plateau, in which the Royal Gorge is cut.
About Parkdale the dark shale of the Benton shows in a number of places below the gravel,
and the next rock that is seen in passing westward is the granite at the mouth of the
canyon. It is therefore certain that no hard rocks, such as the Dakota sandstone, are
present between the Benton shale and the granite, and the shale and the granite must be
brought into contact by a fault.
Above Parkdale the river is again confined in a narrow, rugged canyon, which has been cut
in a plateau similar to that in which the Royal Gorge is cut. (See Pl.XXXIV,A.)
Upon this plateau there are several ranges of mountains, which rise to elevations of
12,000 to 14,000 feet above sea level and which are included in the San Isabel National
Forest. This forest furnishes excellent summer pasture for a large number of cattle and
sheep, which are driven into the mountains each spring from ranches in the lowland on both
the east and the west. The forest is also an effective conserver of water, for in it lie
the heads of a number of streams that supply water for domestic use and irrigation to the
cities, towns, and ranches of the plains. It is a haven of refuge for wild animals,
particularly deer, which thrive upon its excellent pasture lands. The fawns are almost as
tame as the lambs which gambol ab out their mothers in the deep grass.
In the Greenhorn Mountains many summer homes have been built by the citizens of Pueblo and
connected with that city by fine automobile roads. The use of the national forests for
recreation is encouraged by the Government, and in many localities sites suitable for
summer homes have been mapped and laid off in lots so as to be available to those who wish
to avoid the crowded cities during the beat of summer. The charge for building permits
ranges from $10 to $25 a year, depending on the accessibility and attractiveness of the
site. Logs and poles for building and wood for fuel may be procured free of charge under
permit from the local forest officers.
The canyon above Parkdale, although it is generally considered with the Royal Gorge as
constituting the grand canyon of the Arkansas, is really a separate canyon. It has a
length of about 24 miles, measured along the railroad, and may be divided, according to
its width and the ruggedness of its walls, into three parts, two of them narrow and rugged
and the third, separating the more rugged parts, broad and more or less smooth.
The first part of the canyon extends from Parkdale to Texas Creek, a distance of 11 miles.
This canyon is not so narrow nor so deep as the Royal Gorge, but it is nevertheless
picturesque and well worthy of close attention, particularly as it can generally be seen
from an open observation car. The charm of this canyon is the variety of its scenery. In
places it is narrow and has steep and rugged walls; in others it is relatively broad,
though here and there projecting points of rock have been cut by the stream into nearly
vertical cliffs. In other words, this canyon looks as if it
had been occupied by the stream for a longer time than the Royal Gorge .27
The walls of the canyon from its mouth just above Parkdale to Texas Creek are generally
uniform in height, so that this canyon also appears to have been cut in a, plateau, the
surface of which was originally gently rolling. At Texas Creek a branch of the railroad
turns to the south (left), crosses the river, and after running up a small valley for a
short distance in order to obtain grade, turns back and loops around a projecting spur
considerably above the bottom of the valley. After passing this spur the road follows for
a long distance the valley of Texas Creek on its way to the mining district of Westcliffe,
25 miles, distant.
Near the station of Texas Creek the canyon takes on a different aspect. It becomes much
broader than it is east of that place, and though the walls may in places be precipitous,
they are generally smoother and gentler in their slope than they are farther east. This
part of the canyon looks older than the part below, and it is also different from the part
above. On leaving Texas Creek the train heads directly toward the great Sangre de Cristo
Range (Pl. XLIII)
and at a point 3 miles above Texas Creek swings abruptly to the right, following Arkansas
River, which here leaves the broad valley in which it has been flowing, and in a short
distance it again enters a canyon, some parts of which are steep and narrow. If the
traveler looks to the left as the turn is made he will see that the broad valley continues
directly toward the high mountain peaks but is occupied only by Oak Creek, a stream not at
all commensurate in size with that of the valley which it occupies. The meaning of these
differences in the character of the canyon of the Arkansas is not yet understood, but it
could probably be satisfactorily explained if the history of the river were thoroughly
known.
Above the mouth of Oak Creek the canyon of the Arkansas for some distance is irregular in
width and the sides are low, indicating considerable age, though it is generally narrow,
and farther on it becomes more precipitous, until in the vicinity of Cotopaxi it is a
veritable canyon, though it is wider than the part of the canyon below Texas Creek.
Cotopaxi Area
Cotopaxi is a small settlement, hemmed in on all sides by high granite walls, but fairly
good roads lead from it southwestward to a rich agricultural region at the foot of the,
Sangre de Cristo Range. Small quantities of the precious metals as well as some copper
have been found near the town, but none of the mines are now in operation. Limestone was
once quarried here in large quantities for use as flux in iron furnaces, but most of the
limestone now so used at Pueblo is quarried near Howard, farther up the valley. The
quarries near Cotopaxi were about 3 miles north of the railroad, at the southern end of
the belt of Carboniferous rocks. (See sheet 3.) The
limestone has been preserved here by being downfolded into the granite, and on the east
side of the downfold the rock has been broken by a, fault and replaced by the granite.
For some distance west of Cotopaxi the sides of the canyon are composed of massive
granite, which in places stands up in nearly vertical walls (see Pl.
XL, A), but the valley bottom is generally wide enough to afford ample accommodation
for the railroad and for the Rainbow Highway. The canyon maintains this width for some
distance, but beyond milepost 194 the river passes t through the narrowest and most rugged
part of the canyon west of Parkdale.
About three-quarters of a mile beyond milepost 194 the railroad emerges suddenly from the
granite canyon into a broad valley at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Range. The course
of the railroad, which for a long distance has been nearly southwest, here veers to the
northwest along this valley. The change from seemingly endless vistas of rocky canyon
walls to a broad valley in which there are farms and green trees is striking and
exceedingly restful and is one of the surprises that are constantly awaiting the traveler
in this mountainous region.
The change in scenery and in the general character of the country is due to a, difference
in the underlying rocks, but for some distance this fact is not apparent, as the rocks are
not visible from the train, the land near the river being composed of sand and gravel
washed down from the high mountains at the back of the valley. The railroad follows the
east side of the river-, passing by the village of Pleasanton and hugging the granite
cliffs that border the valley on the northeast (right). The contact of the soft rocks of
the valley with the granite or gneiss is not a normal contact but is due to a fault, the
granite having been elevated or the other rocks depressed an unknown distance.
In order to understand the meaning of the surface features along the railroad from
Pleasanton to Salida it is necessary to. know the geologic structure and the succession of
hard and soft rocks.
Mountains are usually formed either because they contain rocks that are somewhat harder
than the rocks in adjacent areas or because recent disturbances in the earth's crust have
raised one part of the crust with relation to another; or they may be formed by volcanic
action. In the Rocky Mountains the principal ranges and peaks have been formed by one or
both of the two causes first stated.
The great Sangre de Cristo Range, which towers on the left a mile above the railroad, is
no exception, but this range, unlike many others of this general region, is very narrow,
being at no point more than 12 or 15 miles wide. At many places its crest is composed of
granite and gneiss, which, being harder than the surrounding rock, have remained at their
present height, while the softer rocks on either side have been washed away to lower
levels. In general, the structure of the mountain at the north end is that of a great
anticlinal fold (arch), mainly in Carboniferous rocks, though it affects the lower rocks
down to and including the granite. At a point farther south the fold crosses the range at
a low angle, and from that point southward the structure is entirely different. The
section shown in [the figure below] represents in a general way the structure of the rocks
at the north end of the mountain-the anticline in the mountain and the syncline (trough)
on its east side. From a point above Howard to Pleasanton Arkansas River flows in the
valley eroded in this syncline, and the granite on the right of the railroad lies on the
east side of the fault, as shown in the section.
At Pleasanton the railroad is built on the Weber shale and sandstone near the fault,
but in passing northward it diverges more and more from the granite wall until it is on.
the Maroon sandstone nearly in the middle of the trough. This sandstone makes its
appearance a short distance above the siding of Vallie. It is very conspicuous on the
left, in the hill across the river, and dips about 700 W., or into the great syncline
which lies on that side of the railroad. This hill shows to good advantage not only the
red Maroon sandstone but a cap of lava, which gives some clue to the recent geologic
history of the valley. As seen from the train the lava cap appears to be horizontal, but
after passing it the traveler, upon looking back, may see that the lava cap is underlain
by a bed of white volcanic tuff 28 about 40 feet thick and that both the lava and the tuff
slope to the west, or away from the railroad, as shown in [the figure below]. This
westward slope shows that at the time the tuff was deposited and the lava was poured out
upon its upper surface, the deepest part of the valley lay considerably west of the
channel in which the river flows to-day.
The red sandstone crops out by the side of the railroad as far as milepost 200. Here it
is covered by a large mass of tuff and lava -which descends below river level and -which
shows on the northeast side of the valley in places to points beyond Howard. Most of the
high hills near Howard are capped with white volcanic tuff and with a sheet of lava, which
invariably slopes to the west. These rocks have been traced eastward to a point near the
fault at the edge of the granite. As the lava rises steadily toward the east the volcanic
vent from which it came was probably near the fault and on high ground, thence it flowed
westward down the slope to the river, which was then farther west and somewhat lower than
it is today.
Howard Area
The volcanic matter doubtless partly filled the old valley of the Arkansas, and then came
a great wash of gravel and boulders from the mountains, which must have filled the valley
to a depth of several hundred feet. No one yet knows what caused this great deposit of
gravel, but it has been assumed to have some connection with the formation of great
glaciers in the neighboring mountains. This influx of foreign material dammed the river
and forced it over to the east side of its valley, entirely out of its former position. At
present the river is cutting away the gravel and lava, but it has not yet cut down to its
former level. Remnants of the gravel filling may be seen in the extensive terraces
opposite Howard, as shown in Plate XLIII.
At Howard a branch railroad turns to the left, crosses the river, and disappears in the
hills in the distance. This line runs to a stone quarry at the station of Calcite, where
limestone is being quarried on a large scale by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Co. for use
as flux in its large blast furnaces at Pueblo. Howard is a small village, but the
well-cultivated farms across the river indicate a prosperous community. The land on both
sides of the river is irrigated and yields abundant crops of alfalfa and the more hardy
grains. Near the station there are kilns in which charcoal was formerly made. These kilns
are the only traces that remain of what was once a large industry in these mountains. The
native timber was used in making charcoal, which was in great demand by smelters in almost
every mining town. The concentration of the smelting industry into the hands of large
corporations and the consequent abandonment of most of the small plants, together with the
increased production of coke in the coal fields near by, killed the charcoal industry.
Although the decay of this industry temporarily deprived many persons of the means of
making a livelihood, it was a blessing to the region as a whole, for the manufacture of
charcoal is a wasteful process and one that has consumed much valuable timber that might
have been reserved for a more useful purpose.
A little beyond Howard the railroad turns more toward the west and crosses the bedded
rocks, which show to good advantage. In this section the syncline has been so squeezed by
pressure from the east that its sides have been pressed close together or overturned, and
consequently all the rocks dip toward the east. The lava is prominent in this part of the
valley, but it is limited to the hills on the opposite side of the river. These hills at
first appear to be composed entirely of lava, but close scrutiny will show that the red
sandstone crops out here and there near the river level. This low place in the sandstone
evidently marked the middle of the valley at the time the lava was poured out and filled
the valley to a depth of 300 or 400 feet. West of milepost 205 the railroad crosses Badger
Creek, which drains a large territory between the Arkansas Valley and South Park. The red
sandstones are well exposed in the bend of the river a little farther on and in the
approaches to the tunnel beyond milepost 206. They are fairly conspicuous in the river
bluffs near milepost 207, but west of this point the red color disappears from both sides
of the valley. The last lava-capped hill is nearly opposite milepost 207, and this hill
marks the western limit of the old valley, which is now so deeply filled with the volcanic
material that it constitutes hills rather than a valley.
At Swissvale the railroad is built upon a broad gravel-covered flat. The absence of
exposures of hard rock is due largely to this fact and to the fact that the flat, or
rather terrace, is composed of the Weber shale and sandstone, which underlie the red
sandstone that is so conspicuous farther east. This relation is due largely to the effect
of a cross anticline, which trends in the direction followed by the railroad. This
anticline brings the Leadville limestone near the surface, but it can not be seen from the
railroad until the train passes Wellsville Springs. Its position is marked on the river
bank, however, by numerous springs, which carry so much lime in solution that as soon as
they emerge from the bank they deposit the lime in the form of calcareous tufa, building
up domes of this material around the springs. A rather large spring of this kind is bein g
utilized at Wellsville as a bathing pool, making it a general pleasure resort for the
surrounding towns.
Long ago, when the river was flowing at a much higher level than it is now, large springs
issued along its banks much as the springs issue along its banks today, and they built up
immense masses of tufa, which now stand several hundred feet above the railroad. This tufa
consists of nearly pure carbonate of lime, and it is now being quarried in a large way for
use in refining beet sugar and as flux in iron furnaces.
West of Wellsville Springs the sides of the valley become steeper and the railroad is
crowded to the bank of the river under a high cliff of Leadville limestone, which is the
lowest formation of the Carboniferous system. The beds of rock in this cliff have been
greatly distorted by folding and in places stand nearly vertical, but the bedding has been
largely obliterated by the solution and redeposition of the lime, so that the structure
can not be determined from the train. After passing the great bend of the river to
milepost 210, the synclinal structure may be plainly seen in the bluff on the far side of
the river.
The limestone is conspicuous on both sides of the valley almost to milepost 211, where it
rises and disappears in the tops of the hills. It is underlain by thinbedded quartzite,
the age of which is not definitely known, though it is considerably older than the other
sedimentary rocks which the traveler has recently seen. The quartzite is so much changed
by movement and pressure in the crust of the earth that at first sight it may not be
recognized as a sedimentary rock. It is cut off in a short distance by a great mass of
intrusive rock, which occupies a large area on the northeast side of the river valley and
extends up the river as far as the stockyards 2 miles below Salida. Beyond this place the
intrusive rocks are restricted to the northeast side of the river, or if they occur on the
other side they have been dropped so low by faulting that they are effectually concealed
by the gravel in the bottom of the valley. The Arkansas Valley above Salida has doubtless
in many places been affected by faulting, so that large tracts have been dropped hundreds
and possibly thousands of feet and the depressions so produced filled with sand, gravel,
and boulders brought down from the great Sawatch Range on the west. About Salida in
particular the evidence of such a dropped block seems to be conclusive, for the river a
few miles below the town is flowing on bedrock and it would still be running on or near
bedrock at Salida had the bedrock not been depressed below its original level.
Salida Area
The largest town in the mountains west of Canon City is Salida (from the Spanish Word outlet;
locally pronounced sah-lie'da), which was so named because it stands at the outlet of the
upper Arkansas basin. It was settled in 1880 at the time the railroad was being built up
the Arkansas Valley, and it is at the junction of the narrow-gage road over Marshall Pass
to Grand Junction and that over Poncha Pass to San Luis Park with the main line of the
Denver & Rio Grande, Western Railroad. Here are the repair shops of the railroad and
some other manufacturing plants, and a mile northwest of the town there is a large
smelter. It is a town of homes, but in addition there are several hotels for the
accommodation of travelers who change from one route to another in order to see the
beautiful scenery for which this region is noted. The town lies in a basin that is nearly
surrounded by mountains. (See Pl. XLIV.) The Sangre
de Cristo Range, which begins near Santa Fe, N. Mex., terminates just south of the town in
a prominent point known as Hunts Peak (12,446 feet). The Sawatch Range begins in Mount
Ouray (13,955 feet), a little west of the north end of the Sangre do Cristo Range, and
stretches northward, including Mount Chipeta, Mount Shavano (14,179 feet), and other high
peaks, shown in Plate XLIV. To the north and northeast there is a jumble of lesser ranges
without special names.
As the branch railroad lines that enter Salida are narrow-gage all the freight originating
on them and bound for the East must be reloaded into standard-gage cars. This reloading
entails considerable expense and loss of time and is a great handicap to the shippers on
the narrow-gage lines. Narrow-gage cars can run, however, between Salida and Leadville
because here a third rail has been maintained for the benefit of the mining interests in
shipping ores to the smelter.
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