F. GEOGRAPHY. 227 



fessor F. Y. Hayden, during the past summer (and of which 

 Mr. James T. Gardner is the geographer), has been the dis- 

 covery that Colorado Territory is the centre of the greatest 

 elevation of the Rocky Mountain chain. In Central Colorado 

 the chain proper is about 120 miles broad, made up of three 

 lofty parallel ranges, running nearly north -northwest, and 

 flanked from the west by great plateaus and groups of peaks. 

 Between the rangces lie the o-reat elevated basins known as 

 " parks." The front range, which rises abruptly from the 

 plains, is seen from Denver in a grand panorama 120 miles 

 long. From its snowy serrated crest rise many peaks be- 

 tween 13,000 and 14,000 feet high. These are Long's, Gray's, 

 and Pike's peaks, Mount Torrey, Mount Rosa, and Mount 

 Evans. 



On the west side of the parks is the Park Range, whose 

 highest group is at Mount Lincoln, this and Quandary Peak 

 each rising to about 14,000 feet. Mount Lincoln forms the 

 base of all the hypsometric works of the Hayden survey on 

 the high peaks. Denver has already been connected with 

 the sea by two lines run with the spirit-level. 



During the past summer the Denver, South Park, and Pa- 

 cific Railway Company completed their line of levels from 

 Denver to Fairplay, and, at the instance of Dr. Hayden, con- 

 tinued the survey to the top of Mount Lincoln, where a per- 

 manent meteorological station had been established, under 

 the care of Captain Bruce, the owner of the remarkable mines 

 situated on the summit of the mountain. 



The heights of all the culminating peaks have been deter- 

 mined barometrically by reference to this peak, and we are 

 promised that the results shall sur23ass in accuracy any of the 

 high mountain measurements yet made in this country. The 

 survey has also established a permanent meteorological sta- 

 tion at Fairplay, 10,000 feet above the sea, and another at 

 Caiion City, about 6000 feet. These stations are all connect- 

 ed by a spirit-level line, and the comparison of their observa- 

 tions will be of remarkable interest. 



The National Range lies east of the Park Range, and is 

 separated from it by the Arkansas Valley. For the gran- 

 deur of its form and the height of its peaks this is one of the 

 most strikinsr ransces on the continent. At its northern end 

 is the Mount of the Holy Cross, a peak about 13,000 feet high. 



