132 NATURAL RESOURCES SURVEY 



similar to the Enchanted mesa in formation, now supports 

 the primitive town which has superseded the ancient Pueblo 

 that once had its site on top of the Enchanted mesa. Con- 

 venient sand dunes furnish in part, a heavy, sandy approach 

 to the summit of the mesa, and a rocky quarried passage 

 way, completes the bridge to the top. 



MT. TAYLOR 



Lying about half way up the eastern limb of the huge anti- 

 cline which forms the Continental Divide in this section of 

 New Mexico, is the magnificent, yet badly eroded volcanic 

 cone-Mt. Taylor. This cone is the most imposing of the two 

 hundred plugs and cones which are scattered along the 

 western side of the Puerco Valley. The crater rim, of this 

 volcano which measures approximately six miles in diameter 

 is dissected by numerous canyons which rib the sides of the 

 cone. Down these canyons, in nearly all cases, trickle brooks 



"A Thunderstorm over Mt. Taylor." 



fed from springs far up the mountain side. This water is 

 pure and wholesome, but at the southeastern side of Mt. 

 Taylor near El Rito is a well made useless from the amount 

 of sulphur and hydrogen sulphide which impregnates its 

 waters. . 



If the block faulting which characterizes this region is 

 Post-Cretaceous and Mt. Taylor is late Oligocene or early 



