of 



a slope or steep rising above them, down which 

 the ice descended while gouging out their basins. 



Grand Lake, one of the largest reservoirs 

 constructed by the Ice King in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, is three miles in length and one in width, 

 cut into bed-rock. This lake is less than nine 

 thousand feet above the sea. It is in the east- 

 ern extremity of Middle Park, a few miles to the 

 west of Long's Peak. Great peaks rising from 

 it, a great moraine sweeping along its northerly 

 and westerly shores, it peacefully shows the ti- 

 tanic beautifying landscape labors of the ice. 



The glacial winter is over. The present snow- 

 fall over this section is about one half that of the 

 Alps. Here snow-line is thirteen thousand feet 

 above the sea, while in the Alps it is four thou- 

 sand feet lower. Down from the heights of all 

 the high peaks pour many white streams ever 

 singing the song of the sea. 



In these mountains there are many deep 

 gorges and canons. Most of these are short and 

 ice-polished. The Thompson Canon is one of 

 the longest and finest. Its twenty miles of 

 walled length is full of scenic contrasts and pict- 



344 



