11 PLANTS BAKERIAN^E. 



enters the rocky gorge of the Black Canon. This is passa- 

 ble for the Rio Grande Railroad for fifteen miles to a point 

 near Cimarron, where the Cirnarron River enters from the 

 south. Here the railroad is compelled to climb up through 

 Cimarron Canon and over Cerro Summit to seek a western 

 outlet by way of the Uncompahgre Valley to Delta, which 

 is again on the Gunnison. From Cimarron to near Delta 

 the Gunnison runs through its Grand Canon, so deep and 

 narrow and with such precipitous walls as to be quite 

 inaccessible. 



Passing westward from Cerro Summit, the change in 

 character of country and of flora is one of the most sudden 

 and most remarkable in the State of Colorado. Cerro Sum- 

 mit is a huge hill covered with thickets of oak scrub and 

 Amelanchier (scattering other shrubs) and supplied with a 

 rich herbaceous vegetation. A few miles to the westward 

 and a few hundred feet below, say at Cedar Creek, one is in 

 the Desert Area, with cedars, pifion, Sarcobatus, Atriplex, 

 and a characteristic desert flora. From this point to the 

 west end of the Grand Mesa, the broad Uncompahgre Valley 

 was originally almost an utter desert. It is flanked on 

 either side with adobe hills or gravelly mesas, sparingly 

 clothed with cedars or entirely naked, the bottoms with 

 Sarcobatus and its companions, and along the stream willows 

 and cottonwoods. 



From Delta to Grand Junction the Gunnison runs 

 through its Lower Canon which is broader and shallower 

 than the Grand Canon and flanked b}' barren and broken 

 sandstone hills, in some places closely resembling the Colo- 

 rado Canon formation. A collection of the curious flora of 

 this hot, dry Lower Canon was made within seven miles of 

 Deer Run. At Grand Junction the Gunnison passes into 

 the broad valley of the Grand River, which is also desert 



