182 MY LIFE [Chap. 



house in Grizzly Gulch we had dined the day before, and he 



asked us to make use of his hut high up the valley, so as to 



have plenty of time for our visit to Gray's Peak. We took 



our lunch in a miner's hut, and I was greatly pleased with the 



little chipmunks — a very small ground-squirrel — which came 



round the door to pick up crumbs, and after a little time 



entered the house and ate whatever we gave them without 



any fear. The miners are as fond of these little creatures as 



we are of robins, and thus they become quite pets about 



houses in the wilds where they abound. In the evening we 



made our way to the cabin, said to be the highest house in 



the States (about thirteen thousand feet), where it freezes at 



night nearly all the year round. Some of Mr. West's men 



had brought up stores, the house being used for prospecting 



purposes and trial-workings. They made us quite welcome, 



and we had supper together. 



The next morning we walked up to the top of Gray's Peak 

 (14,340 feet), one of the highest in the Rocky Mountains. On 

 this side the ascent was very easy, over grassy slopes inter- 

 spersed with streams of loose stone fragments, everywhere 

 dotted with interesting alpine plants. The summit was a 

 nearly level plateau, with precipices on the north-west, and with 

 a magnificent view all round, only limited by the yellow haze 

 which cuts off the horizon. We had, however, a view of the 

 celebrated Holy Cross mountain, about thirty-five miles to 

 the south-west, below the summit of which some deep gorges 

 preserve perpetual snow in the shape of a cross. Over an 

 area of about three hundred miles from north to south, and 

 two hundred from east to west, there are said to be over 

 thirty summits which reach fourteen thousand feet, and many 

 more above thirteen thousand — a clear indication of this 

 whole region having been once a nearly level plateau, 

 which, during the process of elevation, has been cut into 

 innumerable valleys and canons by sub-aerial denudation. 

 This is the more remarkable, as the geological structure of 

 the region is very complex, consisting of ancient rocks, and 

 has "probably once been covered by the Secondary and 

 Tertiary deposits which now everywhere surround it, as 



