6 GEOLOGY AND MINING INDUSTRY OF LEADVILLE. 



that of the Harrison Redaction Works, to the right of which is the Tabor 

 mill. The slopes immediatel)" back of the town are those of Carbonate hill, 

 beyond which is seen the round summit of Ball Mountain, with Breece hill, 

 as a wooded spur, extending northward from it. Still farther back the ridge 

 slopes up in apparent continuity to Dyer Mountain, the highest point on the 

 sky-line To the left of Dyer Mountain is Mount Evans, 6^ miles distant in 

 a straight line, and on its right is Mount Sherman, forming the eastern walls 

 of Evans and Iowa amphitheatres respectively. On a clear day the outlines 

 of rock formations on these walls may be very distinctly seen. 



Routes of approach. — The approach to Leadville, as may be seen from the 

 above brief sketch of its topographical situation, was extremely difficult be- 

 fore the development of its wealth had led to the building of railroads. 

 Three routes of travel were available. The middle one, or that most used 

 by travelers in coming from Denver, crossed the Colorado Range near the 

 South Platte Canon, at an elevation of 10,00U feet, and skirting the northern 

 rim of South Park, through the mining town of Fairplay, crossed the Mos- 

 quito Range at Mosquito pass opposite Leadville at an altitude of 13, GOO 

 feet, or, making a detour of ten or twelve miles to the southward, at Weston's 

 pass, whose summit is only 12,000 feet above the level of the sea. This gen- 

 eral route the Denver and South Park Railway follows, winding up the nar- 

 row and tortuous gorge of the South Platte and passing over Kenosha pass 

 at the head of its north fork into South Park; to cross the Mosquito Range, 

 however, it is obliged to make a longer detour to the southward and pass 

 down the valley of Trout Creek, a tributary of the Arkansas, which, heading 

 on the east side of the Mosquito Range, debouches into the Arkansas Valley 

 at Buena Vista, 40 miles south of Leadville. 



The southern route, before the time of railroads, generally crossed the 

 Colorado Range at the Ute pass above Colorado Springs, and, traversing 

 the lower end of South Park, passed into the Arkansas Valley either at 

 Trout Creek or at Weston's ])ass. The Denver and Rio Grande Railway, 

 however, has located its line — a triumph of engineering skill — directly 

 up the valley of the Arkansas, which it follows through canons and gorges 

 that before were practically impassable. 



