190 GEOLOCxY OF THE DENVER BASIN. 



south of Bear Creek. — Denver beds ;ire well shown ill the little knoll on the 

 northern slope, near the east end of Mount Carbon. The strata exposed 

 an- conglomerate and grits in typical development, with plain cross-bedding 

 and having a slight dip to the eastward. Everything- is concealed on the 

 flat, drift-covered top of the hill, and the northern slope has few distinct 

 outcrops. The proximity of the vertical Arapahoe conglomerate to these 

 nearly flat Denver beds shows that the fold is very sharp and its axis proba- 

 bly lies below the Denver. 



South of Mount Carbon the line of the Arapahoe is clear, hut it is no 

 longer followed so closely by the Denver. This is shown l>v exposures 

 about one mile southeast of Mount Carbon. Here is a distinct ridge of the 

 Arapahoe conglomerate in vertical position, beyond which to the east is a 

 shallow lake whose hanks exhibit sandy and clayey strata of the Arapahoe 

 in horizontal position. A county road inns due cast from the north side 

 of this lake and for about 3 miles traverses a cultivated district, in which 

 there are a number of ponds formed for irrigation purposes, and no rock 

 outcrops were found. This road is 1 or 2 miles south of Bear Creek and 

 between them runs a low ridge hounding the valley proper, upon which 

 there an- several knolls. Denver strata form this ridge and may he seen 

 in small outcrops. Along the southern base of the ridge are fields and 

 several ponds. As far as can he determined at present this ridge represents 

 the south line of the Denver here, the ponds and cultivated areas being 

 most probably underlain l>v Arapahoe clays. A small quarry has been 

 opened in cross-grained and rather friable Denver sandstones on the ridg - e 

 a quarter of a mile north of the road and about 2\ miles east of Mount 

 Carbon. About here the ridge swings around to the southeast, uniting 

 with similar hanks of the Platte River. Denver beds are found in many 

 places along the line of the road above mentioned as it crosses this ridge 

 and descends to the Platte Valley. 



An outcrop of Denver beds appears ;:t the water level at the western 

 point of the great bend in the Platte north of Littleton. From here south 

 no exposures have been found on the west side of the Platte, though the 

 strata must curve in this direction to a point several miles south of Littleton. 

 The flat west of Littleton and the drift-covered banks above were searched 

 for outcrops in vain, though they may exist in undiscovered places. 



