198 GEOLOGY OF THE DENYEK BASIN. 



courses on the western slope all disclose more or less distinctly the approxi- 

 mate line between the formations. ( hi a drain entering ( 'herrv Creek from 

 tlie east, at about the point where the railroad crosses, there are some very 

 instructive exposures of the Denver beds, beginning just east of the wagon- 

 road crossing and extending nearly half a mile upward in almost continuous 

 line. 



Mr. Eldridge noted the appearance of the Denver beds in the gulch 

 just south of Parker's at a point above the railroad crossing, and this 

 outcrop marks the upper limit of the known exposures of the Denver beds 

 on Cherry Creek. 



Area between Cherry Creek and the Platte River. FrOlU Cherry Creek almost to the 



Platte the line between the Denver and Monument Creek formations is, 

 in general, an undulating contact, nearly corresponding to a contour iu 

 some parts, Imt revealing some unconformities of deposition in others. 

 The outcrops along the course of Happy Canyon and Gulch reveal an 

 unconformity directly analogous to that on Murphy Creek. The Monu- 

 ment Creek beds here occur in sandstones and clays down almost to the 

 level of the railroad, and extend upward to a point just beyond the 

 southern limit of the map. But in section 18 the Denver beds reappear 

 and are exposed for nearly 1 mile along the course of the gulch. This 

 exposure occurs at an elevation normally occupied by the Denver strata 

 east of ('herrv Creek, and the unconformity is therefore caused by the 

 greater depth of the Monument Creek sea in this portion. In the streams 

 between Happy Canyon and the Platte the contact of Denver and 

 Monument Creek formations rises somewhat, but does not again reach the 

 elevation at which it is commonly found to the eastward of Cherry Creek. 



On Big and Little Dry creeks, tributaries of the Platte, the Denver 

 beds are shown in many places down to within a short distance of the river. 

 Some of the outcrops are continued along their hanks for considerable 

 distances, and exhibit the formation in very typical development. 



The High-Line ditch from Cherry Creek westward cuts into Denver 

 beds so frequently that it furnishes a very tine route for examining the rocks 

 as .lex-eloped in this region. These exposures show that the sandstones of 

 the Denver conn- very near to the surface over some areas, and it is not 



