52 SURVEY OF COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO. 



riglit angles to tlie strike of the range or eastward, and present an east 

 front with nearly horizontal strata. , , -i 



All the ridges along the flanks of Wet Mountain have a general strike 

 of northwest and southeast, and run out in the plain. Wet Mountain 

 also flexes around slightly so as to end nearly or quite m a south trend, 

 while the ridges appear again on the southwest and west side, running 

 up into Huerfano Park. Here we see on the west side of the Wet Mount- 

 ain range, the red beds and cretaceous formations, corresponding to 

 those on the east side. The park is largely occupied with the calcareous 



shales of No. 3. ,..,., t> ^i • 



Just before reaching Badito, in the Sangre de Christo Pass, there is a 

 lono- ridge, extending down westward from the Wet Mountains, which i? 

 composed mostly of the red and white sandstones of the triassic, inclin- 

 ing twenty-five to thirty degrees. At Badito we find mostly a reddish 

 gray quartzose sandstone like Ko. 1, and it forms the foot-hills of the 

 mountains. As usual the dip of the bed is in various directions and at- 

 different angles. The Huerfano Creek is a fine stream with a moderately, 

 wide valley which is all cultivated by Mexicans. Huerfano Park is 

 about fifteen miles long and from three to five wide, and is already filled 

 with settlers. It is surrounded on all sides by mountains composed of 

 igneous and metamorphic rocks. Black Butte, the principal peak of Wet 

 Mountain range, appears perfectly round or mammiform and is basaltic. 

 Scattered over the area of the park are several outbursts of basalt. The 

 cretaceous beds dip south in some places ten to twenty-five degrees; in 

 others they are nearly horizontal. As we ascend the pass by the road 

 we can see three considerable ranges called the Veta Mountains— one 

 range on the north side and two on the south side— all igneous rocks. 

 They all have sharp sierra-like summits. , , 



These dikes have so heated the sedimentary rocks m their vicinity, 

 that we have here every variety and grade between unchanged and 

 changed rocks. The summits and sides of these mountains are covered 

 withli continuous mass of debris of broken rocks, and this mass has thei 

 appearance of being just ready to fall down, like an immense land-slide 

 On the sides of the mountains near the pass are belts of quartzose sand I 

 stone, some of it a pudding-stone— reaUy forming a portion of those seem 

 on the west side, for I do not think we come to the axis here until we 

 find the granitic belt, some eight or ten miles west of the immediate 

 summit of the pass. We therefore have the cretaceous rocks, limestonesj 

 and sandstones, and then the reddish sandstones at the summit, ancj 

 then farther west the full series of carboniferous limestones. From the! 

 tlivide between the Greenhorn and Cuchara creeks, looking southward 

 is one of the most extended and beautiful views on our route. The lou' 

 level benches extend down from the mountains, apparently breaking c 

 from point to point, and appearing high at the place broken. The;; 

 benches are planed off so as to look like long tables, and, with the valle. ' 

 between them, seem to me to show clearly the direction of the eroelir 

 force. All these benches are underlaid by the soft sandy marls of :N^e I 

 2 and 3. cretaceous. . i 



Huerfano Butte rises up in the midst of the plain m the valley ' 

 Huerfano Creek. The rocks are basaltic, some portions a true syeni I 

 It is evident that it is a portion of a dike which has extended noi .^ 

 east from the mountains. Much of the rock is massive igneous gran \l 

 Fragments of cretaceous clays, changed by heat, are scattered around 

 butte. It seems to me that this is a dike, thrust up before the m/vi 

 ■ incumbent beds were swept away, and that the igneous material n6 

 reached the surface in a melted state. The butte is about two hund | 



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