526 ALLEN DAVID HOLE 
the east, lying southwest of Mendota Peak, has much talus, a 
larger proportion of its area supporting vegetation, and lacks the 
high steep walls at its head which are characteristic of a typical 
cirque. 
From timber line, about 11,000 feet in elevation, down to 10,200 
feet, a considerable growth of trees, with the accompanying products 
of vegetable decay covering the ground, obscures the underlying 
rock in many places; a number of outcrops were found, however, 
yet no striae were seen. 
On the east side of the valley, beginning at an elevation of about 
10,200 feet and extending in a southerly direction for about one- 
fourth of a mile, is a distinct ridge composed, so far as could be 
observed, of clay, pebbles, and rounded bowlders, some of which 
are striated. This ridge begins just below a well-rounded ledge of 
the Telluride formation, and extends to the stream which joins 
Cornet Creek from the east on the 9,800-foot contour line. 
The moraine lying across the lower part of the valley and 
forming part of the lateral moraine on the north side of the San 
Miguel valley has already been referred to. North of this moraine 
for nearly a mile the bottom of the valley has in most places 
a covering of glacial drift, part of which is stratified and part 
unstratified. On the west side of Cornet Creek opposite the 
moraine at 9,800 feet elevation, bowlders and other glacial débris 
lie as much as too feet higher than the top of the moraine on the 
eastside. This fact probably has its explanation in the crowding-up 
of the glacier on the west side of Cornet Creek due to the ice coming 
from the valley of Bear Creek, a tributary which enters the San 
Miguel valley from the south at a point nearly a mile. farther 
upstream than the valley of Cornet Creek. 
The general shape of the differeat parts of the valley is typical 
of that usually found in the small, high, glaciated valleys of this 
region; that is, an upper portion comparatively broad and flat- 
bottomed, bounded by talus slopes and precipitous cliffs, and a 
lower part, narrower, with steep sides, gradually changing in 
shape of cross-section from U-shaped to V-shaped, as the tributary 
approaches the main stream. The maximum thickness of ice in 
the valley probably did not exceed 500 feet. 
