x PREFACE, 
scenic and material resources of the region he is traversing, to com- 
prehend correctly the basis of its development, and above all to 
appreciate keenly the real value of the country he looks out upon, 
not as so many square miles of territory represented on the map in a 
railroad folder by meaningless spaces, but rather as land—real estate, 
if you please—varying widely in present appearance because differ- 
ing largely in its history, and characterized by even greater variation 
in values because possessing diversified natural resources. One 
region may be such as to afford a livelihood for only a pastoral 
people; another may present opportunity for intensive agriculture; 
still another may contain hidden stores of mineral wealth that may 
attract large industrial development; and, taken together, these 
varied resources afford the promise of long-continued prosperity for 
this or that State. 
Items of interest in civic development or references to significant 
epochs in the record of discovery and settlement may be interspersed 
with explanations of mountain and valley or statements of geologic 
history. In a broad way the story of the West is a unit, and every 
chapter should be told in order to meet fully the needs of the tourist 
who aims to understand all that he sees. To such a traveler-reader 
this series of guidebooks is addressed. 
To this interpretation of our own country the United States Geo- 
logical Survey brings the accumulated data of decades of pioneering 
investigation, and the present contribution is only one type of return 
to the public which has supported this scientific work under the 
Federal Government—a by-product of research. 
In the preparation of the description of the country traversed by 
the Denver & Rio Grande Western Route the geographic and geologic 
information already published as well as unpublished material in 
the possession of the Geological Survey has been utilized, but to 
supplement this material Mr. Campbell made a field examination of 
the entire route in 1915-1916. Information has been furnished by 
others, to whom credit is given in the text. Cooperation has been 
rendered by the United States Forest Service and the United States 
Reclamation Service, railroad officials and other citizens have 
generally given their aid, and other members of the Survey have 
freely cooperated in the work. For the purpose of furnishing the 
traveler with a graphic presentation of each part of his route, the 
accompanying maps, 10 sheets in all, have been prepared, with a 
degree of accuracy probably never before attained in a guidebook 
and their arrangement has been planned to meet the convenience of 
the reader. The special topographic surveys necessary to complete 
these maps of the route were made by W. O. Tufts. 
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