2 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
The great sprawling ranges of the “ Rockies” west of Denver con- 
stitute one of the most formidable barriers to travel between the 
East and the West. These mountains extend from the Arctic Circle 
across Canada and the United States as far south as Santa Fe. In 
the latitude of Denver the mountainous belt is only about 80 miles 
wide, but the ranges are rugged and the principal peaks are high, 
some of them rising more than 14,000 feet above sea level. Moun- 
tains of this height that can be seen from the level of the sea are 
very imposing, but these mountains stand upon a broad platform 
that is itself 6,000 to 10,000 feet high, and they are consequently 
less impressive. for their height above their bases is scarcely more 
than a mile. 
The route of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad across 
the mountains of Colorado and the plateaus and deserts of Utah, 
shown in Plate I, is particularly noted for the variety of its scenery, 
as it traverses a region that presents an almost bewildering display 
of nature’s handiwork. In this display the canyons cut by the 
streams and now followed by the railroad are perhaps the most 
wonderful features, for they give a very vivid impression of the 
great activity of the processes going on around us all the time and 
of the vast amount of excavation that has been done by the streams. 
Mining is the principal industry in the mountains, and in his jour- 
ney westward from Denver the traveler has opportunity to see or to 
visit some of the best-known mining camps in this country. Many 
of these camps are of recent development, but some date back to the 
time when gold was first discovered in the West, and about them 
still cling the glamour and the romance of that time, when law was 
unknown and fortunes were made or lost in a single day. 
West of the Rocky Mountains, extending to the west face of the 
Wasatch Range, lies what is generally known as the Plateau Pro- 
vince, called by Powell the “Canyon Lands”—a region of high 
plateaus and deep canyons, which in this respect has no peer in the 
world. In this region there are few mountain peaks, and the pre- 
vailing type of upland is the plateau with nearly level top and 
steep or even vertical sides. The slopes in these dry lands are gen- 
erally angular; they have not the smooth, flowing curves of those 
in more humid regions. In the plateaus streams have carved 
deep canyons, the most remarkable of which, the Grand Canyon of 
the Colorado, reaches in its deepest part a depth of 6,000 feet. 
The entire surface of the country is so intricately seamed with can- 
yons that it can be crossed only at certain places and even there only 
with great difficulty. The precipitation in the region is very small, 
probably not more than 5 or 6 inches in a year on the lower lands, 
so that these lands are veritable deserts. They can be successfully 
cultivated by irrigation, however, and much money has been spent 
Beer Slee Te thee 
