20 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
The reservoirs of the Denver waterworks, in which all sediment is 
allowed to settle before the water is turned into the city mains, are 
at Willard. The reservoirs are tastefully arranged and beautified 
with flowers, so that they make a very pleasing appearance. After 
passing the settling reservoirs beds of red sandstone similar to those 
which make so striking an appearance in the Garden of the Gods, 
near Manitou, may be seen across the river, dipping away from the 
mountains at an angle of about 70°. Most of the beds of rock on the 
mountain front have similar dips, showing that at the time the 
mountains were uplifted the beds of sedimentary rock were bent up 
in a great fold, the upper part of which has been worn away, leav- 
ing only the suggestion of the upfold in the steeply inclined beds. 
Before the train reaches the mountains the great steel pipe that 
carries the Denver city water may be seen at several places on the 
right, where it spans the ravines on steel bridges. 
Just above Waterton the train enters the mountains by a canyon 
cut in the hard granite. Here the city water main passes over the 
railway and then plunges into a tunnel through a projecting spur. 
A large flume carrying water for irrigation may also be seen on the 
opposite side of the river, and it passes through the same spur that 
is pierced by the water main. 
The canyon which the train is now following is narrow and tor- 
tuous, and its walls are generally rough and precipitous. It extends 
to the town of South Platte, at the junction of the two forks of the 
river. The course of the city water main on the opposite side of the 
stream may be followed by the white telephone poles up to the head 
gate. The canyon above this place differs in width in different lo- 
calities. In some places it has a flood plain, but in others (as shown 
in Pl. X) it is so narrow that there is room only for the narrow- 
gage (3-foot) railroad beside the river, and this road has to curve as 
sharply as the stream. 
The one feature that differentiates this canyon from others in the _ 
mountain region is the great number of trees that dot the rocky 
slopes on both its sides, but more particularly on the southern. The 
soft verdure of the evergreen trees relieves the ruggedness and the 
barrenness of the rocky walls, giving the canyon a picturesqueness 
seldom seen in other canyons of this region. Pine and spruce are 
the most common trees, but here and there stand groups of aspen, 
with their ever-moving leaves, which in summer give a softness to 
the slopes and in autumn add a blaze of glory to the somber canyon 
walls. 
South Platte is at the junction of the South and North forks of 
the river. South Fork, which is much the larger stream, drains 
