ue See ee ee ce ne eee ee 
DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. ce 
that was poured out as a thin sheet over the surface of the country, 
after the Dawson arkose was deposited but before the coarse mate- 
rials of the Castle Rock conglomerate were spread over the plain. 
In following the valley of Plum Creek from Sedalia to Castle 
Rock the railroad swings far to the east of a direct line from Den- 
ver to Colorado Springs. After passing Castle Rock it turns back 
toward the mountains, its course being nearly due south to Palmer 
Lake, and the prolongation of this course would lead almost directly 
to Pikes Peak. This majestic mountain is too nearly straight ahead 
to be visible at many points, but here and there as the train swings . 
around some of the numerous curves it may be seen in the distance 
towering far above the surrounding summits. 
To those accustomed to the more humid regions of the East, with 
their dense cover of vegetation, the open spaces of the West, the red 
rocks, and the strong yellow light of the plains are here the most 
striking features. The wonderful color effects of this region are 
beautifully expressed by Helen Hunt Jackson, Colorado’s most gifted 
author: 
Colorado is a symphony in yellow and red. And as soon as I had said the 
words, the colors and shapes in which I knew them seemed instantly to be 
force; and more and more as I looked from the plains to the mountains and 
from the mountains to the plains, and stood in the great places crowded with 
gay and fantastic rocks, all the time bearing in mind this phrase, it grew to 
Seem true and complete and inevitable. 
Mesas composed of white arkosic sandstone are seen on both sides 
of the railroad, but one on the right, 2 or 3 miles beyond Castle Rock, 
is the most prominent. This mesa, which is known as Dawson Butte, 
furnished the geologic name of the formation—the Dawson arkose. 
Just beyond milepost 37 there appears, seemingly from behind this 
mesa but in reality far beyond it, a jagged mass of red granite, 
which towers 1,000 feet above the general level of the Front Range 
plateau. This rugged mountain, known as Devils Head, is utilized 
by the Forest Service as a lookout station for the detection of forest 
fires. (See Pl. XV, B, p. 31.) On its lonely summit is stationed, 
throughout the summer, an observer whose duty it is to scan con- 
tinually the surrounding mountain region for forest fires, and if he 
discovers one to notify at once, by telephone, the superintendent of 
the Pike National Forest, so that all the rangers can be called to- 
gether to fight the fire. A more extended description of what the 
overnment is attempting to do for the conservation of the forests 1s 
given below by Smith Riley, former district forester. 
“Colorado lies in the zone of slight | and the supply of water for this pur- 
precipitation and hence of irrigation, | pose comes from the mountains, where 
