DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 33 
Park, 2 miles to the west, near the foot of the mountains. This 
park is also noted for the fantastic forms assumed 
by the rocks as they are cut away by the elements. 
Ree ’t A few of the columns in which iron oxide has 
enver 66 miles. 
cemented certain layers, forming a cap that pro- 
tects the layers below from rapid decay, are shown in Plate XVII, 
A and B, 
In its course down Monument Valley the railroad is built on the 
Dawson arkose, but the lower part of that formation is composed of 
sandstone that decays easily, and the rocks do not form buttes or 
mesas. Near Pikeview the arkose is cut through, 
and the Laramie, or underlying formation, is ex- 
posed. Its outcrop is not conspicuous in the valley, 
but it forms a line of white sandstone cliffs that may 
be seen for a long distance to the east (left). This formation is the 
same as that which carries coal northwest of Denver, and were 
overlying formations removed it would be possible to walk on 
iew Sta. 
MONUMENT VALLEY 
- <== 
Edgerton. 
Pikeview. 
Elevation 6,199 feet. 
nver 70 miles. 
1 ° 1 2 3 4 5 Miles 
rn n ab Na as 
FIGURE 9.—Section at Pikeview, showing the fault that separates the rocks of the plains 
from those of the mountains 
this sandstone continuously from Pikeview to Denver. It also 
carries coal beds in the Monument Creek valley, and the principal 
business at Pikeview is mining coal. The coal is mined by a shaft 
about 250 feet deep, but a short distance to the south it comes to the 
surface. It is of low rank and slacks or falls to pieces quickly when 
exposed to the atmosphere. As it comes from the mine it carries a 
large percentage of water, which makes its heating power low, but 
despite its inferior rank it competes as a domestic fuel with coals 
which are of a higher rank but which have to be shipped a much 
greater distance. Pikeview was so named on account of the magnifi- 
cent view that may be had here of Pikes Peak, about 10 miles distant 
(Pl. XVIII). On a clear day the smoke of ascending trains can be 
clearly distinguished, and even part of the “ Cogwheel Road” to the — 
summit can be seen. 
The position of the coal-bearing rocks beneath the surface, as well 
as the relation of the rocks of the plains to those of the mountain on 
the west, is illustrated in figure 9, which shows that in the uplift of 
the mountains the rocks have broken and those of the mountains have 
moved up with relation to those of the plains. 
