DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE, 81 
mountains farther west. One of the striking features of this gravel- 
covered terrace is the great number of big boulders that litter the 
ground around the station at Parkdale and for some distance to the 
east. These boulders are composed of all sorts of rock from the high 
mountains and range from mere gravel stones of the size of a marble 
up to boulders 10 or 12 feet in diameter. These large boulders have 
certainly been brought down the river valley, but by what agency? 
Could water have transported them? At first sight it would seem im- 
possible for water to move boulders of this size through a canyon 
and then spread them out in a great fan nearly a mile long, but 
there seems to be no other agent by which they could have been trans- 
ported. Some may suggest that possibly the glaciers of the Ice Age 
may have extended down as far as Parkdale and carried the boulders 
and dropped them where the ice melted. It is well known that gla- 
ciers do carry such boulders, but a glance at the rugged walls of the 
canyon above Parkdale (see Pl. XL, A) will soon convince the 
traveler that no glacier has ever moved down this canyon. Water, 
therefore, is apparently the only agent that could have transported 
these boulders. 
Just as the train emerges from the canyon into Webster Park 
it crosses the Rainbow automobile road, which was last seen at Canon 
City. It was manifestly impossible for this road to follow the river 
through the Royal Gorge, so it takes a more circuitous route to the 
north and then returns to the river in Webster Park. Here it 
crosses to the south side of the river and follows that side until the 
river emerges into the broad valley at the foot of the Sangre de 
Cristo Range** above Cotopaxi. The construction of this road 
through the canyon above Parkdale involved a large amount of rock 
work, and the State and county deserve to be congratulated on its 
completion. (See Pls. XXXVI, (; XL, B; and XLI, B.) 
Webster Park is an oasis of valley land in a wilderness of moun- 
tains. Near the river some of the soil is too gravelly for farming, 
but back from the river there are good farms. Stock 
Parkdale. raising is the principal occupation, and the cattle 
iphone: 5,800 feet. find good summer pasture upon the mountain slopes. 
Dencrecligs ai. At the station of Parkdale the traveler, on look- 
ing back, can see the low range of mountains, or 
rather the plateau, in which the Royal Gorge is cut. 
About Parkdale the dark shale of the Benton shows in a number 
of places below the gravel, and the next rock that is seen in passing 
westward is the granite at the mouth of the canyon. It is therefore 
certain that no hard rocks, such as the Dakota sandstone, are present 
* Spanish term meaning “blood of Christ,” pronounced sahn’gray day cris’to. 
