————— Ss lS se Sr 
* 
DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 101 
for a storage reservoir and have built a dam across the lower end 
of the valley and thus connected the two parts of the moraine, so 
that the swampy area has become a reservoir for the storage of water 
until it is needed in the valley far to the east for the irrigation of 
crops. 
Just above the mouth of Clear Creek the Colorado Midland Rail- 
way formerly crossed the Denver & Rio Grande line by an over- 
head bridge, and a short distance farther on it crossed the river and 
continued on the west side of the stream nearly to Malta. Just above 
the crossing the river and railroads enter a granite canyon, which is 
very narrow but of slight depth, and continue in the canyon to and 
beyond the village of Granite. (See sheet 4, p. 134.) 
This village has been the center of large gold- 
dredging operations,** but this industry is now a 
thing of the past, and the village is known prin- 
cipally as the stopping point for those who wish 
to visit Twin Lakes, a noted local resort, reached by stage from this 
station. Lakes are not numerous in the mountains of Colorado, so 
that even small ones such as Twin Lakes are highly prized. 
Above Granite the railroad continues in the canyon, but the walls 
are low and at many places the traveler may catch glimpses of the 
surrounding country. About 2 miles from Granite he may see on the 
west (left) and ahead the ridge of gravel which bounded the glacier 
that once occupied the valley of Lake Creek and which now sur- 
Granite, 
Elevation 8,943 feet. 
Population 79, 
Denver 257 miles. 
“In the days of 49 gold was ob- 
f 
use of the cradle, both slow and crude 
methods that do not appeal to the gold 
hunter of the present day. The cradle 
n 
by the process so choked the 
streams below the 
greatly interfered with the growing 
of crops that laws were passed prohib- 
iting its use. 
Now dredging has replaced all other 
methods of handling placer deposits, 
e@ most 
to only a few cents to the ton of ma- 
terial handled. 
80697°—22__-§ 
Dredging is practicable wherever the 
placer lies in the bottom of a valley or 
on a fairly level surface where water 
is available and where the placer is 
extensive enough to provide for several 
aboard the dredge, is washed for the 
gold, and then the refuse is dumped 
back into the hole from which it was 
is shown in Plate XLI, A (p. 81). 
