DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 113 
old narrow-gage track swung to the east, making a broad loop up 
the East Fork of Eagle River, and then went northward to Pando, on 
the level floor of the old lake basin, now called Eagle Park. This 
grade is now utilized by the automobile road that in a general way 
parallels the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad from Leadville 
to Grand Junction. 
In the vicinity of Eagle Park the granite is overlain by sedimentary _ 
bedded rocks that were laid down countless ages ago as sand on the 
shore of a sea. Since that time they have been crushed in the move- 
ments in the crust of the earth that have raised up the mountains. 
They have been permeated by waters bearing silica in solution until 
all the pores of the sandstone have been filled with silica or quartz 
(quartz is a form of silica) and the rock has become a glassy white 
quartzite. This rock crops out nearly parallel with the railroad and 
dips from 10° to 20° E. It may be seen in the mountain side on the 
left nearly 400 feet above the railroad, and its nearly horizontal beds 
are on the opposite side of the valley about 150 feet above the creek. 
This mountain side is really the eastern slope of the great Sawatch 
uplift, or, as it is frequently called, the Holy Cross Mountains, 
which lie west of the railroad. The sbintaiti slope on the other side 
Canyon, and it is no uncommon sight | migrate in winter to areas that have 
to see large herds of these animals near | exposures to the south and west, where 
the railroad. 
Before the white man came to the 
mountains of the West game animals 
of every kind were abundant in them. 
Now, even in the national forests, 
which are their natural habitat, there 
hey can not 
however, ‘wild animals of many kinds 
could no doubt be pronase and 
made a source of revenue. The Fore 
is restocking such ar 
shipping game animals to nie fi 
shipping these animals care 
g 
vA 
State has cut off wild animals from the 
valleys, where there is only a light fall 
of snow during the winter, and has 
limited their range to the higher coun- 
rg of this 
country, however, must have winter 
feedi unds where the snow is com- 
D, Which duringsthe summer in- 
habit exposed regions near timber line, 
the sun and wind keep the grass free 
from sn 
Plate rei A, shows a number of elk, 
part of a herd of several hundred that 
were shipped to Colorado by the Forest 
Service and turned loose in the moun- 
tain region. Recent reports show that 
these animals are contented and a 
increasing rapidly. 
State law was passed pro- 
hibiting the killing of elk several herds 
f native elk still remained in the 
mountains. There are 2,000 or more in 
the White River National Forest north 
of Glenwood Springs, 50 on Williams 
River in the Leadville National For- 
est, 250 on the south fork of the Rio 
Grande in the Rio Grande National 
Forest, 200 in the Gunnison National 
F 
plentiful near tim 
tailed deer throughout the mountains. 
Having so large a stock of wild ani- 
mals to ca with, Colorado can again 
e of the foremost “big 
West, 
beco 
game” piesa of the 
