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DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 115 
A little below this point, at the signal tower of Deen, is the be- 
ginning of the double track that extends from that place through 
Eagle Canyon to Minturn. 
The railroad follows the outcrop of the bedded rocks, which main- 
tains, at least as far as Pando, about the same relative position as 
when first seen—that is, about 500 feet above the valley floor on the 
west and 100 to 150 feet on the east. Just after passing milepost 
288, half a mile above Pando, the traveler may see on the east (right) 
a low ridge of gravel, which extends across the valley and which is 
thought by some geologists to have constituted the terminal moraine 
of a very old glacier that once came down Home- 
Pando. stake Valley from the southwest, though the writer 
Pievation 9,209 feet. thinks that it was more probably the terminal 
enver 289 miles. : . 
moraine of a great glacier that came down to 
this point from Fremont Pass; but, as already stated, the region 
has not been examined with sufficient care to justify a definite state- 
ment on this subject. The trench that the stream has cut in the 
moraine has been filled by an artificial dam, and the pond above the 
dam is utilized for making ice. 
At Pando the railroad turns abruptly to the right and follows the 
river across the broad valley to its eastern wall. The reason for this 
abrupt change in the course of the railroad from one side of the 
‘valley to’ the other is that half a mile below Pando the valley, 
although broad, is almost completely blocked by a great mass of 
gravel and boulders, which was brought down by a glacier that once 
descended Homestake Creek, on the west, but pushed a tongue of 
ice into this valley. (See Pl. LIL.) The material brought in by 
this glacier obstructed the drainage of the valley so much that the 
river was forced against the east side, and the railroad has followed 
the pathway kept open by the stream. The course of Eagle River 
has been greatly affected by this glacier and by the morainic material 
which it deposited.*5 
* A critical observer will see clearly 
find its outlet down its present canyon 
below Pando, which is too narrow for 
a am of its volume, but that it 
once flowed westward across the low 
divide to Homestake Creek. (See Pl. 
S25) Th other words, Eagle River 
here once 
The interesting question then 
arises, What could have happened to 
Cause a stream like Eagle River, firmly 
/ intrenched in a deep valley, to change 
ts course and carve for itself a new 
valley? Manifestly a stream can not 
make such a change unless it is com- 
pelled to do so by some obstruction. 
What could have been the obstruction? 
As there is conclusive evidence that 
the valley of Ho k was 
once occupied by a great glacier it 
seems obvious that ice was the bar- 
rier which prevented Eagle River from 
pursuing its original course and fore 
it to seek a new outlet toward the 
north, The conditions as they were 
be 
