DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE, 123 
of volcanic material that was long ago washed down to this position 
from a lava flow. This material, which is soft and easily washed by 
the rains, has slumped down the hillsides until it has given the surface 
a general hummocky appearance. 
The valley at Avon is nearly a mile wide, and in summer it pre- 
sents a beautiful appearance, with field after field of grain rippling 
in the wind and here and there a well-kept farmhouse peeping from 
a grove of cottonwood trees. The farms extend about a mile below 
the village to a point where the bluff on the east side swings in 
against the river, cutting off the farming land and rendering the 
valley rough and broken. The railroad, which has been forced to 
follow the river along the west (left) side of the valley, swings to 
the right in a broad curve at Edwards siding, just beyond milepost 
312, and continues on that side for some distance. As the railroad 
is high above the river and skirts the bluffs along the east side, the 
traveler has an unobstructed view of the full sweep of the valley. 
(See Pl. LVI, A.) A large valley comes in from the southwest 
(left), and soon the high peaks of the Holy Cross Range burst into 
view. The view near milepost 313 is one of the most attractive on 
the road, especially in early summer, when the summits are still cov- 
ered with the snow of the previous winter, or in early autumn, when 
they are white with the first snow of the season, One can look 
across the grassy bottom of Eagle River, dotted with herds of cattle, 
to the ranches on the opposite side, where field after field of grain 
or hay stretches up the side valley as far as the eye can see and 
even climbs the opposite slape to the highest terrace, Here and 
there ranch houses are embowered in groves of trees, and the white 
schoolhouse, with its bright-red roof, gives a touch of color to the 
pastoral scene. The green fields, especially when the afternoon 
shadows begin to lengthen, look like velvet, and one would have to 
travel far to find a landscape more beautiful. ‘ 
In the movements that have raised the mountains the soft rocks 
have been crumpled and folded or crushed and broken in a very 
complex manner. Just beyond Allenton siding, beyond milepost 
314, the beds of rock are magnificently exposed on the east (right), 
for here an old bend in the river threw it against the foot of the 
bluff, where it washed away all loose material. Here the beds of 
rock stand nearly vertical, but within a short distance they ane ; 
tendency to flatten and pass with slight dips under the river, w mi 
here swings sharply to the right. The traveler can see that re 
rocks here are prevailingly soft and that only here and there = 
beds of sandstone stand out like giant ribs on the face of the cliff. 
The colors of the rocks are variegated, but there is enough red and 
deep brown in them to give the hills a warm tint. 
