DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 1e7 
verify this statement for himself by finding well-preserved fossil sea 
shells in the railroad cut just east of the station at Wolcott. 
The station at Wolcott is built on the Dakota sandstone, which in 
a short distance to the west rises above track level, so that the under- 
lying variegated shale and sandstone (Gunnison formation) and the 
rocks still lower in the geologic column come into view as the tray- 
eler pursues his way down the river bank. As the train rounds the 
first sharp curve below the station the variegated beds of the Gunni- 
son formation may be seen on the north (right), where they have 
been exposed by the cutting for the railroad track. , About a mile 
below the village the Dakota lies about 300 feet above the level of the 
track and the light-red sandstone of the Triassic makes its appear- 
ance at that level, but it is so poorly shown that the traveler may not 
be able to identify it. A view down the river valley from this point, 
however, shows that the bright-red sandstone is very conspicuous in 
the cliffs—it is, in fact, the most 
prominent rock to be seen. The 
profile of the cliff on the north side 
of the canyon is represented in 
figure 33. In this part of the can- 
yon the red sandstone is so bril- 
liant that the outcrop looks like a Lh @aLa 
flame or a mass of red-hot iron pe Li eae 
on the hillside. At Kent siding, >) 
just beyond milepost 321, the val- SE ZE 
ley is somewhat wider than it is Frovre 38—Canyon cut by Eagle eed 
farther upstream, and the traveler perenee i Maiote SORE 
may obtain, on the north, an ex- 
cellent view of the canyon wall, which is about 175 feet high and is 
capped by Dakota sandstone and the brownish-red sandstone that 
marks the top of the Triassic system of rocks. 
Although the canyon is in general very narrow there are at some 
places along the river level lands and small farms. The stream, like 
all others in this region, is fringed with cottonwood trees and wil- 
lows, but among these are interspersed dark spruce trees, which give 
a pleasing contrast. In summer there is a decided difference between 
the dark-bluish tint of the spruce trees and the soft green of the 
cottonwoods and the willows, but the color effects are at their best 
in early autumn, when the leaves of the cottonwoods and the willows 
are a brilliant yellow. 
Owing to the westward rise of the rocks the canyon walls grow 
higher and higher, but near Ortega siding (mileposts 323-324) the 
Triassic red sandstone rises above track level and the canyon ends, 
because as soon as the hard beds rise above drainage level they are 
undermined by the cutting away of the soft shale of the lower (Ma- 
