DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 145 
of White River and a noted outfitting point for hunters of big game. 
This road continues northward from Meeker to Craig, the present 
terminus of the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad (“Moffat road Hb 
This part of Colorado has long been noted for the raising of horses 
and cattle, and for many years Rifle was the shipping point from 
which train after train of fine range cattle went to the eastern 
markets. The dry-land farmer has materially cut down the extent 
of the open range, so that the herds have been greatly reduced in 
number and size, and many of the cattle that are now raised reach 
the market by other routes, so that Rifle is no longer preeminently a 
cattle-shipping point. 
Opposite Rifle is a marked terrace about 400 feet high, which 
forms a sharp boundary to the irrigated part of the valley. Like all 
the terraces so far seen, this one is doubtless a remnant of the old 
floor of the valley—a floor formed by the river when it was flowing 
some 400 feet higher than it does to-day, or when the surface of the 
land was that much nearer sea level than it is now. Remnants of 
what appears to be this same high terrace may be seen almost con- 
tinuously below Rifle for a distance of 25 or 30 miles. 
Beyond Rifle the great, broad swell of Battlement Mesa is the 
most conspicuous feature on the south side of the valley, but the 
reason for its name does not become apparent to the traveler until 
he has reached a point farther down the valley. As seen near 
Rifle Battlement Mesa is a great rounded mass in which very few 
ledges of rock crop out at the surface. It also bears very few trees, 
but parts of it, as well as of Grand Mesa, farther south, are covered 
with a thick growth of timber, and these two mesas constitute the 
Battlement National Forest. As the principal industry in this re- 
gion is stock-raising one of the important features of the adminis- 
tration of this forest is the treatment of the “ range” and the adjust- 
ment of grazing permits. For the information of those who wish to 
learn more about the administration of the national forests and the 
Government’s method of dealing with grazing privileges, Smith 
Riley, district forester, has given a brief description in the foot- 
note.** 
“The barren pifion and brush cov- 
ered foothills seen from the train be- 
tween Rifle and Grand Junction give 
the traveler no idea of the fertile 
interior valleys and tablelands that 
comprise the Battlement National For- 
est—the largest grazing forest in the 
State of Colorado. 
The forest proper, which lies some- 
what remote from the railroad and 
bere ite tre aaa ied 
covers an area of 677,340 acres, com- 
prises two great table-lands known as 
Grand Mesa and Battlement Mesa. 
Fully 50 per cent of the area of the 
Battlement Forest is covered with tim- 
ber. Wild grasses and weeds, which 
grow in abundance in open parks and 
the less densely wooded parts 
of the forest, furnish excellent sum- 
mer pasture. ' 
