DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 173 
rising athwart the pathway of the stream; but even this hard rock 
has not prov ed to be an insuperable barrier to the stream, which has 
trenched it in Black Canyon seemingly as easily as if it had been soft 
shale. 
The Lake City branch follows the main line for a mile and then 
turns to the southeast (left) up Lake Fork. It was nearly to this 
point that Capt. Gunnison followed the river in 1853, but finding 
that the canyon below was apparently impassable, he turned to the 
south, then struck westward across the mesas to the Uncompahgre 
Valley, at the site of Montrose. The automobile roads also avoid the 
canyon. The main road divides at ‘Sapinero, one branch following 
the route of Capt. Gunnison and rejoining the railroad at Cimarron 
(sim-ah-rrohn’), and the other climbing west of Sapinero to a 
bench on the slope about 500 feet above the station and then follow- 
ing this bench on the brink of the canyon for an air-line distance of 
over 6 miles. Next it climbs to the top of the Black Mesa and avoids 
the lower canyon by a long detour to the north. This road affords 
one of the most striking and picturesque drives in the State. At the 
point where it leaves the canyon it is fully 1,000 feet above the roar- 
ing stream, and, as shown in Plate LX XI, A, B, the walls appear to 
be vertical. Gunnison River is still actively engaged in cutting its 
canyon deeper, as shown by the rapid current (see Pl. LX XI, @) and 
the roughness of the water as it rushes down the rocky bed. 
Black Canyon is noted for its awe-inspiring beauty. Of the can- 
yons which the traveler sees on the lines of the Denver & Rio Grande 
_ Western Railroad, the Royal Gorge easily holds first place, but the 
Black Canyon as a scenic feature is a close second. The form of 
this canyon, like that of the Royal Gorge, depends on the character 
of the granite or gneiss. Where the rock is massive the walls are 
unbroken and nearly vertical, but where the rock is banded and 
composed of layers of different hardness, as it is in most places, the 
walls may recede gradually and be very jagged and irregular. 
Some irregular walls are shown in Plate LX-XITI. 
_At the mouth of Lake Fork the canyon walls are about 200 feet 
high, but their height increases downstream, until at the siding of 
urecanti they are 1,000 feet high. Every curve and angle in this 
distance presents a different aspect, and it is difficult to say which 
view is the finest. One of the most striking scenes is that of a 
pinnacle left standing at the mouth of Blue Creek, a small stream 
that joins the river from the south. This pinnacle has been named 
Curecanti Needle. It is nearly 1,000 feet high and is a striking 
object as seen from the railroad siding. (See Pl]. LX XIII.) 
The appearance of Black Canyon, like that of most features of 
the kind, depends largely upon the light and the condition of the 
