182 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
At milepost 379 the railroad crosses the river, and from this place 
to Grand Junction the best views of the canyon may be obtained on 
the left. In the upper end of the canyon the walls are composed of 
variegated shale and sandstone of the Gunnison formation, as 
shown in Plate LX XVI, 2. 
At first the only part of the Gunnison formation that is seen is the 
upper shale, which gives to the canyon walls bands of rather strong 
color, but after watching these colors 
for several miles one would welcome 
any change from the ever-present 
maroon and green. Although the 
canyon is fairly narrow and there is 
not much land in it that can be irri- 
gated, several attempts at irrigation 
on a small scale have been made. 
The method used employs no dams or 
ditches but only a current wheel, 
which is placed in the stream in such 
a position that the current turns it, 
and as it is provided with buckets, 
a small quantity of water is at each 
revolution lifted from the river to 
the top of the wheel, where it is automatically dumped into a trough 
that carries it to ag land to be irrigated. Although this is a primi- 
tive arrangement it is excellently adapted to the irrigation of small 
tracts of land. A number of these wheels may be seen in the canyon. 
In general the canyon grows deeper downstream, and at Escalante 
siding, milepost 385 (see sheet 7, p. 198), the second member of the 
Gunnison formation—a hard pe dane wt cet near the railroad 
. eF : 
Gunnison formation 
FIGURE ee tices ee ag canyon 
l near Bridgepo 
"The Gunnison formation here is 
composed of three parts, as shown in 
figure 47. The upper part, which prob- | fore stan 
is composed largely of sandstone that 
there- 
ably corresponds to the Morrison for- 
mation of the east side of the range, is 
visible where the walls are low. It is 
bo 
stone. The colors are mostly maroon 
and green, and in many places the 
bands of color are very distinct. This 
part is comparatively soft and conse- 
quently forms slopes that lead down 
from the more resistant sandstone 
cliffs above. The middle part of the 
formation is about 100 feet thick and 
canyon wall with steep or precipitous 
faces. Although not brightly colored, 
it has many of the same tints as the 
The lowest part of 
shale, which in the upper part is of 4 
dull slate color but near the bottom 
has many bands of strong maroon. 
It is generally soft and forms slopes, 
but the slopes are steeper than those 
formed on the uppermost part of the 
formation, 
* 
