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DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 185 
Grand Junction is the center of a great fruit-growing country 
that extends up Colorado River nearly to De Beque, up the Gunnison 
a short distance, and down Colorado River to Fruita and Loma. 
Apples, pears, and peaches are the principal fruits raised. Views 
of the orchards and the method of irrigating them are shown in 
Plate LAXVIT, A,B. Besides fruits the valley produces vegetables, 
principally sugar beets and potatoes. Sugar beets find a ready 
market at the sugar factory at this place, and many beets are shipped 
here from other parts of the two valleys. 
The town has broad, well-paved streets, good business houses, and 
a very attractive residence section, whose streets are well shaded by 
trees that afford relief from the rays of the sun. These trees, to- 
gether with the orchards, make this part of the valley look like an 
oasis in a desert. A description of the scenery along the main line 
east of this place ends on page 158. 
MAIN LINE OF RAILROAD FROM GRAND JUNCTION 
TO SALT LAKE CITY. 
A short distance west of the station at Grand Junction the 
traveler’s view of the valley is fairly unobstructed, and he obtains 
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Colorado River 
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Figure 48.—Sketch section across the valley at Fruita, Colo. 
®*n attractive setting for the picture of the town, The existence of 
this valley is due to geologic causes which can be easily understood 
by a traveler who desires to know something of the character of the 
rocks and of their attitude, or, as the geologist would say, the geologic 
structure. The lowest and therefore the oldest rocks lie in the great 
Uncompahgre Plateau or arch, which lies south of Grand Junction; 
the youngest rocks lie in the basin to the north and are generally 
known as the Green River formation. The dip of the rocks as they 
would appear in the sides of a great ditch, if one were cut from the 
top of the Uncompahgre Plateau to the middle of the Uinta Basin 
to the north, is shown in figures 37 (p. 148) and 48. ; ‘ 
The Mancos shale is much softer than the rocks either above it 
(to the north) or below it (to the south), and it therefore tends to 
Weather away much faster and form a valley. As the formation 
