196 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
After journeying through the canyon for about 20 miles the tray- 
eler will probably be glad to leave it and to gain the upland, where 
he may see something more than rugged rock walls and muddy river. 
If the vegetation on the upland is not parched and dried by the sum- 
mer’s heat, the sego lily, Utah’s floral emblem (Pl. LX X XT), may 
be seen here and there lifting its delicate head, though it stands so 
close to the ground that it is difficult to identify from the moving 
train. The wide expanse of upland also enables one to see the larger 
features of the surrounding landscape. One of the first objects to 
catch the eye on the left is a distant group of mountain peaks—the 
La Sal Mountains—whose highest point reaches an altitude of about 
13,000 feet. One unaccustomed to judging distances in the clear air 
of an arid country can not say whether these mountains when first 
seen are 10 or 50 miles away, but careful measurement has shown that 
the nearest peak is about 30 miles distant. This mountain group 
was formed by the uplifting of the rocks in a great domelike mass, 
and if the light is just right the traveler may see the great cliff-like 
wall of red sandstone, with which he is now becoming familiar, on 
the east side of the mountains, where it has been uptilted by the 
movement. This group of mountains will be in sight for some time, 
and a little farther west it can be seen to better advantage. 
The railroad winds about in the low hills of the McElmo forma- 
tion, which in places are somewhat picturesque on account of the 
great variety of their colors, but in general the outlook is not par- 
ticularly pleasing. The scene, however, may be of great interest to 
one not familiar with it, for it gives him a good idea of the utter 
barrenness of a region where the rainfall is as scanty as it is in Grand 
County, Utah. In places the rocks are very dark, and the traveler 
may think that they have been baked to this dark color by volcanic 
fires and that many of the rock fragments are pieces of lava. The 
geologist, however, knows that the rocks of this region are not yol- 
canic. In fact, all the rocks composing the McElmo and Gunnison 
formations were laid down as sediments in lakes or ponds or 
the beds of streams, and the dark rocks are only those that contain 
considerable iron, or those that have been coated by so-called “ desert 
varnish,” a dark substance, probably in large part manganese, which 
tends to cover all exposed rocks in the desert region and to give 
them a black color. It is from the McElmo and La Plata formations 
or their equivalent, the Gunnison formation,” that most of the ores 
ee ay 
“In the region between Denver and ; relations. Thus along the Front 
Salt Lake City the formation immedi- | Range the Morrison is a well-marked 
ately beneath the Dakota sandstone | formation of variegated shale and 
ex ly confusing to anyone who is | Jurassic or lowermost Cretaceous. It 
unfamiliar with the rocks and their | is a fresh-water formation and ca 
