DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 197 
of radium are obtained, and one of the most productive districts lies 
in Paradox Valley, Colo., 15 or 20 miles east of the La Sal 
Mountains. 
The low hills of McElmo rocks seem endless, but finally they are 
passed, and at milepost 501 the railroad cuts through the Dakota 
sandstone, which dips about 30° W. Next it enters the Mancos shale, 
which the traveler last saw at Mack, before he entered Ruby Canyon, 
and the features of the surface now become more subdued and softer, 
and he has a better opportunity to see what surrounds him. To the 
north he will see the familiar Book Cliffs, but they are so far away 
that their character is scarcely apparent. However, they swing to 
the south around the great anticlinal point through which Ruby 
Canyon is cut, and in 15 or 20 miles they will be so near the track 
that they can be clearly seen. 
At the place where the railroad crosses the Dakota sandstone, at 
milepost 501, it is within a mile of the great bend which Colorado 
River makes to the northwest, but despite its nearness the river lies so 
deep in its canyon that it is not visible from the train. Three miles 
beyond this point is the village of Cisco, which is 
ae. one of the largest shearing and shipping points in 
eaten ne feet. this great sheep-herding country. One unfamiliar 
Denver 504 miles. | With this region might think that there was little 
or no pasturage here for even a sheep, but when 
rain falls the country is green with grass, and even in times of 
drought there are forage plants that might not be noticed by the 
unaccustomed eye. : 
After the train passes Cisco the La Sal Mountains are in plain 
Sight, and the traveler may see the great red wall on the east and also 
ti nirnmerrepinseeneemeiininnioni 
tains the remains of immense reptiles ; felt compelled to introduce the term 
(dinosaurs). McElmo for rocks of nearly the same 
West of the mountains a similar as- 
Semblage of fresh-water sandstones 
and shales lies immediately beneath 
the Dakota. Undoubtedly this forma- | should perhaps be included in the G 
tion is in part equivalent to the Mor- | nison. Recent 
Tison, but as it is supposed to contain | names McElmo and La Plata north- 
lower beds than the Morrison it can | west to Greenriver, Utah, 
80 it was called the Gunnison forma- 
tion 
Later, in working out the succession 
of formations in the San Juan Moun- | sheet 6 for rocks of about the same age. 
. The reader should therefore remember 
rado, 
that beds nearly equivalent to | that the Morrison, Gunnison, and Me- 
the Gunnison were greatly expanded, | Elmo include rocks that may be equiva- 
especially in the lower part, and he | lent in age. 
80697°—22-_14 : 
