THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 45 
A quarry in the Greenhorn limestone is visible from the railway 
a short distance west of Syracuse, and low bluffs of the rock appear 
at intervals to and beyond Medway siding. The table-land above the 
slope on the north side of the valley is capped by the great sheet of 
Tertiary deposits already mentioned. The low white cliffs appearing 
at many points near the top of this slope consist of the characteristic 
grit of these deposits. On the south side of the valley is the broad 
zone of sand hills which continues to and beyond Coolidge. 
Kast of Coolidge (see sheet 8, p. 48) and for a short distance west 
of it there are scattered ledges of Greenhorn limestone along the foot 
of the slope on the north side of the valley, but most 
Coolidge, Kans. of the slopes are gentle and grass-covered, as the 
ee RY bueaiae rocks are too soft to form prominent bluffs. 
Kansas City 481 miles, Coolidge was named for T. J. Coolidge, a former 
president of the Santa Fe Railway Co. It is near the 
eastern limit of the Arkansas Valley artesian area, in which flowing 
wells are obtained along the bottom lands nearly as far west as 
the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The artesian condition ends on 
the east because finally, through leakage of water to the surface, the 
head becomes too low to afford a flow. 
The State line between Kansas and Colorado is crossed six-tenths 
of a mile beyond milepost 470. 
Colorado has an area of 103,948 square miles and contains varied 
physical features and many natural resources. Its eastern part lies 
‘ on the higher portion of the Great Plains, and its 
Colorado. western part includes a broad area in the higher 
portion of the Rocky Mountains. Numerous rivers 
afford water for irrigation, by which large crops are produced in many 
districts; the mountains have productive mines of gold, silver, and 
other metals; thick beds of coal occur in several regions; and wide 
areas are utilized for stock raising. More than 200 of the mountain 
peaks in central Colorado are higher than 13,000 feet above the sea, 
and 40 are over 14,000 feet. The highest are Elbert and Massive 
mountains, in Lake County, each of which rises 14,402 feet. 
When the early Spanish explorers passed through Colorado they 
found no people, but ruins of many habitations. Lieut. Pike dis- 
covered the Rocky Mountains in 1806 and Col. Long visited them in 
1820. Frémont crossed this range in the northern part of the State 
in 1843. Part of the area was included in the Louisiana Purchase, 
part was included in the Republic of Texas, and the remainder was 
_ eeded by Mexico in 1848. Settlement began in 1858, when the dis- 
_. covery of gold at Platte River, near the site of Denver, drew a large 
tide of immigrants. The Territory of Colorado, which was organized — 
97579°—Bull. 613—15—_4 ' 
