THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 51 
of the railway shows the characteristic alternation of shale and lime- 
stone beds in the Greenhorn limestone. 
La Junta (hoon’ta), the seat of Otero County, is a railway division 
pomt where all trains stop for change of engine and meals are 
served. Here also the line for Colorado Springs and 
La Junta, Denver branches off, continuing westward up the 
—— ‘m6 bis valley of Arkansas River to Pueblo. La Junta isa 
cunsas City $70 miles, Very Old town for this part of the country. Seventy 
ears ago it was an important trading center on the 
Santa Fe Trail which crossed the river a short distance below and 
from La Junta continued southwest near the line of the present rail- 
way to Trinidad. A stone monument a block south of the station 
marks its location in La Junta. The principal industrial interests 
here are the large railway shops, but the city also has the trade of 
an extensive adjacent ranch country. The name is a Spanish term, 
meaning junction, and refers to the convergence of the old trails at 
this place. Much of the water supply of La Junta is obtained from 
artesian wells sunk through the limestone and shales to the porous 
Dakota sandstone, in which the water is under enough head to afford 
a flow. 
The long westward journey across the plains terminates a short 
distance west of La Junta, and beyond may be seen the eastern 
edge of the Rocky Mountain ranges, rising above the western edge 
of the plains and extending from north to south, presenting a mag- 
nificent panorama. The sight of these mountains cheered the hearts 
of the overland wagon-train immigrants after their dreary marches 
across the plains, and it still cheers the sons of the West as they 
return to their mountain homes and also welcomes the stranger to 
the Cordilleran country. These ranges extend 270 miles southward, 
to Glorieta Pass, and in order to get around them the railway now 
begins to turn in the same direction and will soon enter a region that 
presents interesting phenomena along their foothill margin. 
A short distance west of La Junta the route leaves the valley of 
Arkansas River. It crosses the plains toward the foothills of the 
Rockies, following a course nearly due southwest to Trinidad. It is 
close to the old Santa Fe Trail all the way. There is a continuous 
upgrade, at first on long, gentle slopes of the Timpas limestone,’ a 
rock which appears in numerous cuts and small outcrops along the 
track to and beyond Timpas siding. 
The Timpas limestone, which was so upward through 100 feet or more of limy 
named from its occurrence on Timpas | shales and thin-bedded limestone to the 
Creek, is widespread in the central Great | Apishapa shale, the upper formation of 
Plains region and constitutes the lower | the Niobrara group. The gray shales o 
formation of the Niobrara group. The | the Apishapa constitute the hills west of 
principal body of limestone is from 50 to | Timpas siding and * woate also crossed 
60 feet thick in most places and grades | by the railway farther sou . 
