THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 53 
At Delhi the railway crosses the Santa Fe Trail, the old wheel 
tracks of which are plainly visible in the slope rising to the west. A 
Bohs few rods west of Delhi a deep canyon cuts through the 
: Dakota sandstone and exposes the beds of the shales 
coe te 60, mites, 224 sandstones of the underlying Purgatoire forma- 
tion (Lower Cretaceous). At West siding the Dakota 
sandstone again appears in the bottom of the valley west of the rail- 
way, and from a point a few miles south of West to and beyond 
Thatcher the rail- 
way runs along the 
top of this sandstone 
— and the lower edge 
=|% of the Graneros 
Figure 7.—Section across Timpas Creek valley at Thatcher, Colo phate. 2 eer few rods 
ing ee ae é ig Sr b, Carlile shale, with ale. ne , to the east. This 
at top; ¢, Greenhorn limestone; d, Graneros shale; e¢, Dakota sand- feature is due to a 
phe : g ebetepr em ion, sligh t upwar d arch 
ing of the beds that are cut into by the valley. The relations of the 
formations in this vicinity are shown in figure 7. 
A short distance east of Thatcher is a bench of Greenhorn limestone 
with scattered on tay and at the top of the mesa beyond is the 
mpas limestone with numerous junipers. The old 
SE. NW. 
Thatcher. Santa Fe Trail extends southwestward along the west 
Elevation 5,400 feet. slope of the valley in this vicinity, its course being 
* . . 
ee. marked by a granite monument a mile west of 
Kansas City 616 miles. i : 
Thatcher. A few miles farther southwest the railway 
again crosses the trail. 
Southwest of Thatcher the railway passes from the Dakota sand- 
stone across the Graneros shale, the bench of Greenhorn limestone, 
and the slope of Carlile shale, reaching the summit of the plateau of 
Timpas limestone a short distance beyond Simpson siding. (See 
sheet 10, p. 62.) The smooth surface of this plateau extends for 10 
miles or more southwestward along the railway, rising gradually. 
From its summit are visible far to the west the Spanish Peaks (Pl. 
VII, A), two symmetrical cones rising in front of the main range of 
the Rocky Mountains, which are conspicuous in the background. 
During much of the year the higher summits of all these peaks and 
mountains show considerable snow. 
The Spanish Peaks consist of large masses of igneous rocks which 
were intruded in molten condition into the sandstones and shales at 
the foot of the Rocky Mountains. (See fig. 8, p. 54.) The east peak 
is 12,708 feet high and the west peak 13,623 feet. They were 
called Wahatoya by the Indians and Los Dos Hermanos (the two 
brothers) by the Spanish. It is to be regretted that the distinctive 
