32 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



work will be found on pages 54-60. The town of Palmer Lake is com- 

 posed largely of cottages for summer guests who come here for health 

 and recreation. The railroad station is 1,957 feet higher than Denver 

 and 1,248 feet higher than Colorado Springs. Glen Park, an assem- 

 bly ground modeled after the famous Chautauqua of Xew York, is 

 about a mile from the station. The mountain front west of the lake 

 rises abruptly, as shown in Plate XVI, B^ to a height of 1,800 feet 

 above the level of the lake. The summer cottages nestle in the ra- 

 vines at the base of the mountain and afford the inhabitants the ad- 

 vantages and attractions of both the plains and the mountains. 



The mountain front rises abruptly from the plain without foot- 

 hills of any kind. The reason for the absence of foothills is that 

 the rocks of the plains, when they were bent by the upthrust of the 

 mountains, could not stand the strain to which they were subjected, 

 and in many places they broke and the lower crystalline rocks of the 





Figure 8. — Sketch section through Palmer Lake, showing fault. The granite on the 

 west has moved up (see PI. LXXXVII, p. 216) with reference to the rocks of the 

 plains. 



mountains were forced up into direct contact with the broken edges 

 of the soft, flat-lying rocks of the plains, forming what is called a 

 fault. The positions of the rocks and their relations are shown in 

 figure 8. The effect of this fault has been much the same as that of 

 the small faults shown in Plate LXXXVII, A and B (p. 216). 



From Palmer Lake to Colorado Springs the railroad extends down 

 the valley of Monument Creek, so named from the pinnacles and 

 columns of white sandstone (Dawson arkose) that are left by the 

 irregular weathering of prominent outcrops. The 

 Monument. first conspicuous example is on the east (left) of 



Elevation 6,972 feet, the road. wherc a mass of the sandstone has 

 DenverTe^mHes. weathered into a form resembling an elephant. 

 (See PI. XVI, A.) On account of this resem- 

 blance it is generally known as " The Elephant." The valley im- 

 mediately south of Palmer Lake is narrow, but in a short distance 

 it swings to the east and at the village of Monument is, broad, irri- 

 gated, and well farmed. 



The next station on the railroad is Edgerton (see sheet 2. p. 84), 

 which is the point of departure for those who wish to visit Monument 



