DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 



33 



Park, 2 miles to the west, near the foot of the mountains. This 



park is also noted for the fantastic forms assumed 



Edgerton. 1^^ ^j^^ rocks as they are cut away by the elements. 



Elevation 6,4iT feet. ^ fg^^ of ^]^g columns in which Iron oxide has 



Denver 66 miles. i , • i i- • . i - 



cemented certam layers, tormmg a cap that pro- 

 tects the layers below from rapid decay, are shown in Plate XVII, 

 A and B. 



In its course down Monument Valley the railroad is built on the 

 Dawson arkose, but the lower part of that formation is composed of 

 sandstone that decays easily, and the rocks do not form buttes or 



mesas. Near Pikeview the arkose is cut through, 

 Pikeview. ^^^ ^j^^ Laramie, or underlying formation, is ex- 



Eievation 6,199 feet. pQggj j^g outcrop is not conspicuous in the valley, 



but it forms a line of white sandstone cliffs that may 

 be seen for a long distance to the east (left). This formation is the 

 same as that which carries coal northwest of Denver, and were 

 overlying formations removed it would be possible to walk on 



Figure 9. — Section at Pikeview. showing the fault that separates the rocks of the plains 

 from those of the mountains. 



this sandstone continuously from Pikeview to Denver. It also 

 carries coal beds in the Monument Creek valley, and the principal 

 business at Pikeview is mining coal. The coal is mined by a shaft 

 about 250 feet deep, but a short distance to the south it comes to the 

 surface. It is of low rank and slacks or falls to pieces quickly when 

 exposed to the atmosphere. As it comes from the mine it carries a 

 large percentage of water, which makes its heating power low, but 

 despite its inferior rank it competes as a domestic fuel with coals 

 which are of a higher rank but which have to be shipped a much 

 greater distance. Pikeview was so named on account of the magnifi- 

 cent view that may be had here of Pikes Peak, about 10 miles distant 

 (PI. XVIII). On a clear day the smoke of ascending trains can.^be 

 clearly distinguished, and even part of the " Cogwheel Road " to the 

 summit can be seen. 



The position of the coal-bearing rocks beneath the surface, as well 

 as the relation of the rocks of the plains to those of the mountain on 

 the west, is illustrated in figure 9. Avhich shows that in the uplift of 

 the mountains the rocks have broken and those of the mountains have 

 moved up with relation to those of the plains. 



