2 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



The great sprawling ranges of the " Rockies " west of Denver con- 

 stitute one of the most formidable barriers to travel between the 

 East and the West. These mountains extend from the Arctic Circle 

 across Canada and the United States as far south as Santa Fe. In 

 the latitude of Denver the mountainous belt is only about 80 miles 

 wide, but the ranges are rugged and the 'principal peaks are high, 

 some of them rising more than 14,000 feet above sea level. Moun- 

 tains of this height that can be seen from the level of the sea are 

 very imposing, but these mountains stand upon a broad platform 

 that is itself 6,000 to 10,000 feet high, and they are consequently 

 less impressive, for their height above their bases is scarcely more 

 than a mile. 



The route of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad across 

 the mountains of Colorado and the plateaus and deserts of Utah, 

 shown in Plate I, is particularly noted for the variety of its scenery, 

 as it traverses a region that presents an almost bewildering display 

 of nature's handiwork. In this display the canyons cut by the 

 streams and now followed by the railroad are perhaps the most 

 wonderful features, for they give a very vivid impression of the 

 great activity of the processes going on around us all the time and 

 of the vast amount of excavation that has been done by the streams. 

 Mining is the principal industry in the mountains, and in his jour- 

 ney westward from Denver the traveler has opportunity to see or to 

 visit some of the best-known mining camps in this country. Many 

 of these camps are of recent development, but some date back to the 

 time when gold was first discovered in the West, and about them 

 still cling the glamour and the romance of that time, when law was 

 unknown and fortunes were made or lost in a single d^y. 



West of the Rocky Mountains, extending to the west face of the 

 Wasatch Range, lies what is generally known as the Plateau Pro- 

 vince, called by Powell the " Canyon Lands " — a region of high 

 plateaus and deep canyons, which in this respect has no peer in the 

 world. In this region there are few mountain peaks, and the pre- 

 vailing type of upland is the plateau with nearly level top and 

 steep or even vertical sides. The slopes in these dry lands are gen- 

 erally angular; they have not the smooth, flowing curves of those 

 in more humid regions. In the plateaus streams have carved 

 deep canyons, the most remarkable of which, the Grand Canyon of 

 the Colorado, reaches in its deepest part a depth of 6,000 feet. 

 The entire surface of the country is so intricately seamed with can- 

 yons that it can be crossed only at certain places and even there only 

 with great difficulty. The precipitation in the region is very small, 

 probably not more than 5 or 6 inches in a year on the lower lands, 

 so that these lands are veritable deserts. They can be successfully 

 cultivated by irrigation, however, and much money has been spent 



