X PREFACE. 



scenic and material resources of the region he is traversing, to com- 

 prehend correctly the basis of its development, and above all to 

 appreciate keenly the real value of the country he looks out upon, 

 not as so many square miles of territory represented on the map in a 

 railroad folder by meaningless spaces, but rather as land — real estate, 

 if you please — varying widely in present appearance because differ- 

 ing largely in its history, and characterized by even greater variation 

 in values because possessing diversified natural resources. One 

 region may be such as to afford a livelihood for only a pastoral 

 people; another may present opportunity for intensive agriculture; 

 still another may contain hidden stores of mineral wealth that may 

 attract large industrial development; and, taken together, these 

 varied resources afford the promise of long-continued prosperity for 

 this or that State. 



Items of interest in civic development or references to significant 

 epochs in the record of discovery and settlement may be interspersed 

 with explanations of mountain and valley or statements of geologic 

 history. In a broad way the story of the West is a unit, and every 

 chapter should be told in order to meet fully the needs of the tourist 

 who aims to understand all that he sees. To such a traveler-reader 

 this series of guidebooks is addressed. 



To this interpretation of our own country the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey brings the accumulated data of decades of pioneering 

 investigation, and the present contribution is only one type of return 

 to the public which has supported this scientific work under the 

 Federal Government — a by-product of research. 



In the preparation of the description of the country traversed by 

 the Denver & Eio Grande Western Koute the geographic and geologic 

 information already published as well as unpublished material in 

 the possession of the Geological Survey has been utilized, but to 

 supplement this material Mr. Campbell made a field examination of 

 the entire route in 1915-1916. Information has been furnished by 

 others, to whom credit is given in the text. Cooperation has been 

 rendered by the United States Forest Service and the United States 

 Keclamation Service, railroad officials and other citizens have 

 generally given their aid, and other members of the Survey have 

 freely cooperated in the work. For the purpose of furnishing the 

 traveler with a graphic presentation of each part of his route, the 

 accompanying maps, 10 sheets in all, have been prepared, with a 

 degree of accuracy probably never before attained in a guidebook 

 and their arrangement has been planned to meet the convenience of 

 the reader. The special topographic surveys necessary to complete 

 these maps of the route were made by W. O. Tufts. 



