70 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



a part of the northern rim of the basin. The younger rocks near 

 the middle of the coal field terminate to the south in the high ridge 

 or escarpment of light-colored sandstone, which is a conspicuous 

 feature of this field. 



After passing the point of sandstone described above the railway 

 runs through a broad valley, which has been cut in the same shale 

 as that seen at Florence. This shale (Pierre) and the soft under- 

 lying formations extend to Canon City, and to them is due the 

 breadth of the valley at and below that town. Here in the valley, 

 where an ample supply of water can be had from Arkansas River and 

 its tributary streams and where the crops are protected from frost by 



the mountains on the 

 west, fruits — particularly 

 apples — are grown in abun- 

 dance. It is said that 50 



Figure 15.— Sandstone bed at base of coal-bearing- P^r CCUt of the State's apple 

 formation at crossing of Arkansas River near crOp is raised in the viciu- 

 mouth of Oil Creek. Sandstone dips southward. ., p r^ r^- , -ht 



ity 01 Canon City. JNear 

 milepost 157 apple orchards can be seen from the train, and they con- 

 tinue in almost unbroken masses to Canon City. 



Oil Creek, so named because oil once seeped from the ground along 

 its course in Garden Park north of the railroad, is crossed a short 

 distance west of milepost 157. 



About 8 miles up Oil Creek, in an open space at the foot of the 

 mountains known as Garden Park, the bones of some of the most 

 wonderful animals that the world has ever known have been found. 

 They were embedded in the Morrison formation, and a large quarry 

 was opened for the sole purpose of obtaining them. The skeletons or 

 the casts of the skeletons are exhibited in most of the museums of this 

 country. The most abundant remains are those of giant reptiles called 

 dinosaurs. Many of these animals were 20 feet long and resembled 

 no animal now living except possibly the diminutive so-called horned 

 toad of California. Plate XXXII, ^1, represents one of these lizards, ' 

 called Stegosaurus^ as he is supposed to have appeared when he was 

 alive and roamed through the swamps that then covered much of this 

 region. This particular species was a vegetable feeder, but he needed 

 protection from other dinosaurs that were carnivorous, so he was com- 

 pelled to grow a bony plate of armor. 



Dinosaurs inhabited the earth during Cretaceous time and con- 

 tinued to thrive on into Tertiary time, but they finally and suddenly 

 disappeared. The last survivor appears to have been Triceratops, 

 shown in Plate XXXII, B^ a skeleton of which was found years ago 

 in the vicinity of Denver. 



