DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 79 



A short distance above the Hanging Bridge, as/ shown in Plate 

 XXXIX, the walls diminish in height and the canyon opens and 

 bears little resemblance to the narrow gorge just below. About 

 three-quarters of a mile above milepost 166 the slopes are so gentle 

 that they can be scaled, and a trail leading to the top turns up the 

 slope on the north (right). In this part of the canyon the walls 

 are not composed of massive granite or even gneiss, as at most 

 places below, but the rock is a schist, composed largely of flakes of 

 mica that may be recognized by the manner in which they glisten in 

 the sunshine. This mica schist is very soft, compared with the 

 granite and gneiss, and therefore weathers more rapidh% so that the 

 canyon is wider and has smoother and gentler slopes. 



Just bej^ond milepost 168 are the headgate and settling tanks of 

 the Canon City waterworks. In this vicinity the gray granite is 

 cut by a great many dikes of pink feldspar (pegmatite). The crys- 

 tals of feldspar are large, and their brilliant faces attract attention, 

 especially when the sun is shining on them. In some places these 

 dikes are so numerous and so large that they make up the bulk of 

 the rock and give it a strong red color. The pink feldspar is very 

 abundant in the rock from the siding called Sample to the edge of 

 Webster Park, near Parkdale. 



Toward the west the hills grow smaller and the canyon less pro- 

 nounced, until finally, in making a sharp turn to the right just be- 

 fore reaching milepost 170, the traveler catches on the left a glimpse 

 of an open valley of considerable extent, which comes as a pleasing 

 contrast to the frowning walls of the deep canyon. This open valley 

 is Webster Park, one of the beautiful natural parks which diversify 

 the mountain scenery of Colorado. The surface of AVebster Park 

 is underlain by soft sedimentary rocks that have been downfolded 

 or dropped by some fault, thus being preserved from complete 

 destruction by erosion. 



The first sedimentary rocks that can be seen from the train are on 

 the right. They are the variegated shale and sandstone of the Mor- 

 rison formation, and above them lie the more somber sandstones of 

 the Dakota. These beds of rock lie nearly horizontal, but doubtless 

 their contact with the granite, if it could be seen, would show that 

 they rise gently toward the east at about the same rate as the surface 

 of the granite on which thej' were deposited. The traveler may be 

 surprised to find the Morrison formation in Webster Park in con- 

 tact with the granite, whereas at Canon City several hundred feet 

 of beds lie between the ISIorrison and the granite. The absence of 

 these underlying formations in Webster Park is probably due to the 

 fact that the upper surface of the granite was for a long time a 

 land surface and upon this land the sedimentary beds were deposited 



