DENVEE & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 81 



mountains farther west. One of the striking features of this gravel- 

 covered terrace is the great number of big boulders that litter the 

 ground around the station at Parkdale and for some distance to the 

 east. These boulders are composed of all sorts of rock from the high 

 mountains and range from mere gravel stones of the size of a marble 

 up to boulders 10 or 12 feet in diameter. These large boulders have 

 certainly been brought down the river valley, but by what agency? 

 Could water have transported them ? At first sight it would seem im- 

 possible for water to move boulders of this size through a canyon 

 and then spread them out in a great fan nearly a mile long, but 

 there seems to be no other agent by which they could have been trans- 

 ported. Some may suggest that possibly the glaciers of the Ice Age 

 may have extended down as far as Parkdale and carried the boulders 

 and dropped them where the ice melted. It is well known that gla- 

 ciers do carry such boulders, but a glance at the rugged walls of the 

 canyon above Parkdale (see PL XL, A) will soon convince the 

 traveler that no glacier has ever moved down this canyon. Water, 

 therefore, is apparently the only agent that could have transported 

 these boulders. 



Just as the train emerges from the canj^on into Webster Park 

 it crosses the Rainbow automobile road, which was last seen at Canon 

 City. It was manifestly impossible for this road to follow the river 

 through the Royal Gorge, so it takes a more circuitous route to the 

 north and then returns to the river in Webster Park. Here it 

 crosses to the south side of the river and follows that side until the 

 river emerges into the broad valley at the foot of the Sangre de 

 Cristo Range 2^ above Cotopaxi. The construction of this road 

 through the canyon above Parkdale involved a large amount of rock 

 work, and the State and county deserve to be congratulated on its 

 completion. (See Pis. XXXVI, C ,• XL, B; and XLI, B.) 



Webster Park is an oasis of valley land in a wilderness of moun- 

 tains. Near the river some of the soil is too gravelly for farming, 

 but back from the river there are good farms. Stock 

 Parkdale. raising is the principal occupation, and the cattle 



Elevation 5.800 feet, fl^ J good summer pasture upon the mountain slopes. 



Population 87.* 4 ,V • c t-> 1 i 1 i 



Denver 171 miles. At the station of Parkdale the traveler, on look- 

 ing back, can see the low range of mountains, or 

 rather the plateau, in which the Royal Gorge is cut. 



About Parkdale the dark shale of the Benton shows in a number 

 of places below the gravel, and the next rock that is seen in passing 

 westward is the granite at the mouth of the canyon. It is therefore 

 certain that no hard rocks, such as the Dakota sandstone, are present 



** Spanish term meaning " blood of Christ," pronounced sahn'gray day cris'to. 



