DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 



83 



Texas Cieek. 



Elevation 6,210 feet. 

 Population 63.* 

 Denver 184 miles. 



had been occupied by the stream for a longer time than the Royal 

 Gorge.^^ 



The walls of the canyon from its mouth just above Parkdale to 

 Texas Creek are generally uniform in height, so that this canyon 

 also appears to have been cut in a plateau, the 

 surface of which was originally gently rolling. 

 At Texas Creek a branch of the railroad turns to 

 the south (left), crosses the river, and after run- 

 ning up a small valley for a short distance in order 

 to obtain grade, turns back and loops around a projecting spur con- 

 siderably above the bottom of the valley. After passing this spur 

 the road follows for a long distance the valley of Texas Creek on its 

 way to the mining district of Westcliffe, 25 miles distant. 



Near the station of Texas Creek the canyon takes on a different 

 aspect. It becomes much broader than it is east of that place, and 

 though the walls may in places be precipitous, they are generally 

 smoother and gentler in their slope than they are farther east. This 

 part of the canyon looks older than the part below, and it is also 

 different from the part above. On leaving Texas Creek the train 

 heads directly toward the great Sangre de Cristo Range (PI. XLIII) 

 and at a point 3 miles above Texas Creek swings abruptly to the 

 right, following Arkansas River, which here leaves the broad valley 

 in which it has been flowing, and in a short distance it again enters 

 a canj'on, some parts of which are steep and narrow. If the traveler 

 looks to the left as the turn is made he will see that the broad valley 

 continues directly toward the high mountain peaks but is occupied 

 only by Oak Creek, a stream not at all commensurate in size with that 

 of the valley which it occupies. The meaning of these differences 



^' Geologists generally classify the 

 surface features of the earth accord- 

 ing to their age or according to the 

 length of time they have been in the 

 process of formation. Thus there may 

 be young mountains and old moun- 

 tains, young valleys and old valleys, 

 and young streams and old streams. 

 Where the rocks are fairly uniform 

 throughout, the youngest type of valley 

 is the canyon and the oldest is the 

 broad valley with slopes so gentle that 

 it almost resembles a plain. A can- 

 yon is considered young because- it 

 marks the first stage in valley cut- 

 ting ; a broad valley is considered old 

 because it marks its last stage. 

 Although all canyons are young, they 



may differ considerably in age, so 

 there are young canyons and old can- 

 yons. In canyons of these two classes 

 that are cut in essentially the same 

 rocks young canyons may be distin- 

 guished by the narrowness of the bot- 

 toms, which are generally but little 

 wider than the channel of the stream, 

 and by having walls that are commonly 

 steep and in many places precipitous. 

 Old canyons, on the other hand, are 

 generally wide enough, at least in 

 placets, to have narrow strips of flood 

 plain; their walls are less precipi- 

 tous, and their rocks are generally 

 more irregular in outline owing to 

 the fact that they have been longer 

 exposed to the weather. 



