102 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



rounds the lakes that fill the depression once occupied by the ice. 

 The gravel brought down by this glacier contains considerable gold, 

 and it has been Trashed extensively along the river by hydraulic 

 methods and by dredges. The washed gravel now lies in great heaps 

 and ridges that greatly disfigure the landscape. 



The railroad emerges from the canyon a short distance beyond 

 milepost 2G2. and the traveler finds that the valley above this point 

 consists of flat, marshy ground which extends nearly to the head of 

 the stream below Tennessee Pass. This upper part of the valley is 

 probably in the same condition as the lower valley was ages ago, 

 before the stream had cut its present canyon, and at a time when 

 it was flowing at the top of the uppermost terrace that the traveler 

 has seen. At that time the lower part of the valley was filled to a 

 great depth with sand and gravel, and all the former inequalities in 

 the surface were obliterated. The upper valley appears to be in that 

 stage to-day. It has doubtless been filled with sand and gravel 

 brought down from the ranges on either side until almost all the 

 inequalities of the bedrock have been concealed, and on this level 

 floor the stream meanders, not exactly sluggishly, for there is con- 

 siderable slope to the surface, but the quantity of loose material 

 furnished to the stream is much more than it can carry away, so 

 that it is being continually dropped and thus obstructs the channel of 

 the stream and forces it to shift its course to one less direct. If 

 conditions were changed so that Arkansas Eiver had a sharper 

 descent or a greater volume of water, it would have more cutting 

 power, and it would then soon trench this flat bottom, and the cut 

 edges of the valley filling would stand up as terraces just as the 

 terraces stand above the stream lower down. 



On emerging from the canyon the traveler again has an unob- 

 structed view of the mountain range on the west, and its aspect is 

 very different from the view which he had below Eiverside. The two 

 most prominent peaks visible from the upper end of the canyon are 

 Mount Elbert, which stands just above the moraines of Lake Creek, 

 and Mount Massive, which stands farther up the range. 



The altitude of the valley is so great that few plants except grass 

 can be grown to advantage, but the hay crop is luxuriant, and stock 

 raising is the principal business. As the train departs more and more 

 from the great moraines that bound Lake Creek on both sides the 

 mountain peaks back near the head of the creek come into view. 

 These peaks are more rugged than most of those that have been in 

 sight from the railroad. The accompanying sketch (fig. 24:) shows 

 the most prominent peaks that can be seen from milepost 265 by one 

 looking to the southwest. These peaks all appear to the left of Mount 

 Elbert, some of them showing from behind the projecting spurs of 

 that mountain. La Plata Peak (14,332 feet) appears in the center, 



