104 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



which shows the relative positions of the different peaks and their 

 names. 



The scenery on the other side is dominated by the great bulk of 

 Mount INIassive and Mount Elbert. Plate XL VIII shows them as 

 they appear from the vicinity of Leadville. Mount Massive (14,404 

 feet) is on the right and Mount Elbert (14,420 feet), the highest 

 mountain in Colorado, on the left. Mount Elbert may not appear 

 so high as Pikes Peak, but the traveler must remember that he is 

 looking at Mount Elbert from a much higher position than the one 

 he occupied at Colorado Springs when looking at Pikes Peak, and 

 that the summit of Mount Elbert is only 4,800 feet above him. 



Near Malta, the junction point for Leadville, the level marshy 

 valley is more than 2 miles wide. On the east it is bordered by a 

 terrace fully 150 feet high, which was formed by the trenching by 

 the stream of an older flat-bottomed valley. At Malta some of the 

 town of Leadville may be seen. By day the cloud of smoke from 

 its mines and smelters marks the location of the 

 ^^^*^* town, and by night the lights of the streets and 



Den""T7i mnef '■ ^^^ smclters may be seen 600 or TOO feet up the 

 slope of the valley on the east (right). As some 

 trains of the main line run by way of Leadville, a brief description 

 of this interesting mining camp will be given. The description 

 of the country along the main line north of Malta begins on 

 page 109. 



LEADVILLE LOOP. 



On leaving Malta for Leadville the railroad turns sharply to the 

 east and winds about the gently rolling slopes of the valley side 

 in order to get distance in which to make the ascent without climbing 

 too steep a grade. At first the road winds up the slope among the 

 pine trees, but farther on it comes out upon the edge of a terrace 

 that overlooks a small ravine or " gulch," ^- as all such features are 

 called in this region, and the traveler may look down upon one of 

 the smelters which is engaged in extracting valuable metal from 

 the ore that is mined in the famous Carbonate Hill, a picture of 

 which is shown in Plate XLIX. 



Leadville is one of the highest towns in the world, standing 10,200 

 feet, or nearly 2 miles, above sea level. It is also one of the oldest 

 towns of Colorado, dating back to 1860, the year in 

 Leadville. which the sit^ of Denver was first occupied by white 



Elevation 10,200 feet. men. In 1859 gold is said to have been discovered 

 Population 4,959. • j-^^j j^j^ ^j^^^ ^^^^ ^^ie Arkansas Valley 



Denver 2(6 miles. . 



from the east at the site of Malta by a party of gold 

 seekers on their way to California, who on that account called it Cali- 



"This ravine is California Gulch, in which gold was first discovered in this 

 region in 1859. 



