DENVER & RIO GRAl^DE WESTERN ROUTE. 



127 



A-erify this statement for himself by finding well-preserved fossil sea 

 shells in the railroad cut just east of the station at Wolcott. 



The station at Wolcott is built on the Dakota sandstone, which in 

 a short distance to the west rises above track level, so that the under- 

 lying variegated shale and sandstone (Gunnison formation) and the 

 rocks still lower in the geologic column come into view as the trav- 

 eler pursues his way down the river bank. As the train rounds the 

 first sharp curve below the station the variegated beds of the Gunni- 

 son formation may be seen on the north (right), where they have 

 been exposed by the cutting for the railroad track. About a mile 

 below the village the Dakota lies about 300 feet above the level of the 

 track and the light-red sandstone of the Triassic makes its appear- 

 ance at that level, but it is so poorly shown that the traveler may not 

 be able to identify it. A view down the river valley from this point, 

 however, shows that the bright-red sandstone is very conspicuous in 

 the cliffs — it is, in fact, the most 

 prominent rock to be seen. The 

 profile of the cliff on the north side 

 of the canyon is represented in 

 figure 33. In this part of the can- 

 yon the red sandstone is so bril- 

 liant that the outcrop looks like a 

 flame or a mass of red-hot iron 

 on the hillside. At Kent siding, 

 just beyond milepost 321, the val- 

 ley is somewhat wider than it is 

 farther upstream, and the traveler 

 may obtain, on the north, an ex- 

 cellent view of the canyon wall, which is about ITo feet high and is 

 capped by Dakota sandstone and the brownish-red sandstone that 

 marks the top of the Triassic sj'stem of rocks. 



Although the canyon is in general very narrow there are at some 

 places along the river level lands and small farms. The stream, like 

 all others in this region, is fringed with cottonwood trees and wil- 

 lows, but among these are interspersed dark spruce trees, which give 

 a pleasing contrast. In summer there is a decided difference between 

 the dark-bluish tint of the spruce trees and the soft green of the 

 cottonM'oods and the willows, but the color effects are at their best 

 in early autumn, when the leaves of the cottonwoods and the willows 

 are a brilliant yellow. 



Owing to the westward rise of the rocks the canyon walls gi'ow 

 higher and higher, but near Ortega siding (mileposts 323-324) the 

 Triassic red sandstone rises above track level and the canyon ends, 

 because as soon as the hard beds rise above drainage level they are 

 undermined by the cutting away of the soft shale of the lower (Ma- 



FiGCRE 33. — Canyon cut l>y Eagle River 

 through the west rim of the syncliue, 

 as seen from Wolcott. 



