DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 



145 



of "White Eiver and a noted outfitting point for hunters of big game. 

 This road continues northward from Meeker to Craig, the present 

 terminus of the Denver & Salt Lake Kailroad ("Moffat road"). 

 This part of Colorado has long been noted for the raising of horses 

 and cattle, and for many years Rifle was the shipping point from 

 which train after train of fine range cattle went to the eastern 

 markets. The dry-land farmer has materially cut down the extent 

 of the open range, so that the herds have been greatly reduced in 

 number and size, and many of the cattle that are now raised reach 

 the market by other routes, so that Rifle is no longer preeminently a 

 cattle-shipping point. 



Opposite Rifle is a marked terrace about 400 feet high, which 

 forms a sharp boundaiy to the irrigated part of the valley. Like all 

 the terraces so far seen, this one is doubtless a remnant of the old 

 floor of the valley — a floor formed by the river when it was flowing 

 some 400 feet higher than it does to-day, or when the surface of the 

 land was that much nearer sea level than it is now. Remnants of 

 what appears to be this same high- terrace may be seen almost con- 

 tinuously below Rifle for a distance of 25 or 30 miles. 



Beyond Rifle the great, broad swell of Battlement Mesa is the 

 most conspicuous feature on the south side of the valley, but the 

 reason for its name does not become apparent to the traveler until 

 he has reached a point farther down the valley. As seen near 

 Rifle Battlement Mesa is a great rounded mass in which very few 

 ledges of rock crop out at the surface. It also bears very few trees, 

 but parts of it, as well as of Grand Mesa, farther south, are covered 

 with a thick growth of timber, and these two mesas constitute the 

 Battlement National Forest. As the principal industry in this re- 

 gion is stock-raising one of the important features of the adminis- 

 tration of this forest is the treatment of the " range " and the adjust- 

 ment of grazing permits. For the information of those who wish to 

 learn more about the administration of the national forests and the 

 Government's method of dealing with grazing privileges, Smith 

 Riley, district forester, has given a brief description in the foot- 

 note.** 



** The barren piiion and brush cov- 

 ered foothills seen from the train be- 

 tween Rifle and Grand Junction give 

 the traveler no idea of the fertile 

 interior valleys and table-lands that 

 comprise the Battlement National For- 

 est — the largest grazing forest in the 

 State of Colorado. 



The forest proper, which lies some- 

 what remote from the railroad and 



covers an area of 677,340 acres, com- 

 prises two great table-lands known as 

 Grand Mesa and Battlement Mesa. 

 Fully 50 per cent of the area of the 

 Battlement Forest is covered with tim- 

 ber. Wild grasses and weeds, which 

 grow in abundance in open parks and 

 in the less densely wooded parts 

 of the forest, furnish excellent sum- 

 mer pasture. The foothills between 



