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 150 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



connected north of the raih'oad by an almost unbroken outcrop, and 

 shale of sufficient thickness and richness to warrant mining is sup- 

 posed to underlie an area of at least 5,000 square miles in the Uinta 

 Basin of northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. 



The features below the town of Grand Valley are much the same 

 as those above it. The same white cliffs, with the maroon band 

 about the base, rise above the railroad on the north, and the broad 

 swell of Battlement Mesa rises on the south. Between lies the open 

 valle}', with its band of trees fringing the river and its patches of 



farm land where the sur- 

 face is sufficiently level for 

 irrigation. In midsummer 

 the valley displays beauti- 

 ful shades of green, but in 

 autumn, after the early 

 frosts have touched the 

 Cottonwood trees along the 

 river and the aspens on the 

 slopes above, it bears a 

 beautiful mantle of green 

 and gold. 



The hills across the val- 

 ley, although they lie with- 

 in the Battlement Forest, are composed of the red and green shale 

 and sandstone of the Wasatch formation and are almost devoid of 

 vegetation. (See PI. LXIV, A.) 



After being crowded close to the river by the high bluffs of the 

 maroon shale and sandstone, the railroad suddenly emerges into the 

 broad valley of Roan Creek at the little village of 

 De Beque, which is flanked on the north by the high 

 turrets, towers, and minarets of the White Cliffs. 

 As Roan Creek heads on the high plateau it con- 

 tains a never-failing supply of water, which is used 

 over and over again in irrigating the level land within its valley. 

 The pasture on the plateau is excellent, so that the principal indus- 

 try in and around De Beque is stock raising. 



West of the river there is a slight arch in the rocks on which a 

 number of wells have been drilled in search of oil. Some of these 

 wells have found small quantities of oil, but most of them have been 

 " dry holes " — that is, holes that yield little or no oil. The slight arch 

 in the rocks is regarded as favorable for the accumulation of oil, for 

 oil and gas are generally associated with water in the rocks, and as 

 they are lighter than water they are forced up into the high places or 

 arches, as shown in figure 38. but in the region about De Beque there 

 seems to be little or no oil in the rocks to accumulate. 



Figure 38. — Relation of oil, gas, and water to an 

 anticline. In a porous sandstone gas may be 

 forced to the top of the arch, oil will come next, 

 and water will lie in the lower part. 



De Beque. 



Elevation 4.045 feet 

 Population 292. 

 Denver 417 miles. 



