164 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



from the train, for it is about half a mile wide and probably 1,000 

 feet deep, but -what must it look like when viewed from its rim ! 



Ouray Peak is supjDosed by some to be an extinct volcano, probably 

 because of the resemblance of this cirque to the crater of a volcano. 

 One of the best places from which to see this cirque is Grays siding, 

 at an elevation of about 9,673 feet. Here the locomotive may take 

 water, and the traveler may have an opportunity to step from the 

 train and obtain a view of the mountain and the surrounding 

 features. 



A short distance above Grays siding extensive views appear on 

 the left at many places. The chief points of interest are the peaks 

 of the great Sangre de Cristo Eange. and at their base the upper 

 end of San Luis Park. Farther up the railroad the slopes on the left 

 are very steep and are covered with a mantle of trees. The trees 

 are not very large or very thick, but they conceal and soften rocky 

 slopes that would otherwise be bare. Here the traveler may see the 

 blue spruce for which Colorado is noted. Only the young growth 

 has the characteristic bluish-green color, but when the cones have 

 reached their full growth the tree is one of the most beautiful in 

 the forest. In midsummer these slopes form a sea of green : but if 

 the traveler should cross the pass after the middle of September he 

 will see the aspens in a golden blaze, and even in the thick forest 

 he may see specks of yellow as brilliant as any of the " colore " in 

 the prospector's pan in the early days when he struck " pay dirt." 



Beyond milepost 239 the railroad runs along the side of a bouldery 

 ridge at the foot of the bare cone of Ouray Peak. The traveler is at 

 first so far below the simimit of this ridge that he probably does not 

 realize that it is a moraine wliich was evidently formed by one of the 

 last glaciers that existed on the south slope of the mountain, but 

 when he is a little nearer the summit of the mountain he will be able 

 to see the small cirque which this glacier excavated, though he will 

 notice that it is not nearly so large as the cirque which he saw from 

 Grays siding. The reasons for the difference are that the glacier 

 which lay on the east side was in the lee of the mountain and received 

 more snow than the other one. which was exposed to the strong west 

 wind, and that the snow which fell upon the glacier that faced the 

 east was not readily melted, whereas the other glacier, which faced 

 the south, must have received the full warmth of the sun's rays. As 

 the glacier on the east side was thus favored in the accumulation of 

 snow and in the slight melting of the ice it grew apace, whereas the 

 one on the south side was always small and doubtless soon dwindled 

 away. 



