DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 173 



rising athwart the pathway of the stream ; but even this hard rock 

 has not proved to be an insuperable barrier to the stream, which has 

 trenched it in Black Canyon seemingly as easily as if it had been soft 

 shale. 



The Lake City branch follows the main line for a mile and then 

 turns to the southeast (left) up Lake Fork. It was nearly to this 

 point that Capt. Gunnison followed the river in 1853, but finding 

 that the canyon below was apparently impassable, he turned to the 

 south, then struck westward across the mesas to the Uncompahgre 

 Valley, at the site of Montrose. The automobile roads also avoid the 

 canyon. The main road divides at ^Sapinero, one branch following 

 the route of Capt. Gunnison and rejoining the railroad at Cimarron 

 (sim-ah-rrohn'), and the other climbing west of Sapinero to a 

 bench on the slope about 500 feet above the station and then follow- 

 ing this bench on the brink of the canyon for an air-line distance of 

 over 6 miles. Xext it climbs to the top of the Black Mesa and avoids 

 the lower canyon by a long detour to the north. This road affords 

 one of the most striking and picturesque drives in the State. At the 

 point where it leaves the canyon it is fully 1,000 feet above the roar- 

 ing stream, and, as shown in Plate LXXI, A, B, the walls appear to 

 be vertical. Gunnison River is still actively engaged in cutting its 

 canyon deeper, as shown by the rapid current (see PI. LXXI, C) and 

 the roughness of the water as it rushes down the rocky bed. 



Black Canyon is noted for its awe-inspiring beauty. Of the can- 

 yons which the traveler sees on the lines of the Denver & Kio Grande 

 Western Eailroad, the Eoyal Gorge easily holds first place, but the 

 Black Canyon as a scenic feature is a close second. The form of 

 this canyon, like that of the Royal Gorge, depends on the character 

 of the granite or gneiss. AMiere the rock is massive the walls are 

 unbroken and nearly vertical, but where the rock is banded and 

 composed of layers of different hardness, as it is in most places, the 

 walls may recede gradually and be verj^ jagged and irregular. 

 Some irregular walls are shown in Plate LXXII. 



At the mouth of Lake Fork the canyon walls are about 200 feet 

 high, but their height increases downstream, until at the siding of 

 Curecanti they are 1,000 feet high. Every curve and angle in this 

 distance presents a different aspect, and it is difficult to say which 

 view is the finest. One of the most striking scenes is that of a 

 pinnacle left standing at the mouth of Blue Creek, a small stream 

 that joins the river from the south. This pinnacle has been named 

 Curecanti Needle. It is nearly 1,000 feet high and is a striking 

 object as seen from the railroad siding. (See PI. LXXIII.) 



The appearance of Black Canyon, like that of most features of 

 the kind, depends largely upon the light and the condition of the 



