DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 185 



Grand Junction is the center of a great fruit-growing country 

 that extends up Colorado River nearly to De Beque, up the Gunnison 

 a short distance, and down Colorado River to Fruita and Loma. 

 Apples, pears, and peaches are the principal fruits raised. Views 

 of the orchards and the method of irrigating them are shown in 

 Plate LXXVII, A, B. Besides fruits the valley produces vegetables, 

 principally sugar beets and potatoes. Sugar beets find a ready 

 market at the sugar factory at this place, and many beets are shipped 

 here from other parts of the two valleys. 



The town has broad, well-paved streets, good business houses, and 

 a very .attractive residence section, whose streets are well shaded by 

 trees that afford relief from the rays of the sun. These trees, to- 

 gether with the orchards, make this part of the valley look like an 

 oasis in a desert. A description of the scenery along the main line 

 east of this place ends on page 158, 



MAIN LINE OF RAILROAD FROM GRAND JUNCTION 

 TO SALT LAKE CITY. 



A short distance west of the station at Grand Junction the 

 traveler's view of the valley is fairly unobstructed, and he obtains 



I 



Uncompahgre Plateau '§ ^ Book Cliffs 



^Figure 48. — Sketch section across the valley at Fruita, Colo. 



an attractive setting for the picture of the town. The existence of 

 this valley is due to geologic causes which can be easily understood 

 by a traveler who desires to know something of the character of the 

 rocks and of their attitude, or, as the geologist would say, the geologic 

 structure. The lowest and therefore the oldest rocks lie in the great 

 Uncompahgre Plateau or arch, which lies south of Grand Junction; 

 the youngest rocks lie in the basin to the north and are generally 

 known as the Green River formation. The dip of the rocks as they 

 would appear in the sides of a great ditch, if one were cut from the 

 top of the Uncompahgre PLiteau to the middle of the Uinta Basin 

 to the north, is shown in figures 37 (p. 148) and 48. 



The Mancos shale is much softer than the rocks either above it 

 (to the north) or below it (to the south), and it therefore tends to 

 weather away much faster and form a valley. As the formation 



