DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 



215 



Half a mile above Helper a branch railroad turns back to the left 

 up Spring Canyon to coal mines at Storre, vStandardville, and other 

 towns where mines have recently been opened, and about 2 miles above 

 Helper the Utah Railway, a new line built to replace the one from 

 Price to Hiawatha, connects the mines at 

 Hiawatha, Mohrland, and Wattis with 

 the Denver & Eio Grande Western. 



The scenery in Spring Canyon, as in 

 many others on the road, is dominated 

 by great sandstones. This dominance is 

 shown particularly by the narrowness 

 of the canyon. Where the base of the 

 cliffs is composed of shale the canyon 

 is wider, as can be seen in the first 2 

 miles above Helper, but where the can- 

 yon walls are composed largely of sand- 

 stone, as they are farther up, the canyon 

 is narrow, barely affording room for the 

 automobile highway, the railroad, and 

 the river. The walls of the canyon also 

 show the effect of the different rocks; 

 where they are mainly shale they have a 

 pronounced slope, but where they are 

 mainly sandstone they are precipitous 



and in places vertical. Each spur that projects into the canyon is pre- 

 served by heavy sandstone, and therefore the characteristic feature 

 of the canyon is the many sandstone points which stand up like walls 

 or dikes. 



1,500 Feet 



Vertical scale 



Figure 57. — Geologic section at 

 Castlegate. 



Stone or at the top of the main mass 

 of marine shale. The upper part of 

 the Mancos shale in Price Kiver can- 

 yon contains several prominent beds 

 of sandstone (see fig. 57), which wedge 

 out toward the east. The lowest of 

 these beds crosses Price River about 

 3 miles below (south of) Helper, and 

 the upper one crosses the river about 

 midway between the town of Panther 

 and the tipple of the Panther Coal Co. 

 The aiesaverde contains several coal 

 beds which differ In thicliness from 

 place to place but where thickest are 

 of great value. Coal is mined on a 

 large scale along Price River canyon 

 and its tributaries at Kenilworth. 2i 

 miles east of Helper; Panther, half a 

 mile south of Castlegate; Castlegate; 



Cameron, IJ miles northwest of Castle- 

 gate ; Storrs, 3i miles northwest of 

 Helper ; Standardville, 4^ miles north- 

 west of Helper ; and Hiawatha, 13 

 miles southwest of Price. The coal at 

 Castlegate was formerly coked, but as 

 the Sunnyside coal proved to be better 

 adapted to coking, the Castlegate cok- 

 ing plant was abandoned. Three coal 

 beds are mined at Kenilworth. The 

 upper and lower ones are 18 to 20 feet 

 thick, and the middle one is 4 to 6 

 feet thick. 



The Castlegate group includes four 

 coal beds, which differ greatly in thick- 

 ness from place to place but are locally 

 minable. At Cameron the coal does 

 not come to the surface but is reached 

 by a slope. The two beds that are 



