DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN ROUTE. 



217 



Throughout the main part of the canyon the railroad climbs steadily 

 in order to cross over the top of the Wasatch Plateau. For about 10 

 miles out of Helper the grade is 127 feet to the mile, and though such 

 a grade is not excessive it necessitates the use of extra engines on some 

 of the heavy trains to get them to the summit. 



Northward the canyon gradually grows less and less rugged and the 

 walls decrease in height until just above the first tunnel, 1^ miles above 

 Xolan, the thick ledges of sandstone give place to weaker beds of 

 muddy sandstone, shale, and fresh-water limestone. Although these 

 beds are in general gray, they belong to a different geologic forma- 

 tion from that which carries the coal beds at Castlegate. This forma- 

 tion, the Wasatch,^^ which appears just above the first tunnel, is gen- 

 erally red, and in many places it is ven^-^ coarse, but here it is light in 

 color and is composed of fine material. Where the less resistant rocks 

 form the surface the slopes become smoother and less steep and the 

 general aspect of the canyon is much subdued. These gray beds 

 continue to a point about half a mile above the station of Kyune. 



The upper part of the Wasatch is composed mostly of red clay or 

 shale and appears to contain only a few beds of sandstone. Some 

 of these beds have been quarried extensively above 

 Kyune, where this part of the formation first makes 

 its appearance. As the upper part of the Wasatch 

 formation in this locality is composed largely of 

 soft material, the slopes are gentle and the immediate hills are 

 low. Here and there a harder or a thicker bed appears at the 

 surface, and at these places the valley becomes more like a canyon. 



Kyune. 



Elevation 7.013 feet. 

 Denver 639 miles. 



'^ The Wasatch formation was one 

 of the first to be laid down in the 

 Tertiary period. At the beginning of 

 this period there was a wide uplift of 

 many mountain ranges, and as soon 

 as these ranges attained considerable 

 height above sea level they were vig- 

 orously attacked by streams, which 

 rolled great boulders down the steep 

 slopes and deposited them at the foot. 

 The finer material was carried away 

 from the mountains by the streams, 

 as similar material is to-day carried 

 far away from the place where it 

 originated, and was distributed over 

 the fairly even surface. As water 

 tends to drop coarse material first, the 

 boulders, gravel, and sand were 

 dropped near the mountains, but the 

 clay was carried farther off, and 

 finally all the earthy material found 

 a resting place on the surface of the 



land or at the bottom of a lake. Such 

 a lake probably existed in the Castle- 

 gate region, and in it were deposited 

 the fresh-water limestones and shales 

 which in this region constitute 700 or 

 SCO feet of the lower part of the for- 

 mation. 



From the very manner of its origin 

 and mode of transportation the Wa- 

 satch formation varies greatly in its 

 composition, which depends upon the 

 source of its material and the distance 

 to which it has been carried. Such 

 differences will be seen by the traveler 

 long before he reaches the end of his 

 journey. One feature of the Wasatch, 

 however, is remarkably constant — its 

 red or maroon color, which is char- 

 acteristic of the formation generally 

 throughout the Rocky Mountain re- 

 gion and is the most reliable means 

 by which it can be identified. 



