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sides, interrupting tlie sameness by a low range of liigblancls, through 

 which the stream has cut a veritable caiion in miniature. Tbis sand- 

 stone barrier forms rather the sudden limits of a horizon of the Tertiary 

 formation, possibly indicating a shore-line of the earlier stages of the 

 drainage and erosive action wliich finally resulted in the present config- 

 uration of the country. Below this point, in the north side of the valley, 

 a group of curious little monument foruiations are noticed, which recall 

 those to which Monument Park in Colorado owes its peculiarity; only 

 these are fashioned out of the clayey debris resulting from the disin- 

 tegration of the arenaceous deposits of the adjacent Tertiary, their tops 

 capped by fragments of sandstone detached from higher ledges, and 

 which have retarded their demolition by the elements, reproducing, on a 

 smaller scale, the same phenomena witnessed in the fantastic shapes 

 which cluster in the acclivities of the little park at the base of Pike's 

 Peak. 



Above the gateway, the valley again widens, and, as we advance, beau- 

 tiful glade-like depressions open charming vistas into the neighboring 

 uplands. !Soon, to the westward, a range of low mountains tiles across 

 the gap in the distance, their rounded summits and declivities covered 

 with evergreen forests and great plats of yellow-leafed aspen 5 this is 

 the watershed which preserves the continuity of the Spanish range in 

 the diminished altitude and bulk of its extension southward, and which 

 is here 10,000 to 11,000 feet above the sea. At the heads of the Ponil 

 and the north branch of the Yermejo, the divide sags, opening passes 

 9,600 and 9,500 feet in altitude, and which are perhaps the lowest in 

 the range north of the Taos Pass. 



Leaving the bed of the stream to the left, the trail rises a low upland, 

 and, in a short distance, gains the park-like basin at the head of the 

 valley, in which also rises an affluent of the s^uth branch of the Yer- 

 mejo. The eastern rim is quite low at this point, which either indicates 

 a very shallow basin or tl»e comparatively limited extent of its area 

 drained by the Van Brimmer. A slight descent leads to the borders of 

 a little pond, near the margin of which highly ferruginous ledges out- 

 crop, and quantities of limonite nodules are scattered over the surface. 

 The evaporation of the water has left it margined by a shelving beach, 

 which is whitened by an efflorescence which renders the water unpalat- 

 able, although the flocks which are pastured here are said to relish both 

 the water and the saline-impregnated earth. This point, which is some 

 twenty-five miles from the lower entrance of the valley", has an altitude 

 of about 8,000 feet. Clumps of pine — many of which are girdled by the 

 Utes in quest of condiments for their pottages — are scattered over the 

 park, the undulating surface of which is broken by low, flat-topped hills 

 or ridges, which are apparently composed of Tertiary sandstone and 

 shales. To the west, southwest, and northwest lies the wooded crest of 

 the main range, in the direction of which the park country becomes 

 more and more diversified on approaching the outlying ridges of tilted 

 sedimentary deposits reclining upon its flanks. 



Our route passes along the eastern edge of the basin, in a direction a 

 little west of north, amidst varied local scenery and glimpses of sublime 

 mountain views. Twelve or fourteen miles from the lakelet, at the head 

 of the Van Brimmer, we reach the main or north branch of the Vermejb, 

 at a point just above the gorge by which it makes its exit from the park, 

 and where the altitude is about 7,700 feet. About midway between the 

 above points, a diminutive tributary of the south branch winds through 

 an extensive level vega-tract, which is surrounded by low mesas and 

 ridges, between which communication is had with other basins by pretty 



