saknett.] GEOGRAPHY EAGLE RIVER. 421 



As will be seen, the direction of the slope* is from the east toward the 

 west, and is tolerably uniform, being about 50 feet to the mile. 



The original basalt capping of the plateau has been in great part re- 

 moved by denudation, appearing only in points and ridges, here and 

 there, except in the western part, where a large area, of 75 square miles, 

 preserves the original surface, and is as level as a floor. 



This plateau has been cut in two pieces by a large creek, an affluent 

 of the Grand Eiver, which I have named Plateau Creek. It has cut out 

 for itself a very broad valley, of a depth, in its deepest part, of 5,000 

 feet below the level of the plateau. With the aid of the Grand Eiver 

 on the north, it has cut down the western extension of the part of the 

 plateau north of its valley to a range of low mountains. They are ex- 

 tremely rugged and precipitous, of elevations from 7,000 to 10,000 feet. 



The Grand Eiver has its head in the eastern part of Middle Park, 

 across which it flows, receiving, on its way, several large branches. 

 It cuts its way through the Park range on the western side of Middle 

 Park in a very heavy canon. In latitude 39° 39', longitude 107° 3', it 

 receives the waters of one of its largest tributaries, the Eagle Eiver. 

 This stream heads in Tennessee Pass, and the mountains of the Park 

 and Sawatch ranges. In that neighborhood, near its head, it flows 

 through broad and beautiful meadows, which would be valuable for 

 agricultural purposes and for stock-raising, but the elevation, over 9,000 

 feet, is too great for the former, and also for the latter, except during 

 the summer. 



The river receives, in these meadows, a large branch from the east, 

 and, in the canon, at the foot of these meadows, a large branch from the 

 southwest and another from the east, by which its volume is very much in- 

 creased. The branch from the southwest heads under Homestake Peak, 

 so named from the Homestake mine, which is situated at timber-line on 

 its southeastern slope. 



Eagle Eiver, below these meadows, is in close, high canon for about 

 five miles, emerging therefrom at the mouth of Eoche Moutonnee Creek, 

 into a narrow valley, inclosed by high, precipitous walls. The spur 

 from the continental divide, of which the Mountain of the Holy Cross 

 is the most northern as well as the highest peak, gives rise on the east 

 and north to branches of the Ragle Eiver, and on the west to Frying 

 Pan Creek, a large branch of Eoaring Fork. From this mountain mass, 

 the spurs separating branches of the Eagle Eiver have a broad, plateau- 

 like character, sloping at a low angle, the ends forming the west wall of 

 the canon, and of the narrow valley below. These branches of the 

 Eagle Eiver are all in close canon. 



Below the mouth of Eoche Moutonnee Creek, the river remains in a 

 narrow valley as far down as the mouth of the Piney Creek, a branch 

 from the east, nearly as large as the Eagle Eiver itself. Below the 

 mouth of this stream the valley broadens to nearly two miles in width; 

 but this is mainly bench-laud, with a gravelly soil, covered with sage, 

 and can be of use only when irrigated. There is sufficient bunch-grass 

 to afford indifferent grazing. The hills rise abruptly from this valley, 

 and then extend back in long ridges to the mountain mass spoken of 

 above. 



The course of the river commenced to change near the mouth of Eoche 

 Moutonnee Creek, from north toward west, and at the foot of this valley, 

 that is, near the mouth of/ creek, has a course nearly west. Here it 

 enters a cation, which extends as far as station 7, where it ends abruptly, 

 and the river flows through a broad valley, which extends nearly to 

 its mouth, and far up g creek. This valley, like that above, is covered 



