246 GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TEKRITORIES. 



to discover the limestones and interlaminated red shales that we found 

 east of Fair Play, (No. 18 to 51 in section No. 9.) 



The Sawatch range is, therefore, probably a true anticlinal axis, the 

 sedimentary beds on the east side, where the Arkansas Valley now is, 

 having been removed and carried down the Arkansas to help in form- 

 ing the plains. The beds spoken of in the last chapter as being faulted 

 in the range on the west side of the park, are the remnants of these 

 beds that once extended uninterruptedly to the Sawatch range, form- 

 ing the eastern side of the anticlinal. We have seen that the range 

 dies out both toward the north and toward the south, its highest por- 

 tion being just opposite the park. Not only is the evidence of the 

 anticlinal shown at the northern end, but also on the south, as will be 

 seen in Dr. Endlich's report. The western side will be treated of in the 

 next chapter. The elevation of the park range, in which Mount Lin- 

 coln and Buffalo Peaks are situated, probably took place in the Creta- 

 ceous or early in the Eocene, times. It is probable, also, that at the 

 same time the main range west of the Arkansas attained its greatest 

 elevation. It was doubtless above water before this, the sedimentary 

 beds dipping slightly from it toward the eastward. This may have re- 

 sulted from a more gradual action, while the later elevation was due in 

 part, at least, to volcanic action. Crossing the range at the head of 

 Lake Creek, we descend on the west side to the waters of the Gunnison 

 Eiver, which at this point flows through a meadow-like park called Tay- 

 lor Park. This park is bounded on the west by gneissic rocks. The 

 basis of the park is also granitic and gneissic, but it is for the most part 

 covered with drift, probably all of glacial origin. All the creeks com- 

 ing into the Gunnison from the east, rising on the western slope of the 

 Sawatch range, in the park, present evidence of glacial action. On 

 Texas Creek, the second creek from the lower end of the park, there are 

 well-marked lateral moraines, reaching from the edge of the mountains 

 almost to the main river and gradually decreasing in height. Almost 

 all the curves of these moraines correspond with those of the streams 

 upon which they are found. In the limited time which I had I found 

 no evidence of terminal moraines. The main portion of the park lies 

 on the east side of the Gunnison Eiver, which keeps close along the edge 

 of comparatively low granite or gneissic hills. Several outcrops of 

 granite are found throughout the park, but' they are mostly covered 

 either with the glacial drift, or, close to the streams, by alluvium. The 

 park has its greatest width at the southern i)ortion, where it is about 

 six miles wide. At the northern end, on some of the branches coming 

 in from the northeast, volcanic material is seen, which is probably con- 

 nected with that on Grizzly Peak and that in the pass at the head of 

 Lake Creek. At the southwest corner of the park the Gunnison enters 

 a caiion in the granites. Dr. Endlich went through this canon, and for 

 an account of it I refer to his report. East of the canon and south of 

 Taylor Park, from which it is separated by a low ridge of granitic hills, 

 is a smaller park called Union Park. Here we found some men work- 

 ing in the drift on the branches of a small creek and getting out a lit- 

 tle gold. The two principal gulches are named Cotton and Lotus 

 Gulches. Placer-mining was carried on here and in Taylor Park in 

 1860, but it was broken up by the Indians. Both Taylor and Union 

 Parks are partially timbered, and in the valleys of the streams we have 

 a growth of sage-brush, (artemisia.) The remainder of our district, in- 

 cluding the Elk Mountains and the head- waters of Roaring Fork, I will 

 reserve for the next chapter. 



