472 



J. W. SPENCER — COVEY HILL REVISITED 



the spillway or broad channel mentioned, now covered by a young growth 

 of trees succeeding great forest fires. 



Its most striking feature is known as "The Gulf." This is a canyon 

 with vertical walls 120 feet high, cut out of the sandstone floor of an 

 outer valley at 915 feet above sealevel, which has a length of nearly a 

 mile, thus strongly marking the former level of some lake beyond. This 

 outer valley heads in an amphitheater witli vertical walls 50 feet high. 

 In it nestles a small, shalloAv lake (at 915 feet), barricaded by vegetable 

 growth (a on map). 



The Gulf proper in this outer valley begins as a narrow chasm 10 or 

 20 feet wide. Farther on it widens abruptly to 50 feet or more. Con- 



Fnu'RR 1. — Sletrh Map of Coreii Hill 



tinning downward, and aftci- anothei- widening, it becomes a canyon 300 

 to 400 feet broad and 125 feet deep. The vertical walls are in places 

 faced by steps. In the descent the bed of the stream slopes rapidly, but 

 not precipitously, and is covered with sunken blocks of sandstone, a])pear- 

 ing to have been undermined, thus making the loose stones dip down- 

 ward. They are not transported blocks. Where the gorge is wider the 

 talus of broken rocks is abundant, and in one })lace it has crossed the 

 channel, leaving a dry basin behind it, as the drainage is underneath. 

 Even in the dry season considerable water is flowing here, but above this 

 point the streams are entirely through crevices, so that very little surface 

 water is seen. During rainy periods, or the time of the melting of the 

 snows, the torrent is said to have a depth of 3 feet. The strata are 



