BMora.] DENVER TO ALBUQUERQUE. 467 



Cimarron Creek, a tributary of the Canadian, which drains an inte- 

 rior monoclinaJ valley of the southern portion of the Sangre de Cristo 

 range, is crossed at Springer station. 



At Wagon Mound the road traverses a gap in basalt between Oeate 

 mesa on the west and the Canadian bills on the east, both of which are 

 capped by basalt. South of the Oeate mesa and west of the road are 

 the Turkey mountains, which are formed cf Carboniferous strata sur- 

 rounded by Dakota sandstones, which dip gently away in all directions. 



At Tipton the road has passed on to the Dakota sandstones, which 

 underlie the shales. Directly west of this station, on the southern 

 point of the Turkey mountains, is an extinct basaltic volcano with 

 extremely perfect crater, whose rim is broken cnly by a narrow gap on 

 the south side. According to Prof J. J. Stevenson 88 a coulee from 

 this crater flowed south down Cherry Creek to the canyon of the Mora 

 river, and then east along the bottom of this canyon to its junction with 

 Canadian river, ."><) miles to the eastward. Tn the upper part of the can- 

 yon only fragments of the coulee remain, but below it is continuous for 

 nearly 20 miles. This (low occurred at a time when the Mora canyon, 

 at its lower end, had been eroded to a depth of 860 feet (202 m.) below 

 the top of its present walls. The basalt coulee then filled the bottom 

 of this chasm to a depth of 400 feet; since which time the stream has 

 eroded a new channel, partly in the basalt, and partly in the sandstone 

 on one side of it. This latter channel, at the mouth of the canyon, is 

 230 (70 m.) feet below the base of the lava and 1,090 feet (322 m.) below 

 the plain. 



From Shoemaker to Watrous the road follows the valley of Mora 

 river in Dakota sandstones. It then bends southwestward across a 

 plain of .Middle Cretaceous shales to Las Vegas, whose fine thermal 

 springs lie a few miles west of the main line, at the foot of the.steeper 

 slope of the mountains. Here the railroad company has built a bathing 

 establishment and a handsome hotel, which lias several times been 

 burned down. 



From. Las Vegas the road runs southward into Dakota sandstones, 

 resting against the upturned Carboniferous beds which form the south- 

 eastern extremity of the Sangre de Cristo range. 



At Bernal it turns westward, along the northern base of a mesa of 

 Dakota Sandstones, and passes info the valle\ of the Pecos river. It 

 then bends northwestward and follows along the south side of the 

 valley of the Pecos to near its source at Glorieta. It then bemls 

 southwestward, cutting through a projecting tongue of the Dakota 

 mesa at Canoncito, and passes into the valley of Gallisteo creek. 



At Manzanares it touches the southern point of the southwest 

 extremity of the Sangre de Cristo range, which is formed of Archean 

 with an encircling fringe of Carboniferous beds. 



