418 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



which has been named Mount Daly, in honor of the gentleman who is 

 now president of the American Geographical Society. Two and three- 

 tenths miles farther south on the main ridge is the summit which has 

 been named Suowmass Mount. This also is one of the highest summits 

 in the system, being but slightly inferior to Capitol Mountain in elevation. 

 It is a station in the primary triaugulation. It has received its name 

 from an immense field of snow on its eastern face. This snow-field, in 

 August, which is the month when there is the least snow in the moun- 

 tains, had an area of fully five square miles. Probably this is the 

 nearest approach to a glacier in the Eocky Mountains. These moun- 

 tains, Sopris, Capitol, Daly, and Snowmass, being of eruptive rocks, 

 are extremely rugged and precipitous. 



Following the ridge farther south, it falls to an elevation of but 12,500 

 feet, which it holds for about six miles ; then, on a sharp angle in the 

 ridge, rises Maroon Mountain. This peak is so named from its peculiar 

 color, that of the sandstones of which it is composed. It is one of the 

 highest peaks in the system, and its summit is nearly, if not quite, in- 

 accessible. On the north and south it presents walls almost vertical 

 for 2,000 feet; on the west it is full as steep for 3,000 feet, and on the 

 east a sharp, comb-like ridge runs down from its summit, forming the 

 commencement of a long, heavy ridge, which separates two large brauches 

 of Roaring Fork, Snowmass Creek on the west and Maroon Creek on 

 the east. This ridge has a direction nearly north, and for many miles 

 its crest is above timber-line, and it has several summits above 13,500 

 feet. 



The main ridge, from Maroon Mountain, turns west for a few miles, with 

 two quite high summits on it in this part of its course, then turns south 

 and suddenly falls considerably at the head of Maroon Creek, sending 

 off a heavy spur separating the two branches of Maroon Creek. The 

 highest point of this spur is near its end. It has been named Pyramid 

 Peak, from its peculiar shape. It is a first-class peak, reaching nearlj^ 

 14,000 feet. 



Farther down the main ridge, another spur with a sharp, ragged crest, 

 separates Maroon Creek from the next branch of Eoaring Fork, known 

 as Castle Creek. Castle Peak, from which this creek derives its name, 

 is the highest peak in the Elk Mountains. It stands on the dividing 

 ridge, between the heads of two branches of Castle Creek. It has a 

 conical summit, from which the main ridge runs south, in a succession 

 of high, needle-like points, which rise several hundred feet above the 

 ridge, gradually decreasing in altitude as they recede from the main 

 peak. The summit is well-nigh inaccessible, the only way to reach it 

 being up a crevice on the south side. Its color is dark brown. A high, 

 sharp ridge, separating the two branches of Castle Creek, runs north- 

 eastward from this peak. Summits on this spur reach nearly 14,000 

 fee.t. 



From Castle Peak this range runs generally about southeast for sev- 

 eral miles, bearing a number of summits of second-rate importance upon 

 it, to the junction with the Elk divide, as I call the ridge separating the 

 waters flowing into the Gunnison from those flowing into the Grand. 

 South of this divide, the most imjiortant peak, perhaps, is the one named 

 Italian peak, which stands at the extreme "head of the Gunnison River. 

 It was so named from the singular and beautiful grouping of colors on 

 its surface, produced by the red rocks, white snow-fields, and green 

 patches of vegetation. 



South of Italian Peak, this range loses, in great part, its distinctive 

 character, has a less elevation, and becomes a mass of low, heavy spurs. 



