464 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



tauce. We came upon the top of the ridge near a little sharp point on 

 the spur, which I believe is the one designated by the name of " King 

 Solomon's Mountain." Just a little below the top of this point we found 

 a level patch of ground about 20 feet square, where we concluded to 

 leave our mules, as such level places seemed to be rare in this vicinity. 

 Looking about, we saw only one stone of sufficient size to hitch our ani- 

 mals to, and that was an oval one ; but as no alternative presented 

 itself, we tied the ropes of the two mules together, and then fastened 

 them as well as we could to the stone. The result of this will be seen 

 on our return. 



The main peak was about half a mile to the north of us, but as tbe 

 ridge was easy to walk over, we had little difficulty in reaching the top. 

 On this peak we made station 16. Its elevation is 13,541 feet, as deter- 

 mined from the mean of twenty -three readings with a mercurial barom- 

 eter. This point is not very sharp, but is simply the culminating point 

 of several rocky ridges. From here a splendid view of the vicinity of Ba- 

 ker's Park may be obtained, although only a small part of the park 

 itself is visible. In order to understand rightly the situation and pecu- 

 liar position of this very interesting park, it will be necessary to give now 

 a general description of it, leaving the minor details to be filled in in our 

 future travels. From this point we can see nearly the whole of the great 

 depression of which Baker's Park forms the most important part. Just 

 to the erst of us the Animas runs along, its deep canon nearly 4,000 feet 

 below our present position, but the high bluffs bordering on the west 

 succeed In completely hiding the stream from view. Howardvilleis also 

 shut out from the sight by the same obstruction, although it almost 

 comes within the field of view. The fall from the summit of this peak to 

 the stream near Howardville is 4,000 feet in 9,500 horizontal. Just 

 across the river, Galena Mountain has a iall to the Animas of 3,700 in a 

 ■horizontal distance of 7,0U0 feet, while down to the nearest j)oirst on 

 Cunningham Creek, the fall is 3,500 feet in 5,000 feet horizontal. On the 

 southwest side of Cunningham Gulch the fall is even greater than this. 

 These cases are not unusual specimens, but I have selected them because 

 the peaks are well known and can be easily found on the map. I could 

 instance many others where the fall was full as great and even greater. 

 From station 16 we had a good view up Cunningham Gulch, from the 

 fact that the continuation of the direction of the stream passed almost 

 exactly through the station. 



Along the east side of tbe Animas a line of high peaks extends, from 

 its head down to the lower end of the great canon, a distance of thirty 

 miles. At the north end of the line, but draining into Lake Fork, is 

 Handle's Peak, with an elevation of 13,997 feet. Next come two name- 

 less peaks, the first having an elevation of 13,830 feet and the second 

 13,770 feet above the sea; then Galena Mountain, with an elevation of 

 13,290 feet, and next. Mount Kendall, 13,380 feet above sea-level. Be- 

 low this for some distance lower points continue the chain, till we come 

 to the group of quartzite peaks, ranging in height from 13,600 to 14,054 

 feet, where the line culminates in Mount iBolus and Pidgeon's Peak, 

 and, falling off suddenly to the south, soon loses itself in the plains of 

 Southern Colorado and New Mexico. The great and important feature of 

 this region is the far-famed Baker's Park, Small in area and quite un- 

 important in itself, it would be utterly disregarded if situated in other 

 parts of Colorado ; but, located as it is, surrounded on all sides by the 

 most rugged mountains in the Territory, if not in the whole Eocky 

 Mountain system, this little area of flat land becomes an object of curi- 

 osity and interest. When looked at as the center of the great mining 



