KHODA.] GEOGRAPHY BAKEE's PARK. 465 



district, it becomes an object of great practical importance. But not till 

 one has crossed over the several passes leading out of it can he feel a 

 proper regard for this little spot, so carefully guarded by nature from 

 the invasion of man. In itself, it is nothing more than the bed of the 

 deep canon of the Animas, spread out at the lower end to a width of a 

 mile or two. It extends from the little town of Eureka, already men- 

 tioned, down the Animas to the base of Sultan Mountain, a distance of 

 about nine miles. It is divided into two parts, the upper of which is 

 contained between Eureka and Howardville, a distance of about three 

 miles, and is quite rolling, so much so as to be scarcely worthy the 

 name of park. Below Howardville the canon again contracts till within 

 about three miles of the base of Sultan Mountain, when the caiion-bed 

 "widens out into a beautiful level piece of land, about three miles long, 

 in the direction of -the stream, and having a width of from one to two 

 miles. It contains, in all, from 2,000 to 3,000 acres. This is the true 

 Baker's Park ; but the division between the two portions, as we have 

 described them, is not important, and in nature not well defined. The 

 "wide part above Howardville tajDcrs almost insensibly into the narrow 

 part below it, but the line between this narrow part and the true park 

 below^ is quite definite. 



The new town of Silverton, at present containing about a dozen houses, 

 is situated near the center of the level area, on the south side of Cement 

 Creek, a stream flowing into the Animas from the west, and passing 

 through the park. Bounding Baker's Park on the south is Mineral 

 Creek, which, flowing from the west, highly impregnated mth iron, sul- 

 phur, and other ingredients, hugs closelj^ the foot of Sultan Mount- 

 ain, and joins the Animas near the entrance of the lower or Great Caiion. 

 Almost all the water in this country is as pure as any in Colorado, but 

 this stream is so strongly impregnated with mineral ingredients as to 

 be quite unfit for drinking. The elevation of Silverton is 9,400, and of 

 Howardville 9,700 feet. From our present position, looking down the 

 valley, it seems to be completely closed up by Sultan Mountain, and the 

 exit of the river is not visible. At the lower end of the park the Ani- 

 mas swings around toward the southeast, and for about seventeen miles 

 cuts a most terrific .canon, ranging in depth from 3,000 to 4,500 feet in 

 depth, through quartzite rock almost as hard as steel. It might have 

 been expected that in the beginning the stream would have selected its 

 course somewhere near the junction of the trachyte and sandstone with 

 the quartzite. It seems, however, to have been turned by some agency 

 another way, and so cut its course through the harder rock this long 

 distance, without being at any j^oint more than three miles distant from 

 the softer material. 



In order to get a true conception of the isolation of Baker's Park from 

 the rest of the world, a thorough understanding of the passes leading 

 out of it is necessary. First, let me say that the ruggedness of the 

 Great Caiion below the park is such that travel through it must long be a 

 matter of great difficulty, though it is said that some miners have passed 

 up from the plains on the south into Baker's Park by that route. The 

 trail at present most traveled by persons passing between Baker's and 

 Animas Parks crosses over the southeast slope of Sultan Mountain. At 

 the divide this trail has an elevation of 10,460 feet, but the highest point 

 is several hundred feet higher than this. This route is the roughest and 

 most dangerous of any leading out of the park, and even in the best 

 summer weather is unsafe for pack or riding animals. 



The next pass is the one on the southwest side of Sultan Mountain, 

 which has an elevation of 11,570 feet above the sea, and, though not 

 30 H 



