104 GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TEERITORIES. 



Nettleton, Fuller, and Potter, and Dr. Gatchell, of Colorado Springs, 

 we started early in the morning, and after a ride of four miles over the 

 mesas, reached the month of the canon, where we left our wagons and 

 mules and proceeded the rest of the way on foot, carrying the photo- 

 graphic apparatus and materials on our backs. The caiion is very nar- 

 row and the granite walls rise precipitously on either side to the height 

 of 600 feet above the bed of the stream. We were obliged to cross 

 and recross the stream many times in order to get along, as the banks 

 in some places were too steep to allow our passing along them. After 

 a walk of about a mile and a half we came to a fall, or rather a series 

 of falls, which prevented any farther progress up stream. There were 

 three distinct falls, one above the other, the entire height being 300 

 feet. The water in falling strikes numerous ledges, which churn it into 

 a mass of foam. It has worn in the solid granite a rounded basin sur- 

 rounding which are walls reaching the height of 800 feet. The best 

 view of the falls is to be had about a quarter of a mile below on the 

 side of the caiion. At a point 300 feet above the bed of the creek we 

 have a magnificent view of the entire falls, while back of them rise 

 the hills which stand at the foot of Pike's Peak, and in the fore-ground, 

 far below us, we catch a glimpse of the creek as it reflects the sunlight 

 through the foliage of the pines. 



The following is a list of the minerals I obtained while at Colorado 

 Springs : Snowy gypsum, i)ink gypsum, selenite, satin-spar, (fibrous 

 gypsum,) yellow calcite, (crystallized,) amazon stone, (orthoclase,) ame- 

 thyst, smoky quartz, white quartz, opal, and agate. 



We left Colorado Springs on the 27th of May, and on the 29th arrived 

 at Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory. On the 3d of June we started on a 

 second tiip, our destination this time being Golden City. Golden City is 

 about twenty miles, almost due west, from Denver, at the base of the 

 foot-hills of the main range of the Eocky Mountains. It is situated in 

 a valley, between the hills and two mesas, or table-like mountains. They 

 stand between the town and the plain, and between them is the 

 Golden Gate, through which Clear Creek flows out to the plains. Both 

 the mesas are surmounted by layers of basalt. The north mesa, called 

 Table Mountain, is about a mile in width and a little more than two miles 

 in length. On the western side, overlooking the town, is a prominent 

 mass of bare rock, which is called the Castle. The south mesa has 

 the same width as the one on the north, but is longer, extending 

 for four miles. The upi)er portion of the basalt capping these mesas 

 is more compact than the lower layers and is somewhat columnar. 

 Beneath the basalt are Tertiary formations — sandstones and clays. 

 The surface of the mesas is somewhat irregular and covered with 

 grass. They form the grazing-grounds for large herds of cattle. The 

 Tertiary beds continue some distance west of the mesas, and contain 

 coal. The j)rincipal bed varies in thickness from a few inches to 

 eight feet. It is almost vertical. There are' four openings into it, three 

 of which are owned by the Mineral Land Company and leased to 

 the Hazletou Company. Only one of them, however, is worked at 

 present ; one of the others has been burned out — since which work has 

 not been resumed — while the third is filled with water. A fourth open- 

 ing is owned by Judge Johnson. Only enough coal is mined to supply 

 the local demand. The ridge above the coal is a white sandstone con- 

 taining impressions of deciduous leaves, while beneath the coal is a bed 

 of clay. The strike of these beds is almost due north and south. Be-, 

 low the coal-beds are red and gray sandstones with a layer of limestone. 

 These sandstones rest immediately on the metamorphic rocks at an angle 



