obtained clearer ideas than ever before of the scenic features ot 

 the Rocky Mountains. 



The elevated plateau and mountains of Colorado have a unique 



tribution of life, both horizontal and vertical ; the relation of the 

 physical aspects of Colorado as compared with the plateaux of 

 Asia and the mountains arising from them, will find a partial solu- 

 tion in the data given in this report. 



In the first eighty pages Dr. Hayden describes the chief ohjocts 

 of geological interest from Denver to the south and middle parks. 



Colorado. He says that there is evidence that the Arkansas valley 

 was formerly filled with an enormous^ glacier with l-ram-lu- -f 



mense granite bowlders scattered over the surfaces. The figure 

 on page 177 is a view of the rounded and polished rocks in 

 the valley of a stream which rises among a group of peaks of 

 which the Mountain of the Holy Cross (Fig. 68) is the most con- 

 spicuous. "The mountains on either side rise to the height of 

 2,000 to 3,000 feet above the valley, and the glacial markings are 

 visible 1,200 to 1,500 feet. The morainal deposits on the north- 

 west side reach a height of 1,200 feet above the stream, and form 

 a sort of irregular terrace, which, when cut through 



hole' is made in our streams at the present time. Mam 

 'sheep backs' are still covered with a crust-like enamel, h 

 ally this has peeled off." 



Returning to the Mountain of the Holy Cross, we are t< 

 the main mass of the peak, like the whole of the Sawateb 

 is composed of granite gneiss. The summit of the Holy 1 

 covered with fragments of banded gneiss. The amphithe; 

 all sides have been gradually excavated, as heretofore de 



\m- clearly!^ The ehurncierM ic feature ,.f the Monntaii 



