424 The National Geographic Magazine 



is cut from nearly vertical rock midway 

 on the flank of a huge mountain at a 

 cost, in places, of nearly $50,000 a mile. 

 To travel along this road on the top of 

 a stage drawn by six horses at a trot — 

 " two in the tongue, two in the swing, 

 and two in the lead" — gazing alter- 

 nately into dizzy depths below and lofty 

 heights above, is to have an experience 

 that is never forgotten. 



THE NEEDLE MOUNTAINS QUAD- 

 RANGLE 



The Needle Mountains are well wor- 

 thy of special mention. They are ex- 

 tremely ragged in appearance, with 

 snowbound summits, sharp as needles. 

 Mostly inaccessible, they are seldom 

 visited, and, save a landmark here and 

 there, are yet unnamed. More than a 

 hundred peaks rear their splintered pin- 

 nacles to heights exceeding 13,000 feet 

 above sea level. Mount Windom, which 

 attains a height of 14,084 feet, is the 

 culminating summit. 



The Animas Canyon, in the Needle 

 Mountains, is one of the deepest fur- 

 rows in a state famed for rugged topog- 

 raphy. The tourist rail route creeps 

 through 20 miles of this canyon valley, 

 the granite sides of which tower from 

 3,000 to 6,000 feet above the track. 



The triangulation for these maps was 

 done by Mr W. M. Beaman. In the 

 execution of the fieldwork Mr Beaman 

 was assisted by Messrs J. F. McBeth 

 and Arthur Stiles, assistant topogra- 

 phers, and a corps of field assistants. 

 Field work at altitudes of 12,000 to 

 14,000 feet presents unusual difficulties. 

 With only two-thirds of a sea-level at- 

 mosphere to breathe, and that so exhil- 

 arating as to make one's energy seem 

 inexhaustible, care has to be exercised 

 lest heart and lungs be over-stimulated. 

 As the Needles form the crown of a 

 mountain mass which is first in the path 

 of the moisture-laden winds blowing 

 overland from the Gulf of California, 

 local thunder storms, accompanied by 



vivid lightning, are very frequent. On 

 several occasions it happened that Sur- 

 vey topographers were caught on iso- 

 lated peaks during such storms, where 

 they were (to state the case mildly) 

 strongly impressed by a sense of inse- 

 curity on account of their own snapping 

 hair and the sparks emitted from noses 

 and fingers, as well as from the metal 

 parts of their instruments. The quak- 

 ing of their knees under these condi- 

 tions they subsequently attributed to 

 powerful electric shocks. 



The working season is short in these 

 high altitudes. Snow drifts block the 

 high passes often until July 1, while two 

 feet of snow around the tents in Sep- 

 tember is not unusual. Nevertheless, 

 besides determining by means of trian- 

 gulation the heights of the numerous 

 lofty peaks, several circuits of primary 

 spirit-leveling of great accuracy were 

 run. For total rise and fall per mile 

 above 10,000 feet and for elevations of 

 passes crossed, these circuits surpassed 

 any similar level work ever done in the 

 world. 



THE CRIPPLE CREEK DISTRICT, 

 COLORADO 



The revised map of the Cripple Creek 

 mining district shows the wonderful de- 

 velopment of that great camp since 1894^ 

 when the first map was made. Gold had 

 been discovered there only a short time 

 before, and Cripple Creek was then 

 merely a temporary camp, hastily thrown 

 together to shelter a moving population 

 of eager prospectors and excited specu- 

 lators. 



Since then the mining camps of Crip- 

 ple Creek and Victor have become cities, 

 and the little outposts of the earlier day 

 are now known as the towns of Gold- 

 field, Independence, Elkton, Anaconda, 

 Altman, and Arequa. Numerous fires 

 removed a large number of the first cab- 

 ins and shacks, and in their places have 

 arisen handsome substantial structures 

 of brick and stone that would be a credit 



