CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MOUNTAIN AREA. 
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South of this valley, separating it from the deserts of the continental 
divide, is a range of low mountains, trending nearly east and west, and 
known as the Sweetwater Mountains. These mountains are timbered 
throughout. 
North of the valley of the classic Sweetwater, extending from the 
Three Crossings eastward to the North Platte, are a succession of low 
granite ridges, which are covered with a luxuriant growth of bunch-grass. 
The group known as the Eattlesnake Mountains is timbered. 
Turning to Colorado, we find a grand and simple arrangement of the 
mountain ranges on this crown of the coutinent. In the northern part 
there are two parallel ranges, trending a few degrees east of south — the 
Front and the Colorado Ranges. Between them lie the North and Mid- 
dle Parks. The former, a nearly circular valley having an elevation of 
about 8,000 feet, is covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. The latter 
has a broken surface, being intersected by several short ranges of mount- 
ains. The valleys between them are well grassed, while the mountains 
are covered with forests. 
In the central belt of Colorado the mountain portion is broader. West 
of the Park Range, beyond the valley of the Upper Arkansas, is the 
Sawatch, trending parallel to the others, and still further westward the 
groups and short ranges known as the Elk Mountains. In this portion 
the interval between the Front and Park Ranges is occupied by the South 
Park, elliptic in form, and having an elevation of 8,000 to 10,000 feet 
above the sea. Timber comes down well to the bases of the surround- 
ing ranges and even trenches on the domain of the valley. The little 
ridges which traverse the valley are also covered with forest. Else- 
where the park is grass-covered. It is nowhere luxuriant, except in a 
few localities where there is natural meadow land, as in the northeastern 
part. There is some sage land in the lower portions of the park. 
The valley of the Upper Arkansas is comparatively narrow and the 
part about the head of the river and the bench land everywhere are 
covered with forests. The open country is mainly sage land, with more 
or less grass. 
The region of the Elk Mountains, including the narrow valleys of the 
upper branches of the Grand and Gunnison Rivers, is heavily timbered. 
In the southern portion of Colorado, the mountain belt attains a still 
greater development. The Front Range, which, from Southern Wyo- 
ming, has formed the shore to the vast sea of the plains, alter rising to a 
great height in the Pike's Peak group, suddenly falls, and disappears, 
while the Sangre de Cristo range, the continuation of the Park Range, 
comes to the front and for several degrees of latitude through Southern 
Colorado and most of New Mexico forms the immediate boundary of the 
plains. For a few miles south of the canon of the Arkansas, a short 
range, known as the Wet Mountains, standing in front of the Sangre de 
Cristo Range, seems to form a continuation of the Front Range, the in- 
terval between this and the Sangre de Cristo being occupied by the Wet 
