MOIMTAIH OF THE SHOW CROSS 
EXTRACTS FROM DR. F. V. HAYDEH’S REPORT OH TEE COLORADO SURVEY 
FOR 1873. 
”...A little stream joins the Eagle River from the 
west side, which rises among the group of mountain-peaks of 
which the Holy Cross is most conspicuous. The valley of this 
stream varies from one-eighth to one-fourth of a mile in width, 
and is about eight or ten miles in length, and so covered with 
the rounded glaciated forms of granite that it was impossible 
to ascend it with our pack-trains. We were obliged to descend 
the river about three miles and then climb the steep mountain¬ 
side over a net-work of fallen timber. The obstructions to 
traveling were'very great. We often labored for a day or two 
to find some path to approach the mountain-pea^, and were 
obliged to cut our way through the fallen timber, and finally 
succeeded in getting within about five miles of the base of the 
peak.7 (page 73) 
"The main mass of the peak, like the whole of the 
Sawatch range, is composed of granite gneiss. The summit of the 
Holy Cross is covered with fragments of banded gneiss. The 
amphitheaters of all sides have been gradually excavated, as 
heretofore described, and the more or less vertical sides show 
the intermediate steps very clearly. The characteristic feature 
