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Show 90 In the valleys of the Cochetopa and the Upper Saguache, above the walls of its canon, and on the rolling hills southwest of the Cochetopa Pass, is much fine grazing-land, which, however, is too high for winter herding. The same may be said of the valley of Cebolla, above its canon. All of the streams flowing from this portiou of the lonp to the northward, canon up a short distance from their heads, so that in thenpper portions of their courses there is but little bottom- land. This is at too great an altitude for cultivation. Below the cafion of the Cebolla, however, there are several ranches where potatoes and the hardier cereals were cultivated, but whether they would mature cannot be said, siuce it was an experiment being tried when we passed. Timber and fire- wood are abundant. No mines have as yet been discovered in this division, and beyond a few ranches along the Lake City and Saguache road, there are no inhabitants on the northern slopes of the range. 2.- JH;: BOTTOM OF THE RIO GRANDE LOUP AND THE NEIGHBORING RANGES AND MASSES. This division of the continental backbone, with its spurs and attendant ranges and mountain masses, is the most interesting of the mountainous portion of Colorado, both on account of the high and rugged character of its mountains, and the great area covered by their peaks, and the number and character and prospective value of the mine* here discovered and now being rapidly developed. Of the mines but little will be said, since the character of the work precluded any investigation of the subject from want of time. The examination of a single mine, including the time necessary to reach it, would occupy an entire day, and since but little over a month could be given to the survey of the entire complicated mass of mountains in which they are situated, this time could not be spared for each of the many mines which would have to be visited; besides, they are only partially developed, and not much can be said as to the persistency and value of the lodes discovered, whatever may be their prospects. The topography of the country and the engineering questions relating to the routes of com-mnnication, and those relating to the capacity of the regions in the neighborhood of the mines to subsist a large population, were the subjects which more particularly engaged the attention of the party, and it is of these that we will principally speak. ' West from Bristol Head the country slopes up from the valley ot Clear Creek to the summit of the rounded peaks which border the canon of the Lake Fork of the Gunnison by not abrupt gradations. Clear Creek heads not far from the Rio Grande, and runs a little north of east from its head under a rounded mass near the head of Crooked Creek, for some 8 miles of its course bordered by a grassy though narrow valley. Numerous tributaries enter it through canons from the rounded mountains to the northwest. Between Clear Creek and the Rio Grande is an area of some 50 square miles, with nearly level upper surface, cut by the valleys, or rather callous, of the tributaries of Crooked Creek. This bench is about 9,600 to 10,200 feet in altitude, and ends at the base of the rounded mountain just referred to. Along the southern ed « je of this bench the Rio Grande runs in a cafion bounded by walls 1,200 to 2,000 feet in height on the southern side, but only 800 to 1,000 on the northern. The rounded summit under which Clear Creek heads, divides it from Lost Trail Creek, which with Pole Creek runs down from the edge of the Lake Fork Cafion, which here becomes more mountainous and, peaked in its general appearance; the divide increases in height and in rugged-ness, from the heads of Clear Creek, inclosing, besides Pole and Lost Trail Creeks tributary to the Rio Grande, numerous short tributaries of the Lake Fork of the Gunnison in its northern ravines. Toward the south, however, it retains its high altitude for several miles, or until near the narrow valley of the Rio Grande, to which level it breaks down abruptly by bluffs. On the Lake Fork side the fall from the divide to the level of the stream is very marked and abrupt. The rim is strongly marked and linear, parallel to the stream, with ravines running down its steep slopes. Near thetead of Pole Creek a branch of the Lake Fork, named by Mr. Prout, Snare Creek, takes its rise. Between this stream and the headwaters of the Lake Fork and the Animas is a gr « » up of four peaks, exceeding 14,000 feet altitude, of which Handles Peak is tbe culminating mass. South of this group there are no high peaks in the divide, but tbere is quite a broad plateau bordering the eastern side of the Animas and separating it from the heads of Pole Creek, which extends to Mount Cauby, an irregular red mass of volcanic material near the headwaters of the Rio Grande. About the immediate bead of the Rio Grande itself, the country is an extensive area above timber- line, exhibiting no marked peaks of height above the general surface on tbe western bide; but to the south, and in fact in every direction, save to the east, towering peaks, high above timber, and with bold sky- lines and profiles, can be seen, but these are iu subordinate groups and not in tbe main divide itself. On tbe southern side of this semicircular division, about the heads of Hines Fork and Ute Creek, are peaks reaching 13,500 feet. |
