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Show 26 RECONNAISSANCE IN THE UTE COUNTRY. south at an angle with the horizon of about 20°, are perfectly parallel, and from 20 to 50 feet from stratum to stratum. Each stratum is a sheer cliff, somewhat columnar for three- quarters of its height, with horizontal laminae across the tops of the columns, looking like exquisite architecture. On the top of each stratum is a narrow terrace covered with verdure; back of this another cliff rises, and so on to. the summit. The colors are vivid red and green, and the whole as symmetrical as the w ork of the most careful architect. Toward the south end of the park, the red sandstone has dipped be-lowT the soil and covered with a gray sandstone. These eastern mountains are of a singular shape, having rectangular lines, and slopes like the frusta of pyramids. South of the " old Spanish trail" the eastern hills have conical curves on the face, while the summit is one line sloping toward the south, at an angle of about 10° with the horizon. Their face is thinly timbered with quaking- aspen. The western boundary of the park is a high range of sandstone cliff', 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the valley, dipping toward the south, and is a counterpart of the eastern range, except that the red sandstone is not so well exposed. The limestone cliff* seen on the right, before reaching the park, disappears shortly below Camp 32, about a mile, running out above the sandstone. The gorge of the Animas above the head of the park is through a stratum of feldspathic granite, in which occur remarkably large crystals of feldspar. This extends along the river as far as we could trace it. The bottom looks fertile and is well watered, even swampy in places. In the northern end is much tine yellow pine, particularly on the east bank about the ruins of the Animas City. These yellow pines are scattered all down the park. Along the streams are some small cotton woods and sweet gum, and many rose and service bushes. On the dry ridge we found low, wrhite sage, grease- wood, and cacti, the latter in bloom with brilliant pink, crimson, and purple and yellow blossoms. About half way down the valley a small stream flows down over the sandstoue cliff, making a pretty cascade of 20 feet or thereabouts, falling in threads and rivulets. It then flows down toward the river through a thicket of willows, gums, and roses. The Rincon is a slight enlargement of the park about three miles wide. In the east it is closed in by the range described south of the old Spanish trail, in the south by a range of about 2,000 feet above the river, of rounded outlines timbered to summit, probably sandstone. Mountains at south end of Animas Park.- This range continues on the south and west of Animas as far as seen. This range breaks down at a creek by which the South La Plata trail passes out; between this pass and tbe North La Plata trail, over sharp mountains of sandstone and shale, about 1,000 to 2,000 feet high. These probably extend back to the La Plata Mountains. The. park is fertile, level, and well watered with several small streams. There is little timber- cottonwood and large yellow pines in the bottom, and spruce- pines on the mountain slopes. The Rincon is more rolliug, low sandy hills, with much sage and cacti and little grass. Camp 33 is on a small creek called Junction Creek, because of the junction with various trails. Trails entering Animas Parle.- Four great trails center in the Rincon: the old Spanish, from Pagosa, coming in northeast down a gulch crossing the Animas three- fourths of a mile above Camp 33$ the lower trail, from Pagosa, coming up the Animas; the Lower La Plata trail, passing out through the gulch of a small stream; and Upper La Plata trail, |