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Show 91 Between Hines' Fork and the Los Pinos Pass are very well- marked and steep spurs, with well- detined peaks, and slopes broken by bluffs of trap. On the western side of Ute Creek the spar between this stream and the Los Pinos Pass is of nearly uniform height, save that near its center, rising from its upper surface, as from a suitable pedestal, is one of the handsomest and most symmetrical cones in Colorado. It is about 5 miles from the Rio Grande River, and is a marked feature, noticeable and prominent from every point of view, the more so, perhaps, because there are so few peaks in its immediate vicinity, the other mountains in the same spur having rounded summits, or apices, with very gently- sloping upper surfaces; the lower slopes are blufflike. This cone was ascended by my party in 1874, and a primary triangulation- station made upon it. It was named by me Simpson's Pyramid. On its eastern side the Rio los Pinos takes its rise and flows south through a tremendous canon toward the San Juan. East of Simpson's Pyramid the Ute trail crosses from the valley of the Rio Grande to the bead of the Rio los Pinos; its summit is flat and marshy for some miles, or until the fall of the Los Pinos is sufficient to give good drainage. The descent to the Rio Grande side is exceedingly steep for about half a mile, the fall in this distance being 1,000 feet. The pass will never be valuable as a wagon-route unless the discovery of very rich mines about the headwaters of the Los Pinos makes it a necessity. The minor streams in this division all have rapid fall, and, except Hines' Fork, near their mouth flow through narrow cafions. Their headwaters, however, as a role, are in Alpine meadows with not excessive slopes; covered, however, with a thick growth of mountain- willow, which much impedes travel. In places, also, the surface of these more gradual but limited slopes is broken by short ledges of trap, from 4 to 50 feet in height, which readily puts an end to mule transportation or causes a very winding course to be followed. As seen from the Rio Grande CaOon, however, the characteristic of this division is abruptness, and indeed all the streams save Clear Creek are bordered by lofty escarpments and steep slopes. Although on the Rio Grande side of this division as far as to the summit of the divide, there are, with the exception of Simpson's Pyramid, no very remarkable topographical features, upon the Pacific slope are numerous sharp ranges and spurs of gigantic mountains, peaked, cut by deep canons and frightful gorges, rising far above the limit of arborescent vegetation, covered the greater part of the year with snow, the locus now of one of the most extensive and rapidly developing mining regions in the Uuited States. These ranges and spurs are: 1st. The Lake Fork group of peaks. 2d. The Uncompahgre Peak group. 3d. The Unaweep range. 4th. The Sierra San Miguel. * 5th. The " Needles," Floridas Comb, or " Sierra Los Pinos" of Newberry, about the heads of the Rio los Pinos, and the masses of mountains within which heads the Animas River. In these groups of high and ragged mountains, which cover . approximatively with their peaks the area between longitudes 107° 20' and 108°, latitude 37° 35' and 38° 08', - or about 1,400 square miles, the Animas, Rio los Pinos, and Rita Florida, tributary to the Rio 8an Juan, the Dolores, San Miguel, Uncompahgre, aud Lake Fork of the Gunnison, and other minor streams tributary to the Gunnison, and the Rio Grande del Norte with it* headwaters intertwined with the above, take their rise. Perhaps within the limits of the United States there cannot be found another area of the same superficies so intricate in topographical detail, HO rugged and steep and difficult of access, and requiring so much patience, energy, and hard physical labor in its survey. In the center of this mountain region the Animas River takes its rise and drains with its tributaries Cemeut and Mineral Creeks, an approximatively elliptical area with the longer axis northeast and southwest, or from the head of the Animas to the head of the south fork of Mineral Creek. The Animas River itself runs parallel to the eastern portion of the periphery of this ellipse, bending aronud from its headwaters, first to the south, then southwest, closely bordering the bounding elliptical divide, and finally cuts through this rim in a tremendous cafion some 15or 16 miles in length, and from 2,500 t o 4,000 feet in depth. The southwestern vertex is drained by the south fork of Mineral Creek, while the north fork of this stream drains the western portion of the periphery. Cemeut Creek, lying between the Animas and the north fork of Mineral Crtek, drains but a very small portion of the periphery, and is a comparatively insignificant stream. The larger axis of this ellip. se is 20 miles, the shorter abont 14 miles in length. Following the divide around from the head of the Animas, we hav « the Lake Fork • of the Gunnison heading near the northeastern vertex. It flows first in a southeasterly direction, then, making a great sweeping bend, flows north to the Gnnnison River. Its tributary, Ilenseu Creek, heads just north of the headwaters of the Animas, |
