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Show 294 the east side of the Moreno, upon which Willow Gulch embouches, the part performed by the little tributary up to a very recent date is plainly indicated by the long train of dibrti which its floods have swept out into the valley, like the tailings of some immense placer- washing. Some ten miles across from the Cimarron Cafion, in a southwesterly direction, a well- constructed Government road leads to the summit of Taos Pass, by which exit communication is gained with the valley of the Bio Grande. The watershed, which is a comparatively low divide, along its course bounding the Moreno Valley, is here broken down, affording a passage in elevation above the level of the sea about 8,850 feet The pass lies over a narrow ridge, with rather sharp descents on either side for a short distance, when its approaches are so gradual as scarcely to give a premonition of proximity to one of the great natural highways across the Spanish range. On the summit are observed fragments of partially- metamorphosed reddish sandstone, together with other erratic masses. Looking off to the east, a part of the Moreno Valley is over* looked, and just beyond rise the mountain- masses on the east side of the valley. These consist of immense broad- based, low- crowned summits, dark with tracts of spruce- forests, amidst which are scattered extensive mountain- meadows and groves of aspen, which lessen their otherwise somber, monotonous aspect. These hills forcibly remind one of the broad- crested mountain- range which traverses Vermont and Western Massachusetts; a resemblance which will probably be found to possess even closer relationship in the similarity of geological structure. It affords me much satisfaction to be permitted to announce in this place the discovery, by my friend Mr. Frank Springer, of Carboniferous strata in situ in the Taos Canon, on the western declivity of the main range. On a recent journey ( April) across the range 13 Taos, Mr. Springer was struck by the familiar appearance of certain deposits along the hemmedin valley down which the Government road passes from Taos Pass, and, dismounting to prosecute a hasty examination, he found himself in the midst of a rich fauna, the facies of which indicate the most intimate relationship of the strata in which it occurs to the Upper Coal- Measure deposits in the region of the Lower Missouri. Among the forms recognized by Mr. Springer are Spirifer earneratus, Athyris subti-lita, Retzia Mormonii, several species of Product ™ , and numerous Cri-noidal remains. The fossils are associated in a dark calcareous shale, which extends from the lowest outcrop examined, at a point some eight miles from Taos, up the caiion several miles. The strata bear evident indicatious of great disturbance, being tilted in various directions, and which apparently exist in considerable thickness. The discovery of these beds affords ample confirmation of the suppositions expressed by Dr. Hayden in 18G9 that the Carboniferous and older Palaeozoic formations " once existed all along the western side of the mountains". On the upper course of the Moreno, in the vicinity of Elizabethtowu. is situated one of the famous mining- centers of the Territory. The auriferous lodes intersecting Great Baldy have squandered their wealth, distributing it in the beds of the gulches furrowing its sides, and which the denuding agencies have transported far down into the neighboring valleys. In former years, vast miniug- schemes were projected, and large sums expended in carrying them out; but to- day, if the operations are less stupendous, they are certaiuly conducted in a most thorough and systematic manner. In the lower course of Grouse Gulch, Messrs. Low-hian and Middleton are working an extensive placer- claim, by the |
