Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1867-11-14
Pref. Powell ON the Peaks, Parks n
ul-sus If CoIoPndo.

tl4ln1 Oh OotOEuuos
From the Colorado Register. October ISL
A fair audience assembled at tho ap-
pointed time and the Professor was In
troduced in due form by the President
Of the Institute, under whose auspices
the lecture was delivered.
Prof. Powell illustrated by various
beautiful and impressive SMILES the
passage Of time and its memorable iniu-
ence on the face Of the globe. Water
WIS the great %leveler, crumbling down
tho hills and mountains, making vast
subterranean chambers. He described
the slow formation of the Mammoth
Cave of Kentucky to give IN idea of
time. All lands had been baptized
had risen from under the water. Many
Mammoth Gave periods ago the crust Of
tho earth was thin and plastic. Earth
quakes kept %upheaving parts Of the
earth's crust, but it was too weak to
sustain them, and so they sank and
were appraised again until the strata
were bent and twisted up as We see
them on the mountains. Nature used
earthquakes to knead the earth's crust
to a consistency that would sustain con-
tinents. He described the period when
the Colorado mountains, newly-upheav-
ed, were laved by q shallow torrid sea,
on whose shores grew tropical plants
and wandered strange animals now ex-
tinct. Forests grew upon tho remains
Of forests, in almost in~terminabls sue
cession. Then they would sink to be
covered with sand. This process, was
gone through with again and again.
Hence beds Of coal, alternating with
strata Of sandstone. A bed of coal was
one Of Dame Natures pots Of picked
sunbeams. On tho west side Of the
range the sea was filing up as on this
with clay shales, states, coal, limestone.
etc. He would describe one of the ami
mails Of that period. Its substance was
jelly quartz and nyriads and genera
tions Of them were connected together.
The shells of these animals crystslized
into the agates found in tho Middle
Park. Ho had seen a stratum of these
agates with six feet Of magnetism clay
over it, then agates, then clay, for two
hundred feet in thickness.
Atlength the earth's crust was knead-
ed to a sufficient solidity to bear up
mountains, and the great Rocky Noun
tains were laid up to dry. AS they
dried and shrank assures were made.
| These became mineral lodes in due time.
| Their cast and west course had relation
to the magnetic currents. Scientific
men agreed that these currents were
caused by the falling of the sunbeams
in waves on the earth-tho same old
story of suubeams condensed into coal.
1t was popularity supposed that far down
toward the center of the earth WAS an
ocean of molten metal which had been
projected outward through assures in
the earth's crust. But that idea WAS
| rejected by the learned. Everything
was in motion by molecules, and all
that is necessary in order to segregate
the minerals from tho rocks is to direct
| these molecular motions. The eleva-
| ton of the mountains was attended by
| igneous phenomena. Rivers of molten
rock wore belched forth and poured
down into the parks and on the Plains.
In Middle Park a basin had been formed
so by 60 miles in extent. One great
| assure of this kind had filled that basin
500 feet in depth with red hot lava. 1t
was poured into the basin while it was
filled with water. Then were born the
storms, the rains fell necessarily. Ano-
Their of these lava streams vas poured
on, at Valmont and one at Golden City.
He had fshed for trout in Middle Park
at the base Of a monument of the Terti-
AIRY ages that lifted its head 1000 feet
into tho air.
The waters falling on the elevated
platform for vast periods had worn out
the valleys, sculptured the mountain
peaks, and cut channels for themselves
to the seq. The Plains were thus fin
ished off by the debris of the mountains.
The mountains again were crumbled
down by frost, the iron cubes of the
lodes decomposed, some Of the gold set
Ting into the lodes, making their backs
very rich, some of it being carried
| down in low places, constituting the
placer diggings. The clouds were the
artists that shaped tho contour of the
earth. The length of time, amount OF
motion, and vast work Of the waters,
had impressed him most in l3 years
study of nature. When the mountains
were uplifted the rock strata were bent
up at the edges, the soft ones were then
washed out by the water, leaving the
harder strata standing. Hence the par.
allcl ridges of red sandstone at the base
of the mountains hundreds of feet high,
called "hog-backs." This sandstone
formation was 9,700 feet thick, which
measured the distance this grand pla'
tcau in tho middle of Colorado was
lifted up.
As,we enter the South Park at Mont.
gomcry we seem to DO walled in by tow.
ering mountains. We arc in Lincoln
Park, containing $50 acres, at the base
of Mount Lincoln. Lakes fed from
eternal snow banks bound their waters
over rocks from 200 to 900 feet high.
There were 1913 cascades pouring into
this little park. Sitting there with q
friend q short time ago he had witnessed
the sudden gathering Of a storm. The
immense, dense cloud seemed to give a
black light, a shadow,-we were in the
land of shades. His friend remarked,
" The valley Of the shadow of death"
They sought shelter under the rocks
and watched the breaking Of the storm.
Then came the rainbow, making brides,
cent the rocks against which it was
flung. "My friends, said the lecturer,
"I can but exclaim, '0h God ! Creator
Of all, how wonderful are Thy works p'
THE Chassepot rife was tested at
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