New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-09-15

nm before we reached the crest, and the crest was
the same character; the thiDnest possible conp VI
rock too Narrow to scramble along Continuously
and broken and cleft into masses ana pillars, v"
reckoned that q devoted man, with cro"o"'
could by @ week of industrious exer'iou' iouo
the hight Of the mountain one or '"o
hundred feet Something we did toward 10 our
selves by topping great Fragments "hich wen'
tbundefine down the western slope. or crashed oy
shorter road over the sleeper Drecpice IN ront anu
fnrroved the surface Of the immense fsld OF snow
hollow X il this great and unbrokon snow-heId
which forms the Characteristic feature Of the noun
tain. "a seen from the peaks to the eastward; OK
all the great amphitheatral formations which arc
common in this region it is the greatest and it hap
pens to lie 20 "A to receive and retain In one mass
the snow that is blown into it BY the prevailing VINO
from the adjacent nights. There is perhaps o mile
in breadth of unbroken white, by half mile down
the slope; at the BASE dark blue Lake catches the
melted waters before they pour down 10 swell the
Roaring Fork. To the left, or northward, the same
granite formation continues few miles, IN con-
nected lines Of ridges and eress that ct one point
rise even little higher 10 hundred or two Oh feet
into another conspicuous summit. the last very
high point ON the range. These two neighboring
and related mountains had been called, provision
ally, when first seen from 50 miles of, the snow
Mass and the Black Pyramid; now. afser much cogi-
tation and discussion they have been baptized anew
the White House and the Capitol The miners. we
are told have known them as the Twin Mountains
but they too unlike in appearances, and too I'M
portant in their separate individuality TO be con-
founded together under joint name like that.
THE SIERRA MADRE TO BE CALLED THE NATIONAL
RANGE.
AS regards now, the hight of these two peaks, 1t
is something Of disappointment 10 find it not nota-
bly, greater than that Of others in she same chain
and in that further east, namely. somewhere be-
tween 1900 and 1880 feet. There are half dozen
SUBMITS in this, and ten or a dozen in the other,
which are likely to come within those limits. Thi
equality Of uplift and erosion is certainly remark
able circumstance, and the near assemblage OF 80
many grand peaks. all visible together from many
central point ought be satisfying TO the mind
seeking for sublimity would bs she loftier pre-
eminence of one or two among them.
/ have called attention to the grand regularity
and unity of the range which we have known as the
Sierra Madre and to which the Survey proposes 10
give the more Ineligible English name of National
Range. The group in which we are il of more
irregular and varied structure 1t Is q group OF
congeres of ranges, rather than single chain. 1t
occupies the rudcly triangular area tho apex west
ward which lies between the Grand and Gunnlson
rivers being, in fact, entirely embraced within
their auents. The main axis Of uplift was perhaps
nearly north and south. but it crossed by, or
made up of, east and ives. axes, and diyerBihed by
centers Of varying local action. This is shown by
the unerOded remnants Of the sedimentary beds
which yet left in vast masses at every degree OF
elevation. The Grand Teocalli, of which spoke Ia
my last letter, is only one among many similarly
striking piles Of sandstone. with strat6csdon con-
spcuous to the eye many miles away, Another par.
L. aavx
named from its very peculiar and beautiful color
which thrlsts up strangely thin and sharp
pointed peak, like the end of a broad blade, into the
sky to about 1900 feet, near the White House.
Another yet more remarkable ridge of the same
form and color further SOUTH fanked on either side
with turrets cleft deeply down land hence called the
Castle Peak, is more than 1900 feet high, and may
perhaps prove to be the very lofest summit in the
region. 1t is truly extraordinary to see from some
high central point the variety OF form and color
aud dip of these sandstone mountains, set off by
the yet more discOrdant forms and cOlOrs of the
other formations. Doubtless there is other region
in the United States which can vie with this as an
illustration of all that is grand and beautiful in
Notwithstanding, and it viii DO brought wildly
before the eyes of many who never come here TO
it, by the splendid panoramic photographs of the
Survey.
GEOLOGICAL RESULTS OBTAINED
OF course such region is OF absorbing interest TO
the geologst, who does not often the forces of
nature SO plainly shownin their workings and on so
magnificent scale To work ont their effects in
complete detail will of course. be the task of many
years, even generations. The most striking gen.
eral result yet reached, or believed TO be
reached is that these vast beds Of sand
stone, with everything cretaceous shales, are
identical with those which thrown up on the
Al.
Mountains bordering the great plains. The
biologists claim even TO recognize certain double
bed of quarzite, with interposed lamina OF shale,
which DR.. HAYDEN has traced through hundreds and
hundreds of miles Of the Northwest Is would follow
from this of course that at the comparatively recent
period of the cretaceOus the plains had stretched
unbrOken far beyond this to the westward and that
the uplifting of strata and OutpOunng OF eruptive
material with all the tremendous erosion that has
carved out the existing ranges, bad taken place
since that time. Just here, rs for several miles
south of here and in other localities the horizontal
thrust has folded or overturned the strata,
and they seen in inverse order there
are points. where the whole operation OF
overturning scan be traced Throughout am op-
pressed with the number and magnitude of tho
results reached by the Survey, and feel that am
giving you a most imperfect sketch OF its opera
tons should like to speak more particularly Of
the dOngs of the various natursliss asd collectors.
more devoted aud able body OF assistants than DIR.
Hayden and Mr.. Gardner have gathered about them
is rarely if ever, collected What has always dis
tinguished DE-. Haydens work has been abundance
of results with paucity of means and economy of
expenditure and it maintains ito character fully
this year ever.
This is the extreme point TO be visited and
examined this season by the heads of the Survey.
Leaving here the special party, under hr. Gannett,
whose Typographical and geological districrft s tor
The finishing Of the detailed work. they go up TO the
Middle Park. Mr.. Marvine'. district, taking on the
way the northern parts of the National Range, the
Mountain Of the Holy Cross, and the Blue River
Range. For few days shall be traversins
ground already trodden.