The daily sentinel., 1908-02-17

Efforts have been made time and
again to interest private capital or to
secure state aid for the construction
of so-called high line" canal,
skirting the valley at a high level on
the north side and controlling the
present canal system. In 1896 the
Plateau Grand canal was built, which
diverts the waters of Plateau creek,
a tributary of Grand river, into a
ditch which, at the time, promised
to become the long cherished high
line canal. Unfortunately, after the
ditch had been built at great ex-
pense the flow of Plateau creek prov
ed to be so limited as to render
the Plateau Grand project failure
and the ditch was abandoned. Sur
veys have been made by private par
ties, and reconnaissance was made
by the state of Colorado for high
line canal to take water from Grand
river, some of these surveys extend
ing throughout the entire length of
the valley to the Utah line.
That portion of Grand river val
ley, which will be benefited by this
project. lies in the extreme western
portion of the state. The valley is
horseshoe shaped, the curvatures be-
ing northward with apex just east
of the state line. Here it is divided
by a mesalike ridge traversing it
from north to south and known as
the Excelsior divide.
The valley of Grand river of Colo
RADIO lies on the northern side of a
great dome-like uplift. the beds dip
ping northeasterly, northerly, and
northwesterly directions. The strata
exposed belong to the lower part of
the Upper Cretaceaus and are COM
posed largely of shales interbedded
with thin layers of sandstones and
clays. On the south of Grand river
the uplift exposes the Dakota sand
stone and variegated ciays of the
Cretaceous, the sandstones and green
shales of the Jurassic, the red sand
stones and vermillion shales of the
Triassic, and the underlying eruptive
GRANTEES and gneisses. North of the
central portion of the uplift and
strata assume uniform lips extending
across the valley to the escarpment
of the Little Book Cliffs, where the
dips become moro pronounced. The
Little Book or Roam Cliff, which
rise as an imposing barrier inelosin 6
Grand river on the north for it's en-
tire length, and extend to Green
river in Utah, are the foothills of
the Main Book or Roam Plateau, the
name having been derived from the
banded appearance of the Dakota
sandstones and Cretaceous shalee,
suggestive of book bindings.
The surface of the valley rises
from the river in the direction of the
Little Book Cliffs at rates varying
from so to 100 feet per mile. 1t will
readily be seen from the above de-
scription that the floor of the valley
intersects the stratification at an
acute angle, exposing in succession
the various formation. This in a
| measure will explain the great var
| iety of soils encountered in what at
first glance would seem to be fair
| ly uniform and level valley. Erosion
and deposition by aqueous agencies
have further contributed to compli-
cate the areal geology of the valley
clay-like adobe lands having in places
been covered by sandy creek de-
! posits, and much alluvial material
| occurring along Grand river over
! lying the gravels of its former river
I beds The level character of the val
I ley floor gives place in the northern
part of the valley to sharply eroded
shale hills, in many localities pre-