Catoctin clarion., 1922-12-28
A NEW GUIDE TO A WESTERN
ROUTE OF TRAVEL
Geological Survey adds another Guide.
Book to its Series

pic display OF mountains, plains, anu
plateaus; of narrow, rugged canyons
and broad valleys; of rushing noun
tain torrents and mighty rivers whose
"still waters run deep;" and of fertile
fields and seemingly endless desert
wastes that appear to have been for
saken by man and by every other form
of animal life. The human aspects of
the country are as varied as the phys
ical aspects, for in single day the
train may whirl by busy city whose
prosperity is shown by the clouds of
,moke rolling up from its manufac-
turing plants, by mines and mills
where natures raw materials are con-
verted into forms suitable for the use
of man, and by the lonely ranch house
whose inhabitants seem to be cut off
entirely from the surrounding civil
cation. All these features and many
more may be flashed before the trav-
| eler's eye in rapid succession, making
| an infinite variety and yet blending
to form a corcrete whole that consti-
tutes his impression of the trip.
A Picturesque Route
Much of this variety is epitomized
in trip across the mountains of Colo
RADIO and the plateaus and deserts OF
Utah, and for this reason the United
States Geological Survey, Department
of the Interior, has selected this region
as the subject of its latest guidebook
of the western part of the United
States. This new guidebook, written
by Marius R. Campbell, treats of the
scenery, the resources and the human
activities in the region traversed by
the Denver e. Rio Grande Western
Railroad from Denver to Salt Lake
CITY. This route is noted for the
grandeur and the diversity of its seen
cry, and the guidebook attempts not
only to describe this scenery as it ap-
pears from the train, but to explain 1t
to tell in simple language how the
present forms of mountains, plains
and canyons have been developed from
ancient forms that may have been
very unlike those of today. This de-
velopment of the surface has been lik-
ened to the progress of human being
from infancy to old age, and the chan
ges that take place in the surface fea-
lures of the earth are no less orderly
and regular than those that take place
in the life of man.
Story of the Underlying Rocks
The guidebook, however, does more
than to describe the scenery along the
route of travel-it describes the rocks
which underlie the surface and which
in a measure have controlled the forms
that have been carved in the surface
Many of the beds of these rocks are
most interesting, for they contain the
remains of strange animals that are
now extinct-great dinosaurs and 9th.
er gigantic beasts that lived long ages
ago. Parts of the skeletons of the
Stegosaurus and Triceratops, two OF
these great dinosaurs, which were &c
feet long and or 9 feet high, have
been found near Denver, Canon City
and Grand Junction, and the tracks OF
these animals, preserved in sandstone
have been found at other places in the
: West.
Exploitation of the Metallic Wealth
of the Region Described
The rocks contain also the metal
liferous ores that have made Colorado
and Utah famous and have added
many millions of dollars to the wealth
of the country. The history of the
: precious-metal mining in the noun
tains of these States reads like thrill
ling romance or tale of high adven-
ture. The guidebook gives brief his
tories of the more prominent mining
camps, such as Central City and
Georgetown, in the vicinity of Denver;
Cripple Greek, near Colorado Springs
and Leadville, in Colorado; and Park
City and Bingham Canyon in Utah
; The most interesting of these, per-
haps, is Leadville, for it has had the
most varied history. Mining was
started at Leadville by the discovery
of placer gold deposits in 1859. These
deposits were soon exhausted, however
) but rich veins of silver and lead ore
were then uncovered, and for nearly
20 years Leadville was the greatest
silver mining camp the world has ever
known. Fortunes were made and lost
in single day, either in the mines OF
at the gambling tables; the camp was
overrun by people who poured in from
all parts of the world, intent upon get
ting share of the enormous wealth;
and the town took on the hectic life
of the most active mining camp
Gradually the output of silver declined
and when the World War began in
1914, all the mines turned to the pro-
duction Of zinc, which gave the camp
new life and helped materially to sup
ply our urgent need in the war. Lead
Vile now seems to be in decline, but
one cannot see it without feeling a
touch of the romance and glamour of