(Garden City, Kans.)—Holly—Lamar—La Junta—Pueblo—Canon City—Salida—Monarch Pass—Gunnison—Montrose—Delta—Grand Junction—Fruita—(Thompsons, Utah); US 50. Kansas Line to Utah Line, 483.9 miles. Gravel-surfaced road between Salida and Sargents, elsewhere oil-processed; Monarch Pass closed during heavy snows. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. parallels route between Garden City and Pueblo; Denver & Rio Grande Western R. R. between Pueblo and Utah Line. Good accommodations.               

US 50 follows the Arkansas River from the plains into the mountains, ascends through wild and beautiful country to the top of the Continental Divide, descends into the valley of the Gunnison, a famed trout stream, which it follows into the high plateau country in the western part of the State. Monuments along the highway indicate that the extreme eastern section of this route follows the old Arkansas River branch of the Santa Fe Trail, established by Capt. William Becknell in 1821, as far as Bent's Fort, near Hadley, where it struck off southwest to Trinidad.

Section a. KANSAS LINE to PUEBLO; 152 miles US 50

In this section the plains slope down into the irrigated agricultural lands of the Arkansas Valley, one of the richest and most intensively cultivated sections of Colorado. Occasionally the highway swings away from the river bottom and crosses desolate prairie country for short distances.

US 50 crosses the KANSAS LINE, 0 miles, 69 miles west of Garden City, Kans. (see Kansas Guide).

HOLLY, 4.5 miles (3,400 alt., 971 pop.), is the center of a region once dotted with cattle ranches, now given over to agriculture, stock raising, and feeding. The earliest reservoir system in the valley was constructed here in 1890. A SANTA FE TRAIL MARKER stands a short distance (L) from the highway, in front of the Santa Fe depot.

The highway crosses the ARKANSAS RIVER, 10.2 miles, the greatest western affluent of the Missouri-Mississippi River system. Rising near Leadville and flowing 2,000 miles through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, it drains an area of 188,000 square miles. The river was known to early Spanish and French explorers as Rio Napesta or Rio Napestle, said by some to be derived from the Osage Ne Shutsa, or Red Water. It was later named for the Arkansas Indians who once lived along its lower reaches.

The route passes GRANADA (Sp. pomegranate), 15 miles (3,479 alt., 352 pop.), a trading center, once the terminus of the Santa Fe Railway, and enters the district known as BIG TIMBERS, a name given by the Cheyenne to a vast grove of cottonwoods that once extended 30 miles along the Arkansas.

William Bent had a trading post at Big Timbers in 1844, and the trader Thorpe established another in 1846. "Buffalo were plentiful and Indians gathered there in force," wrote a visitor of that period. "A big camp of Cheyennes had pitched their lodges near the log houses of the traders; two miles below, on the north side of the river, was the Arapaho village; on the south bank, opposite the trading houses, were the camps of the Kiowas and Prairie Apaches, while farther down on the south side the northern bands of Comanche had gone into winter camp. At night, when the soldier societies were giving dances the drums could be heard beating in the camps all night long. In the daytime the trading houses were crowded with Indians bringing in their robes to trade. The Cheyenne and Arapaho women brought their robes on their own backs, but the women from the camps on the other side of the river brought theirs on the backs of mules and horses."

LAMAR, 32.5 miles (3,500 alt., 4,233 pop.), seat of Prowers County, was named for L. Q. C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior under President Cleveland. At Main Street and the Santa Fe tracks (R), near the railroad station, is the MADONNA OF THE TRAIL MONUMENT, dedicated to pioneer mothers of covered wagon days. In the new courthouse is a frieze picturing all cattle brands used in southern Colorado when cowmen were kings.

Lamar was the scene of a daring holdup on May 25, 1928, when Ralph and Jake Fleagle, with two associates, swept down upon the First National Bank, shot the president and his son, kidnaped an employee, and escaped with $200,000. The abducted man was subsequently murdered. Another murder followed when the gang shot a doctor whom they had kidnaped to attend a wounded member. Three of the bandits were captured and hanged; the fourth, Jake Fleagle, was shot to death while resisting arrest.

Left from Lamar on a graded dirt road running southwest along the bank of the river to the SITE OF A CHEYENNE INDIAN VILLAGE, 8 miles, now a sand-blow where many arrowheads, stone axes, beads, and other relics have been found.

At 41 miles is the junction with a dirt road.

Left on this road along high bluffs overlooking the rivers, to the SITE OF BENT'S SECOND FORT, 0.5 miles, built of stone in 1853 by William Bent after abandonment of a larger fort upstream (see Tour 9A). In 1859 he leased this fort to the Federal Government. First named Fort Fauntleroy for a colonel of the old First Dragoons and later Fort Wise in honor of the Governor of Virginia, it was again renamed during the Civil War in honor of General Lyon, the first Union general to fall in the war. In 1866 the river began cutting away the bank and a new Fort Lyon was built 20 miles upstream, two miles below the mouth of the Purgatoire (see below).

At 54 miles is a junction with a dirt road.

Left on this road across the Arkansas River is CADDOA, 3 miles (4,000 alt., 100 pop.), near a creek of the same name, the site of a Federal Government dam to impound waters of the Arkansas. Caddoa Creek was named for the Caddoan Indians. Early in the Civil War, fearing an attack by Texans, this tribe and the Wichita fled north and took refuge in Union territory. In 1864 the Wichita moved into Kansas and built a village of their typical grass houses near the present city of Wichita.

At the upper end of Big Timbers, opposite the mouth of Caddoa Creek, is a spot known to the Cheyenne as RED SHIN'S STANDING GROUND. Here, in 1883, Red Shin and Bull-Cannot-Rise quarreled over a woman, and the latter called on his brothers to join the fray. While they were running for their arms, Red Shin fled to the top of the stone knob here with two flintlock muskets, bow and arrows, two knives, and a tomahawk, and challenged his combined opponents When an arrow flew through Bull-Cannot-Rise's hair, the attackers withdrew. The Cheyenne, greatly impressed by Red Shin's demonstration, named the spot for him.

At 64 miles is a junction with a graveled road.

Left on this road to FORT LYON, 1.7 miles, a former United States Army Post, later a Naval tuberculosis hospital, and since 1934 VETERANS ADMINISTRATION FACILITY No. 80 (open 9-5 daily). The landscaped grounds cover 1,140 acres. The brick hospital buildings have 805 beds for the treatment of psychopathic patients.

In the reservation is the KIT CARSON MUSEUM (free; key at Fort Lyon Library), housed in the cabin in which the noted scout died on May 23, 1868. Christopher (Kit) Carson, born in Kentucky December 24, 1809, spent his boyhood in Missouri. While working as a saddler's apprentice, he became enamoured of the life of trappers and traders, and in 1826 joined a caravan to Santa Fe. On this trip he demonstrated his skill in amateur surgery by amputating a wounded arm in which gangrene had developed. From Santa Fe, Carson went to Taos, N. M., where he served in various expeditions as saddler, wrangler, cook, teamster, and trapper. He is said to have killed his first Indian in a fight with the Apache in 1829, but always retained a deep sympathy for the redmen. In 1835, at a rendezvous of trappers in Green River Valley in northwestern Colorado, Carson fought a duel over an Arapaho woman with a Canadian trapper, Captain Shunan, a great bully of the camps, and seriously wounded his adversary. Carson then married the woman with the customary Indian rites. Waa-nibe, or Alice, as he rechristened her, bore him one child, a girl, but soon died. The daughter, Adeline, was sent East but was brought back by Carson when she was fourteen; the next year she married.

The Scout's second marriage, with Making-Out-The-Road, a Cheyenne, did not turn out well. An indulgent husband, Carson was nearly ruined by her extravagance. When he remonstrated, she drove him from their lodge at Bent's Fort, flinging his belongings after him.

His third wife was Maria Josefa Jaramillo, a beautiful Spanish girl of considerable wealth and position, sister-in-law of Charles Bent, Governor of New Mexico, who was killed during an Indian uprising in Taos. Josefa herself barely escaped with her life, and as Carson was serving as a guide at the time, it was almost two years before they were reunited. Although Josefa bore Carson eight children and brought him rich lands as her dowry, she never succeeded in domesticating him. He continued to follow the long trails, served as guide and companion to Lieutenant John C. Fremont on almost all of his expeditions, made several trips to Washington with dispatches, and for a short time was commander at Fort Garland (see Tour 11b). At the outbreak of the Civil War he was Indian Agent at Taos, but resigned to become a colonel in the Union Army.

After the war Carson was again appointed Indian Agent, and in 1865 was chosen mediator-in-chief for the tribes of the Southwest. Ill health forced him to relinquish this post in 1867, but a year later he was persuaded to accompany a delegation of Ute to Washington. While there, he was honored by high officials but was ill during his entire stay. Soon after his return to his home here, his wife died and Carson followed her a month later, dying peacefully while smoking his pipe after the evening meal. He was buried here at the fort beside Josefa; later their remains were removed to Taos, N. M., as Carson had requested.

US 50 follows the Arkansas River to LAS ANIMAS, 70 miles (4,100 alt., 2,517 pop.), seat of Bent County and named for Las Animas or Purgatoire River, which flows into the Arkansas River nearby. Founded in 1869 across the Arkansas from Fort Lyon, the first site of Las Animas was abandoned when the Kansas Pacific Railroad built its line six miles to the west in 1873. This first settlement was known for a time as West Las Animas. In 1874 the surrounding area was the scene of immense roundups of cattle from northern Texas, Indian Territory, and Kansas, and was noted for its large shipments of buffalo meat. The Prairie Cattle Company, an English corporation, grazed more than 50,000 cattle here during the early 1880's. The last great roundup occurred in 1916. Irrigated farms, dairying, lamb feeding, and poultry raising have supplanted the longhorns.

At this point on November 15, 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike first sighted the peak that was to bear his name. "At two o'clock in the afternoon," he wrote in his journal, "I thought I could distinguish a mountain to our right, which appeared like a small blue cloud; viewed it with a spy glass, and was still more confirmed in my conjecture ... in half an hour they appeared in full view before us. When our small party arrived on the hill they with one accord gave three cheers for the Mexican mountains. . . they appear to present a natural boundary between the province of Louisiana and New Mexico . . ."

Right from Las Animas on a dirt road is BOGGSVILLE, 2 miles, on the Purgatoire River. Here the first successful experiment in irrigation in this region was made by Thomas O. Boggs in 1866. He was joined by J. W. Prowers and Robert Bent, son of William Bent, who placed 1,000 acres of land under cultivation. Prowers is credited with bringing the first herd of cattle into this country in 1861, driving in 100 head from Missouri.

The highway crosses a large overpass and traverses fertile farm country growing alfalfa, corn, melons, onions, and sugar beets.

At 80 miles is a junction with a dirt road.

Right on this road 4 miles to the SITE OF BENTS FORT (see Tour 9A).

LA JUNTA (Sp. the junction), 89.5 miles (4,100 alt., 7,193 pop.), seat of Otero County, founded in 1875 and originally named Otero for Miguel Otero, a Spanish settler, was once a shipping point by wagon train to the New Mexico markets and was a "wide-open" cow town. Today it is an important railroad center, at the junction of the main line and the Denver branch of the Santa Fe System, which here maintains its second largest shops. The city has a brick and tile plant, a flour mill, and creameries.

The FORT BENT MUSEUM (open 9-5 daily), in Court House Park, exhibits fossils, relics of early days in the Arkansas Valley, old newspapers and documents, and a scaled model of Bent's Fort (see Tour 9A).

La Junta is at the junction with US 350 (see Tour 10).

Left from La Junta on a rough dirt road is HIGBEE, 19.1 miles, a community of weatherbeaten shanties.

Right from Higbee 1 miles on a dirt road to the DINOSAUR TRACKS, discovered in December 1935 along the banks of the Purgatoire River. These tracks were imprinted in the rock floor of the river by Tyrannosaurus Rex, one of the fiercest of ancient reptiles. Eighteen tracks appear in a straight line. From the three-toed footprints, 3 inches deep, 11 inches wide, and 15 inches long, and from the 50-inch stride, it is estimated that the monster was some 50 feet long, 20 feet high, and weighed about 40 tons. A short distance from these tracks have been found the footprints of Triceratops, ancestor of the rhinoceros.

The highway continues through an intensively cultivated area of the Arkansas Valley, its chief crops being melons, sugar beets, and garden truck. In 1938 more than 500 carloads of onions were shipped from this section.

SWINK, 94.8 miles (4,000 alt., 418 pop.), was named for State Senator George W. Swink, a pioneer farmer credited with the development of irrigation in the Arkansas Valley (see below). The HOLLY CORPORATION BEET SUGAR FACTORY (open 9-4 weekdays by permission), processing beets (see Tour 1a) from six surrounding counties, has a daily beet-slicing capacity of 2,500 tons.

ROCKY FORD, 100.7 miles (4,250 alt., 3,426 pop.), was named for the stony bed of the Arkansas River here, which provided a safe ford for freighting trains; quicksands made crossing hazardous at other places. The town is noted for its melons. George W. Swink developed the Rocky Ford cantaloupe from seed sent from Massachusetts in the late 1890's. By 1900 cantaloupes were being shipped in carload lots to eastern markets and England. Melon Day is celebrated during the annual Arkansas Valley Fair in September.

The AMERICAN CRYSTAL SUGAR COMPANY BEET SUGAR FACTORY (open 9-4 weekdays by permission) has a daily beet-slicing capacity of 1,600 tons. A CANNING FACTORY (open 9-4 weekdays) daily processes 10,000 cans of locally grown vegetables during season.

Farm lands checkered with fields of melons, vegetables, zinnias, and marigolds, border the highway west of Rocky Ford. The growing of vegetables and flowers for seed is a principal occupation. The large blue morning glory was developed by a local grower.

MANZANOLA (Sp. apple orchard), 110 miles (4,250 alt., 578 pop.), is the center of a large apple, melon, and vegetable growing district. The route crosses the APISHAPA RIVER (Ind. stinking water), 115 miles, once called Quarreling Creek by the Cheyenne because, so a story runs, a party of Cheyenne here quarreled violently about the selection of a new chief, but they did not come to blows, merely talking and scolding.

West of the river the highway passes FOWLER, 118 miles (4,300 alt., 968 pop.), a shipping point for livestock and poultry, and traverses a stretch of barren prairie to ORCHARD PARK, 130 miles (4,000 alt., 300 pop.), a community possessing neither orchards nor parks. On the low bluffs along the north bank of the Arkansas River (R), known as Pawnee Hills, Cheyenne and Arapaho defeated a large Pawnee war party in 1833.

In spring and early summer, stretches of prairie land here are carpeted with squirrel-tail grass (or wild barley), porcupine grass, and several kinds of bunch and brome grasses. One variety of the latter, known as rattlesnake grass, grows close to the ground and dies before the dry season. When walked upon, it gives forth a rustling sound. Brightening the landscape in midsummer are the tall bee plant, with clusters of purplish-pink flowers, the purple and golden pea, and the handsome yellow evening star. In August and September the bushy butterweed, sunflowers, and sneeze weed grow profusely along irrigation ditches and railroad embankments.

Near the junction of the Huerfano and Arkansas Rivers, 132 miles, is the SITE OF AUTOBEES RANCH, built by Charles Autobees, a French trader and trapper in the 1840's and 1850's. It served as headquarters for frontiersmen, and in 1861 became the seat of Huerfano County, which embraced practically all the territory of southeastern Colorado.

The route traverses irrigated farm lands growing zinnias, bright with bloom in the fall months; flowers of different shades are planted in widely separated fields so that the colors do not mix during pollination.

On the SITE OF OLD FORT REYNOLDS (R), 144 miles, an Army post during the Civil War and Indian wars, is a dump where discarded weapons, cooking utensils, uniform buttons, and other relics of old life at the post are occasionally found.

The highway crosses the ST. CHARLES RIVER, 145 miles, a small tributary of the Arkansas, rising in the Wet Mountains. An early map shows the river as Rio Don Carlos, said to have been named for Don Carlos Beaubien, French trader, who played an important part in the early history of this section. Some authorities assert that the name was handed down from the colony of San Carlos de los Jupes, a village of Comanche settled on the stream by Governor Anza of New Mexico in 1787. The mountain tribe of the Comanche, known as the Jupe, appeared before Governor Anza, and their leader Paru-anarimuco proposed that the Spaniards aid them in establishing themselves in a fixed village on the Rio Napestle (Arkansas River). The exact site of the settlement is unknown, although it was described as being on the "Rio Napestle near a spring with good land." This attempt to settle the nomadic Comanche failed when the Indians suddenly abandoned their villages. The reason for their abrupt exodus appears in the report of Fernando de la Concha, who succeeded Anza as Governor of New Mexico: "This nation, like almost all the gentiles, is full of superstitions. At the moment any person of estimation dies in any suitable spot where they have set their rancherias, they take them up and change the site, even going to a distance and a place ordinarily lacking everything necessary for subsistence in their manner."

The highway descends to SALT CREEK, 150.5 miles (4,500 alt., 356 pop.), typical of the Spanish-American communities found on the outskirts of almost all southern Colorado towns. Two- and three-room adobe houses, most of them with sod roofs and floors of hard-packed earth, line the road; olive-skinned people pass along the dusty street, usually inconspicuous in faded work clothes, but on gala occasions they bedazzle with the startling colors of their holiday garb. The social life of the community revolves around the church with its holidays and fiestas. The easy tempo of life in the village sharply contrasts with the hum of the steel plant (L) beyond Sa!t Creek.

In PUEBLO, 152 miles (4,700 alt., 50,096 pop.) (see Pueblo), are the junctions with US 85 (see Tour 12), State 96 (see Tour 8), and State 76 (see Tour 8A).

Section b. PUEBLO to MONTROSE; 2324 miles US 50

This section of US 50 follows the Arkansas River Valley to cross the Continental Divide at Monarch Pass. One of the great natural entrances to the Rocky Mountains, the Arkansas was followed by many early explorers, including Pike and Fremont. Among the more spectacular sights is the Royal Gorge, or the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas.

Branching west from US 85 at the northern city limits of PUEBLO, 0 miles, US 50 traverses a wide plain of rolling grasslands scantily covered with grama grass and Russian thistles. Blue in the distance are (R) Pikes Peak and (L) the Wet Mountains.

At 14.9 miles is the junction with a dirt road.

Right on this road is STONE CITY, 6.5 ro. (5,200 alt., 100 pop.) ; the Limestone Quarries here, one of the three largest in the State, furnished building stone for the Pueblo County Courthouse. Near the stone pits is the PETRIFIED SKELETON OF A DINOSAUR, known as Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The highway leaves the flat prairies and crosses a region of low rolling hills spotted with a growth of cedar and pine.

An abandoned plant and empty cement-block cottages mark the SITE OF CONCRETE, 22 miles, founded by the Portland Cement Company before it shifted operations to PORTLAND, 24.3 miles (5,000 alt., 435 pop.).

At 27.5 miles is the junction with State 115.

Right on this highway is PENROSE, 5 miles (5,200 alt., 90 pop.), center of the 4,000-acre Beaver Park farming district devoted to fruit-raising and general farming.

Apple orchards border the road for many miles east of FLORENCE, 30 miles (5,187 alt., 2,475 pop.), which began as a coal town and later became the center of considerable oil development. Oil was early found bubbling to the surface of Oil Creek, 3 miles west of town. In 1862 A. M. Cassedy drilled in the canyon and struck oil at 50 feet; hauled by ox cart to Pueblo, Santa Fe, and Denver, it sold at $1.25 to $2.85 a gallon; its price soared to $5 a gallon a few years later when the Santa Fe Trail was closed by Indian wars. Few of the Florence wells are now producing. Jesse Frazier, who opened the first coal mines here, also planted the first apple orchard, bringing his seedlings from Missouri; some of his trees still stand. Florence celebrates an annual Apple Blossom Day.

At frequent intervals dirt roads lead from the highway to numerous coal mines where small operators have supplanted most of the large concerns that developed this field in the early part of the century.

CANON CITY, 38.4 miles (5,333 alt., 5,938 pop.), is divided into three municipalities—North, South, and East Canon—each having its own government. North Canon is the seat of Fremont County.

The site of Canon City, at the mouth of the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas, was a favorite camping ground for the Ute long before the coming of white men. Lieutenant Zebulon Pike and his party camped here in December 1806, departing a few days later to explore the headwaters of the Arkansas, which he believed to be the Red River. He returned on January 5, 1807, and here celebrated his 28th birthday. A blockhouse was built (see below) and nine days later, leaving two of his men and much baggage at the post, Pike set out with his party to cross "the great white mountain" (Sangre de Cristo) into the San Luis Valley, where he and his men were taken prisoners by the Spanish.

The town flourished with the influx of gold seekers in 1859-60. Joaquin Miller, the poet, served as judge, mayor, and minister in early days. He once attempted to change the name of the town to Oreo-delphia, but was overruled by the miners, who protested they could neither write nor pronounce the word, stoutly insisting "the place is a canyon, and it's goin' to be called Canon City." In 1868 Canon City was offered the choice of the State penitentiary or the State university; it chose the former because it was an established institution and seemed likely to be the better attended; Boulder (see Boulder) then spoke for the university. Apple Blossom Week is celebrated annually in Canon City.

In the MUNICIPAL MUSEUM (open 9-4 weekdays, 2-4 Sundays), Municipal Building, 6th and River Sts., are archeological and wildlife specimens assembled by Dal DeWeese, a Canon City resident and world traveler, as well as 16 blue flint axes found along Grape Creek, old histories and guides, and Indian implements. On the same floor art exhibited a calf and three full-grown specimens of buffalo, illegally slain in 1897 in Lost Park (see Tour 15a), the last of the wild bison in the State.

East of the Municipal Building stands the OLDEST HOUSE (open daily), a cabin of roughly squared, peeled logs chinked with adobe, built by Anson Rudd in 1860, now used as a community recreation club. The one-room cabin with attic contains a large mud-plastered stone fireplace.

On the western outskirts of the city loom the gray walls and stone buildings of the COLORADO STATE PENITENTIARY (visiting hours 9-1 it 1-4 daily; adm. 25¢), housing more than 1,550 prisoners (1940). The institution has several ranches and gardens worked by convict labor that supply food for the inmates. A dairy herd furnishes milk and butter, and a fruit and vegetable canning plant operates in season. Automobile license plates are manufactured here. The admission fee to the penitentiary is used to provide books, athletic equipment, and entertainment for inmates. At the western end of the prison ground, sheltered by stone pavilions, are two springs mentioned by Pike in his journal as being "strongly impregnated with sulphur."

The penitentiary was the scene of a riot on October 9-10, 1929, when a group of convicts under Danny Daniels captured and disarmed several guards, and took refuge in one of the cell houses. When prison authorities and militia units laid siege to the cell house, Daniels threatened to kill the captive guards unless he and his men were permitted to go free. He was as good as his word; throughout the night the guards were killed, one by one, and thrown from a high window to the ground. In the end, despairing of freedom, Daniels shot his partners in crime and put a bullet through his own head.

Opposite the penitentiary is STATE PARK, an attractive plot maintained by prison trusties; here a gray granite stone marks the approximate SITE OF PIKE'S BLOCKHOUSE.

At 41.5 miles is the junction with SKYLINE DRIVE, marked by an entrance gate built of stones from every State in the Union.

Right on this graveled road, which circles the crest of a limestone hogback, is CANON CITY, 3 miles In the immediate foreground (R) the drive, built by convict labor, overlooks the rich horticultural and agricultural district of Canon City and its environs; beyond is a magnificent panorama of mountains.

At 47 miles is the junction with State 138.

Left on this graveled road to a parking space on the rim of the ROYAL GORGE, or Grand Canyon of the Arkansas, 4.5 miles, the most accessible and for that reason perhaps the best known of the great river canyons of Colorado. At this point the red granite walls rise sheerly more than 1,000 feet above the foaming torrent in the narrow gorge. Sunlight brings out a variety of colors in the rock strata bands. Geologists agree that the canyon was caused by an uplift through which the river cut its way. As proof, they point to the fact that the rock strata run parallel on either side of the gorge.

The main line of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad runs through the bottom of the Royal Gorge. The story of how men put steel through this canyon, which Lieutenant John C. Fremont declared to be impassible, is epic. Wide enough to accommodate only one right-of-way, the gorge was the scene of bitter struggle between the Denver & Rio Grande and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe lines from 1876 to 1879. By July 1875 the Denver & Rio Grande had built as far west as Canon City but evidenced no immediate intention of proceeding. Impatient at the delay, Canon City residents organized the Canon City & San Juan Railroad and made surveys, which they filed with the Secretary of the Interior. Aroused, the Santa Fe sent a crew of workers by team from Pueblo to the mouth of the canon, and the Denver & Rio Grande dispatched a crew from Canon City. The latter won the race by half an hour and were grading a right-of-way when their rivals reached the scene, precipitating a war celebrated in railroad annals. Men of one camp laid rails by day and tore up those of their rivals by night. Guns were recklessly brandished, but no life was lost. Finally the quarrel was transferred to the courts. Then followed a compromise, and control of the right-of-way was awarded the Denver & Rio Grande. The cost of the struggle was roughly estimated at $500,000.

As the canyon walls rise straight from bedrock, men had to be suspended by ropes to drill the first blasting holes. At the narrowest point, where the walls were so nearly vertical that no ledge could be cut into the granite, a hanging bridge was suspended from inverted V-shaped trusses driven into both walls. The space between the beams and the floor of this bridge was not sufficient to clear the larger locomotives and the road had to order engines of a special design to pass under the structure. Later, a heavier bridge was installed. Trains are stopped at this point for a few minutes to permit passengers to alight for a view of the gorge.

At the parking space on the highway the ROYAL GORGE RAILWAY (adults 75¢; children 40¢), said to be the world's steepest railway, descends at a 45 degree angle from the top to the bottom of the canyon, a distance of 1,550 feet. Every phase of operation of this road is automatic, and extraordinary precautions are taken to provide for the safety and comfort of the passengers.

South of the parking space State 138 crosses the Royal Gorge on the ROYAL GORGE SUSPENSION BRIDGE (adults 50¢; children, 7 to 12, 25¢; no toll for automobiles), the highest in the world, completed December 8, 1929 at a cost of $200,000, on the 123rd anniversary of the discovery of the gorge by Pike. The floor of the bridge is more than 1,053 feet above the bed of the Arkansas River. The main span is 880 feet in length; the total length, exclusive of approaches, is 1,260 feet. The roadway, which provides for two-way motor and pedestrian traffic, is protected by 5-foot guard rails.

Left on a footpath from the southern end of the bridge to an OBSERVATION PLATFORM, 100 yds., affording an excellent view of the chasm.

State 138 crosses flat tablelands to rejoin US 50, 12 miles

Circling north over high tablelands, the highway descends a dry creek bed to PARKDALE, 50.4 miles (5,800 alt., 40 pop.), at the western extremity of the gorge, and follows the brawling Arkansas to TEXAS CREEK, 69.5 miles (6,210 alt., 20 pop.), at the junction with State 69 (see Tour 11B).

A shipping point for livestock and farm produce, COTOPAXI (Sp. shining pile), 71.5 miles (6,718 alt., 238 pop.), saw some mining activity in the late 1880's. Much of the first ore mined near here, a zinc compound, was shipped to refineries in Swansea, Wales.

West of COALDALE, 75.5 miles (7,550 alt., 125 pop.), formerly a coal camp but now supported by the mining of gypsum, the mountains and canyons are colored with sparkling quartz, dark hued granite, and delicately colored marble. Among the many rare and beautiful stones is travertine, with its curiously worm-eaten appearance, which has been used in the construction of many buildings in the United States, including the Department of Commerce Building, Washington, D. C.

SALIDA (Sp. gateway), 95.1 miles (7,050 alt., 5,065 pop.), seat of Chaffee County, was founded by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1880. The town's history and growth are coupled with the extension of the railroad to the west. It is the division point of the main line and the narrow-gauge lines over Marshall Pass. The railroad maintains repair shops and a modern hospital here.

Between Salida and PONCHA JUNCTION, 99.1 miles, US 50 and US 285 (see Tour 15b) are united, crossing (R) a branch of the Arkansas known as the Little Arkansas.

West of Poncha Junction the route leaves the valley and ascends the Continental Divide through country heavily timbered with spruce, fir, and long-needled ponderosa pine, crossing the eastern boundary of COCHETOPA NATIONAL FOREST, 106.4 miles, created in 1905 by President Theodore Roosevelt; it includes 1,142,417 acres of Federal and 61,875 acres of State, municipal and private land. There are well-worn Indian trails through the region; the first known white to penetrate the area was Juan de Onate, who introduced the cult of the Penitentes to the New World (see Tour 11B) ; Onate sought gold here in 1598. Evidence of old Spanish placer workings have been found along the streams here.

Bordering the highway on the north and centering on SHAVANO PEAK (14,179 alt.), is the SHAVANO PEAK PRIMITIVE AREA; no highways, resorts, or developments are permitted within its confines. Shavano, named for a Ute chief, is believed to be a modified spelling of the Ute Che-wa-no, or blue flower. On its slopes, marked by slow-melting snows in deep fissures, a figure with outstretched arms, known as the ANGEL OF SHAVANO, is seen in spring and early summer. The angel, according to legend, appeared on the mountain when Shavano, who had been schooled by the Holy Friars of Santa Fe, prayed for the soul of his dying friend, George Beckwith, a member of the Gunnison expedition (see below). Now each spring, which was the season when Shavano made his prayer, the angel reappears on the mountain. The highway ascends a narrow valley to timberline. The area south of the road is the PONCHA PASS STATE GAME PRESERVE, embracing 63,520 acres.

MONARCH, 113.7 miles (10,000 alt., 230 pop.), an early placer mining camp, now depends for existence on quarries supplying limestone for the Pueblo steel mills.

A bronze tablet in a granite slab marks the SUMMIT OF MONARCH PASS (11,386 alt.), 118.4 miles, on the crest of the Continental Divide. From the top of the pass, one of the highest in the Rocky Mountains crossed by an automobile highway, are visible the long rough outline of the Sangre de Cristo Range (L), the towering gray-domed peaks of the Collegiate Range (R), the colorful Ruby Range to the northwest (R), and the jagged peaks of the San Juans, more than 100 miles to the southwest (L). Twelve peaks seen from this vantage point exceed 14,000 feet in altitude; more than a score rise above 13,000 feet. By a series of switchbacks the road descends the western slope into heavily timbered country.

At 127.1 miles is the junction with two dirt roads.

1. Right on the first road is WAUNITA HOT SPRINGS, 8 miles (8,500 alt., 14 pop.), a summer resort and spa, with hotel, sanatorium, bathhouses, and cottages grouped about two medicinal springs.

2. Right from US 50 on the second road to WHITEPINE, 5 miles, a ghost town at the head of Tomichi Creek, which in boom days had a population of 3,000. Near by are the sites of NORTH STAR and TOMICHI, other once-prosperous silver camps.

The route follows TOMICHI CREEK (Ind. hot water) to SARGENTS, 134.5 miles (8,500 alt., 100 pop.). Helper engines stationed here assist trains up heavy grades. The highway descends Tomichi Valley to the western boundary of Cochetopa National Forest, 141 miles

At PARLIN, 153.4 miles (7,942 alt., 135 pop.), is the junction with a dirt road.

Right on this road paralleling Quartz Creek to OHIO, 8.6 miles, an all-but-abandoned mining camp.

Originally called Quartzville, PITKIN, 14.6 miles (9,200 alt., 228 pop.), was renamed in 1879 for Governor F. W. Pitkin. An early settler wrote: "We have 3 women, 8 children, 3 fiddlers, 180 dogs, 2 burros, and 1 cat, and need a newspaper and a sawmill." Here is a STATE FISH HATCHERY (open daily) (see Tour 5b).

QUARTZ, 21 miles, another of the old mining camps, founded in the late 1870's, is now crumbling to decay.

At 159.4 miles is the junction with a dirt road.

Left on this road to the mines of CHANCE, 7 miles, and IRIS, 10 miles, old gold camps again stirring with life. The road swings along Gold Belt Basin Creek, past ranches and lumber mills, circling back to the GUNNISON AIRPORT, 30 miles, and the junction with US 50 in Gunnison, 31 miles

GUNNISON, 165.4 miles (7,683 alt., 1,415 pop.), seat of Gunnison County, is the trading center of the upper Gunnison Valley. Centered in one of the State's best recreational areas, it is popular with tourists and sportsmen. Within easy driving range of the town are more than 750 miles of trout-fishing streams, including the celebrated Gunnison, East, and Taylor Rivers, and Tomichi, Spring, Cebolla, Quartz, and Cochetopa Creeks. Here are headquarters of the Gunnison National Forest.

Silver ores were found in the vicinity as early as 1870, but hostility of the Ute prevented development. Dr. Sylvester Richardson, a prospector, attempted to establish a farm colony here in 1874 but failed. With the discovery of important silver deposits five years later near Crested Butte, the town was laid out and prospered; in 1893 it had a population of 6,000.

Cattlemen's Day, a rodeo and pioneer celebration, is held here annually during the third week of July. A Sportsmen's Tournament, with fly-casting and shooting contests, is held annually during the first week of August.

WESTERN STATE COLLEGE, founded in 1909, has an average enrollment of 400. The ARCHEOLOGICAL MUSEUM (open 8-4 weekdays), third floor of Central Hall, maintained by the Southwestern Archeological Society, contains exhibits of Cliff Dweller and Basket Maker cultures, as well as Pueblo and Plains Indian relics. Prehistoric exhibits, largely from Yellow Jacket Canyon and Mancos (see Tour 11c), include tools, ornaments, weapons, grinding stones, baskets, and feather robes.

The LA VETA HOTEL, one of the oldest on the Western Slope, a four-story structure in the ornate electric design fashionable in the late 1880's, was built in 1884. Except for modern improvements, the interior has been little changed; the original chandeliers and much of the black walnut furniture remain. The management offers free meals to guests on days when the sun fails to shine here, which has occurred only 17 days in 25 years.

Gunnison is at the junction with State 135 (see Tour 9B).

The route traverses the valleys of the Gunnison River through arid land made productive by reclamation projects. Fishing is good, and there is hunting in season.

In IOLA, 177.4 miles (7,450 alt., 100 pop.), is the junction with State 149 (see Tour 21).

The highway crosses barren hills to CEBOLLA (Sp. onion), 184.4 miles (7,326 alt., 12 pop.), named for the fields of wild onions along the banks of Cebolla Creek. Ascending through a canyon lined with jagged stone spires, the road enters the mesa lands of western Colorado. The high escarpment of BLACK MESA (R), dark with pine and fir, merges with the distant Grand Mesa.

SAPINERO, 191.4 miles (7,255 alt, 70 pop.), a resort town named for a Ute chief, is at the junction with State 92 (see Tour 9C).

The route descends through Blue Creek Canyon, ascends to the resort town of CIMARRON, 213.4 miles (6,896 alt., 42 pop.), and reaches CERRO SUMMIT (Sp. ridge), 217.6 miles, overlooking Uncompahgre Valley, 40 miles long and 12 miles wide, with an average elevation of 5,500 feet. The bottom lands grow hay, beans, and truck garden crops, while peach, pear, apple, and cherry orchards cover the tops of many small mesas that rise several hundred feet above the valley level.

Winding gradually through hills spotted with gnarled cedar and pinon, the highway passes the west portal of the GUNNISON DIVERSION TUNNEL, 225.6 miles, constructed by the U. S. Reclamation Service at a cost of $2,905,000 as part of the Uncompahgre Reclamation Project, and opened by President Taft in 1909. The horseshoe-shaped bore, 5.8 miles long, was said at the time of its completion to be the longest irrigation tunnel in the world; it diverts 1,300 cubic feet of water a second from the Gunnison River under Vernal Mesa to the Uncompahgre Valley.

At 226.1 miles is the junction with a dirt road.

Right on this road, ascending a series of irrigated plateaus dotted with orchards and passing over hills covered with scrub oak, to the BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON (see Tour 9C), 8 miles Along this road, improved by the Work Projects Administration and the Forest Service, markers are set at points where the dark cavernous depths can be seen to advantage. The route follows the canyon edge, ending at SCENIC POINT No. 5, 18 miles, where visitors can register. A proposed bridge will cross the canyon at this point, 2,200 feet above the river.

From Scenic Point No. 5 a trail (not recommended for unskilled climbers) winds down the canyon side to the bottom. Known as Squaw Trail, it was sometimes used by Ute women in obtaining water from the river.

MONTROSE, 232.4 miles (5,820 alt., 3,566 pop.), seat of Montrose County and trading center of a large irrigated area, was founded in 1882 by Joseph Selig; its name was suggested by Sir Walter Scott's "Legend of Montrose" because the country resembled that in Scotland where Montrose fought. S. H. Nye discovered that the Western Slope was particularly suitable for fruit growing and planted the first trees. In orchards on Spring Creek Mesa, southwest of the town, more than 20,000 boxes of apples have been picked from 20 acres.

Montrose is at the junction with US 550 (see Tour 18) and State 90 (see Tour 19).

Section c. MONTROSE to UTAH LINE, 99.5 miles US 50

West of MONTROSE, 0 miles, the highway follows the Uncompahgre River to CHIPETA, 15.9 miles, named for the wife of Chief Ouray (see Tour 18).

DELTA, 22 miles (4,980 alt., 2,938 pop.), seat of Delta County, is the chief town in one of Colorado's largest fruit-growing areas. From its loading platforms during season more than $2,000,000 worth of peaches, apples, cherries, and other orchard products are shipped annually. The county contains approximately half the apple trees in the State. The first white settler was Antoine Robidoux, a French trapper from St. Louis, who built a fort here in 1830, later destroyed by the Ute.

CITY PARK has tennis and horseshoe pitching courts, a playground, and a municipal swimming pool (25¢). A HOLLY CORPORATION BEET SUGAR FACTORY (open 9-4 weekdays by permission) has a daily beet-slicing capacity of 1,250 tons (see Tour 1a).

In Delta are junctions with State 92 (see Tour 9C) and State 65 (see Tour 5E).

Southwest of Delta the route follows the lower Gunnison. To the south is the Uncompahgre Plateau; northward, the aspen-fringed slopes rise to the crest of Grand Mesa.

At WHITEWATER, 54.5 miles (4,665 alt., 125 pop.), is the junction with the Lands End Road.

Right on this road (open all winter) to the winter sports area at LANDS END, Grand Mesa, 24 miles (see Tour 6E).

In GRAND JUNCTION, 65.5 miles (4,587 alt., 10,247 pop.) (see Grand Junction), are junctions with US 24 (see Tour 5) and an unnumbered road to the Colorado National Monument (see Tour 9D).

West of Grand Junction the broad valley of the Colorado is extensively cultivated. Small garden tracts border the highway for several miles. Across the river (L) peaches grow in the Redlands, where the green masses of orchards crowd against the carmine cliffs. The road passes from a cultivated area into a region of pasture lands where dairy farming is the chief occupation.

FRUITA, 79.5 miles (4,512 alt., 1,053 pop.), trading center of the lower Grand Valley, has a broom factory and bean elevators. The Mesa County Fair, together with the Cowpunchers' Reunion, established in 1911 by ranchers of the area, is held here annually in September. The rodeo events are restricted to local cowpunchers, and no professionals take part.

Fruita is at the western junction with the Colorado National Monument road (see Tour 9D).

The route west of Fruita traverses a region devoted to the raising of sugar beets; fields are irrigated with water diverted from the Grand Valley dam north of Palisade. The highway crosses SALT WASH and LITTLE SALT, two streams that rise at the base of the Book Cliff Mountains, 20 miles to the north. Cloudbursts occasionally send walls of water rushing down the arroyos to ravage the countryside.

LOMA (Sp. hillock), 84.5 miles (4,515 alt., 460 pop.), lies near the heart of the territory irrigated by the Grand Valley Diversion Project.

MACK, 87.5 miles (5,540 alt., 250 pop.), a shipping point for sheep grazed on the dryland to the west, was formerly the eastern terminal of the Uintah Railroad, a narrow-gauge line (abandoned 1939) that hauled gilsonite from the Uintah Basin of Utah. Gilsonite, or Uintahite, is a hard black hydrocarbon used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, roofing material, and rubber substitutes.

The highway swings westward, traversing a rough elevated outcrop covered with sage and sparse juniper growth, broken by numerous arroyos.

US 50 crosses the UTAH LINE, 99.5 miles, 45 miles east of Thompsons, Utah (see Utah Guide).