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Report of Explorations in Colorado and Utah During the Summer of 1889: With an Account of the Fishes Found in Each of the River Basins Examined (Classic Reprint)
Report of Explorations in Colorado and Utah During the Summer of 1889: With an Account of the Fishes Found in Each of the River Basins Examined (Classic Reprint)
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Description
The State of Colorado is for the most part an elevated and arid region, traversed by ranges of lofty mountains extending north and south, one of them being the main divide of the continent, which is nowhere crossed by streams.
In the eastern part of the State the mountains cease almost abruptly, and give place to the sage-plains, an elevated and nearly level region which slopes gradually eastward through Kansas and Nebraska to the Missouri River. This region has in Colorado little rain-fall. Its vegetation is scanty, except along the streams, where the soil may be made very fertile by irrigation. In the central part of the State elevated and arid valleys rendered fertile by irrigation lie between the mountain chains. On the north slopes of mountains, especially northward, are considerable pine forests, while above the timber line are level grassy areas, mountain meadows, well watered and with a profusion of wild flowers. The mountain chains also sometimes inclose large flat green areas, many of them former lake beds, which have become filled with sediment and the débris of vegetation. These are known as parks, and in these the clear mountain streams pursue courses with interminable meanderings and with but slight current.
In the western part of Colorado the great folds of the granite mountains give place largely to horizontal strata. Here erosion of water on a grand scale has filled this re gion with gorges, the intervening rocks being left as mesas and buttes. In one case, the Grand Mesa stands at a height of nearly a mile above the Gunnison River at Delta, the top of the mesa being reached by some seven or eight successive stairs, each representing a separate plane of erosion.
Product details
- Languages:
- Published: English , Original: English
- Number of Pages:
- 112
- Publisher:
- Forgotten Books
- Publication Date:
- 2017-10-27
- Weight:
- 308 g
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