OCR Text |
Show X- - Scenic Colorado Plateau, Nature s ore until Charlie Steen found his peat beds that are now coal. His three-toe- d big strike in the Shinarump. tracks were filled with sand and as time went on the Oceans Met Here sand became sandstone and the As time went' on the region be-- peat turned to coal. Around 60,000-00- 0 ' later coal miners took gan to sink. The Arctic ocean mov- out years the coal and left the 34 inch ed south as the Gulf of Mexico ceding in reflowed north. In about 30,000,-00- 0 tracks on the mine showing a stride of 18 feet. years they met and formed verse, As the salt waters withdrew the the vast Cretaceous ocean which conditions began to chill, extended from Utah to Iowa. Again tropical and the formation of the Rocky the Rocky Mountain chain was a Mountain bole in the ground. The waters It is this chain was in progress. ' particular phenomenon were alive with all forms of marine caused the Colorado Plateau to life, oysters, clams, coral, ammo- - that be the scenic wonderland that it is nites and fish of all sorts. As this ocean came into the country it laid today. call the part of this Geologists down a hard, vitreous conglomerchanging of the earths crust along ate. Each grain of sand, each peb- the Colorado-Uta- h state line the ble on the beach was pressed and cemented into a rock formation Uneompahgre uplift. Up to this generally speaking, the derepresenting a deposit called the time, of the Colorado Plateau Dakota. Thousands upon thousands positions remained more or less horiof stomach stones discarded by the had One layer had been dedinosaurs are found in this stratum. zontal. upon another until it formposited Having only a few chopping teeth ed a crust thousand feet the herbivorous dinosaurs develop- thick. The several uplift was a part of the ed a method of chewing their food same convulsions that produced the by swallowing stones which were great mineralized areas in the later copied by their distant, very area. As a distant relatives, the modern fowl. result of this action, lava flowed Prospectors can easily distinguish the land now octhese highly polished gastroliths easily out over by Grand Mesa on the from river gravel because they cupied corner of the plateau. have a peculiar shape all their northeastern This three hundred foot thick bed own, with rounded corners and of lava set the course of the Colopolished depressions. Wave and rado and Gunnison rivers and ripple marks are common in the chewed 72 cubic miles out of they the deposits of this prehistoric ocean tilted strata to form the worlds beach. mountain flat top arising The Cretaceous ocean was around largest mile above the Grand Valley. for something like 50,000,000 years one of Mesa Grand with its hundreds during which time 4,500 feet of trout lakes was built by erosion slime and marine skeletons settled and not by any cataclysmic action. on its bottom indicating the ocean was at least a mile deep in this Layers Point Up part of the country. Easily eroded, this Mancos shale forms the wide Observing prospectors will notice sedimentary layers point valleys to the north of the uranium that the country and has not produced an up to thfc mountains on all sides. . . . The LaSal, Blue, and Henry mounimportant deposit of the tains are a part of this same upyet. lift, as are Shiprock, Alhambra West Slope Arises and all of the spires of igneous rock found over the plateau. The After about another 30,000,000 above mountains and monoliths years the western slope of the are frozen volcanos that never Rockies began to arise out of the reached the air. The molten mawater. As the ocean receded it laid terial started up and slowly push down another beach 3000 feet thick ed the overlying strata up with it called the Mesa Verde formation. but never broke the crust. This This Book Cliff sandstone contains all means that sedimentary deone of the worlds largest coal posits were at least a mile thick beds, and incidentally the worlds over the top of these mountains those at one time about 60,000,000 years largest animal track. Back in Westago. Some unusual things happen days when eastern Utah and out of the when nature gets these slow pains. came Colorado ern The Uneompahgre uplift, caused ocean for the last time, giant dinosaurs played along the shores by forces beyond human capacity and swamps. The iguanadon to understand, came so slowly that walked, around on two legs in the the Colorado, Gunnison and Dolores Sleep In The Grand Manner With A New Or Renovated Mattress From GRAND COMPANY MATTRESS Phone First Grand Junction 436 North . 1926 The Most Complete Mattress Stock On The Western Slope Old Child Billions-of-Yea- rs TILTON SEED & SUPPLY CO. The Home of Golden Sunshine Seeds DeBeque, Colorado LEO'S GARAGE General Repairs & Welding LEO HURLA, Prop. DeBeque, Colo. LOCATED in the nEART of GRAND JUNCTION'S BUSINESS DISTRICT La Harpe Hofei 260 Main Phone 1410 Grand Junction. Colo. always call 4EE2TZ RENT-A-CA- R If In Need Of CARS WORLDS LARGEST LAND ANIMAL, is Brontosaurus, JEEP UNIVERSAL JEEP STATION WAGON found near Grand Junction. His thigh bone was six feet, eight inches long, his vertebra as big as a hat box and his head was 50 feet from the ground. Behind him is Diplodocus, with a long, whiplash tail. These dumb brutes and their cousins conquered and dominated the world for 180,000,000 years. They lived on land, in the water and in the air. In the sky here is the pterodactyl, a flying reptile with a wingspread. The other animal is an amphibian that lived In and out of the water. Skeletons of all are found on the Colorado Plateau. TRUCKS For Reservation Phone Grand Junction, Colo. 251 Colo. Ave. 20-fo- ot were able to cut canyons right through the rising bed rocks. This accounts for the Dolores river crossing Paradox Valley instead of flowing down the valley. It also explains Unaweep canyon which has two mouths and no head. No doubt the Gunnison or the Dolores river flowed through the Unaweep at one time and was able to cut the canyon as the granites came up. Eventually the uplift came too fast and the river was forced to find another outlet to the Colorado. The rivers all next page) flow in Plateau Valley Stage d 87 SHULTS SALES YARD Lashbrook & Son, Owners Livestock Sales Every Friday We Specialize in Registered Livestock PHONE 1691 River Rd. New Fruita Hiway Passenger Service Grand Junction MELROSE HOTEL Youll like staying here Quiet Comfortable Reasonable Convenient 337 Colorado Ave. Grand Junction, Colo. 1 Block from Main St. GOOFY GAL DRIVE IN Home of the 5-In- ch Burger Phone 2008 with your orders. Well have em ready when you drive in. Open 11 a.m. to 12 p.m, all year. Clifton Palisade Leonard Paulson BRADLEY INSURANCE AGENCY and BARBER SHOP 2 Businesses in 1 De Beque, Colo. : j TEwigm; Grand Junction We Do Our Own Plumbing & Heating 1332 Pinyon Ave. Phone 2625R Grand Junction, Colorado STATE OIL CO. Frontier Distributor Kendall Products 2820 North Ave. Phone 1416W 921 North 12th General Construction Grand Junction 8C Mining Companies NEED SPACE?? Drilling Butch Has It Miles West of Grand Junction Already Up 2 Drilling Firms Already There 14 Acres 1V4 3 Buildings SEE BUTCH AT GROGAN SALES COMPANY 2473 U. S. Highway 6 or Telephone 1922-- J Grand Junction, Colorado |