nd the front ranges
are the natural "parks"--great plateaus basined by superb enclosing
ranges; and to the west of these, and between them, and covering the
remainder of the state east of the plateau region, is an entanglement of
mountains, tier above tier, running from north to south, buttressed
laterally with splendid spurs, dominated by scores of magnificent peaks,
cut by river valleys, and divided by mesas and plateaus. These various
chains are known by a multitude of local names. Among the finest of the
chains are the Rampart, Sangre de Cristo, San Juan, Sawatch (Saguache)
and Elk ranges. The first, like the other ranges abutting from north to
south upon the region of the prairie, rises abruptly from the plain and
has a fine, bold outline. It contains a number of fine summits dominated
by Pike's Peak (14,108 ft.). Much more beautiful as a whole is the
Sangre de Cristo range. At its southern end are Blanca Peak (14,390) and
Old Baldy (14,176, Hayden), both in Costilla county; to the northward
are Rito Alto Peak (12,989, Wheeler), in Custer county, and many others
of almost equal height and equal beauty. The mountains of the south-west
are particularly abrupt and jagged. Sultan Mountain (13,366, Hayden), in
San Juan county, and Mt. Eolus (14,079), in La Plata county, dominate
the fine masses of the San Juan ranges; and Mt. Sneffels (14,158,
Hayden), Ouray county, and Uncompahgre Peak (14,289), Hinsdale county,
the San Miguel and Uncompahgre ranges, which are actually parts of the
San Juan. Most magnificent of all the mountains of Colorado, however,
are the Sawatch and adjoining ranges in the centre of the state. The
former (the name is used a little loosely) consists of almost a solid
mass of granite, has an average elevation of probably 13,000 ft.,
presents a broad and massive outline, and has a mean breadth of 15 to 20
m. Mt. Ouray (13,956 ft.), in Chaffee county, may be taken as the
southern end, and in Eagle county, the splendid Mount of the Holy Cross
(14,170)--so named from the figure of its snow-filled ravines--as the
northern. Between them lie: in Chaffee county, Mt. Shavano (14,239,
Hayden), Mt. Princeton (14,196, Hayden), Mt. Yale (14,187, Hayden), Mt.
Harvard (14,375, Hayden), and La Plata Peak (14,342); in Pitkin county,
Grizzly Peak (13,956, Hayden); in Lake county, Elbert Peak (14,421), and
Massive mountain (14,424), the highest peak in the state; on the
boundary between Summit and Park counties, Mt. Linc