Re: Guidebook of the Western United States

GeorgeGaskill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I downloaded the Santa Fe one and am through the
> first 71 pages. It reads like the prototype of
> the C&TS Geology Trains; it is primarily a
> discourse on the geology of the areas immediately
> surrounding the rail routes (including the several
> routes built in places after the original line)
> with a little bit of local color added.
>
> But worth the read to me, at least.


Well, they were put out by the United States Geological Survey.
It's interesting the things that you notice in these. As an example, in the D&RGW one I noticed that for both the Leadville area and the side trip to the copper mines at Bingham it talks about how the fumes from the smelters had devastated the vegetation in the area. This in 1922! (I had a prof in the 1980's who referred to this as "Acid Fog") It can amaze sometimes what people knew about and just excepted as "the price of doing business." But hey, "Where there's smoke, there's work!"
hank