Rocky Mountains

Rocky Mountains, The, is the name sometimes applied to the mountains of the western half of North America, but strictly denotes the E. border of the region, extending from New Mexico to the Arctic Sea, and ending W. of the Mackenzie river. In Wyoming a region of elevated plateaus divides the range into two parts. The chief groups of the southern portion form the Colorado Range, rising to a height of 9,000 feet in Wyoming and crossed at a height of 8,000 feet by the Union Pacific Railway. In Colorado the height is 13,000 feet, rising in Gray's Peak to 14,341, Long's Peak 14,271, Pike's Peak 14,147. The Sawatch Range S. of Arkansas river has Mount Harvard (14,375 feet), with passes at a height of from 12,000 to 13,000 feet. The Parks of Colorado, North, Middle, South, and that of St. Luis, are from 6,000 to 10,000 feet, and surrounded by ranges three or four thousand feet higher. On the W. border of St. Luis Park is San Juan Range, with several peaks over 14,000 feet high, and very many more over 13,000 feet. The Sangre di Cristo Range to the N.E. of the Park has Blanca Peak (14,464), the Uintah Range, W. of the Park, has several over 13,000, and the Wahsatch Range, which is the W. limit of the Southern Rocky Mountains, rises to 12,000 feet E. of Salt Lake City. The northern division is less lofty and imposing except in the Yellowstone region (q.v.) and the Windrush Range. In Idaho and Montana greater irregularity occurs, and the Bitter Root Mountains forming the divide between the Columbia and Missouri have a height of 9,000 feet, with passes ranging from 5,000 to 6,000 feet. The North Pacific Railway crosses at 5,548 feet with a tunnel over 1,000 yards long. The Crazy Mountains N. of the Yellowstone rise to 11,000 feet, and Mount Harvey in the Black Hills is 9,700. In Canada Mount Brown is 16,000 feet, and Mount Hooker 15,650, while the general height ranges to 14,000 feet. Athabasca Portage between these peaks crosses at a height of 7,300 feet. Of the rivers rising in the system the Mackenzie flows to the Arctic Sea, the Saskatchewan to Hudson's Bay, the St. Lawrence and Missouri to the Atlantic, the Colorado and Columbia to the Pacific. The scenery of the Rocky Mountains is of savage grandeur, the wild animals are plentiful and formidable, the forest growth in parts is magnificent, and there is great mineral wealth.