The South Platte River in Platte Canyon, Colorado

The Platte Canyon is a deep narrow scenic gorge on the South Platte River in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American West, located in the U Mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a Mountain range in western North America. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. The canyon is southwest of Denver on the border between Jefferson and Douglas counties. The City and County of Denver (pronounced /ˈdɛnvɚ/ is the Capital and the most populous city of Colorado, in the United States Jefferson County (ˈdʒɛfərsən ˈkaʊnti is the fourth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. Douglas County is the eighth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The canyon is at the entrance to the mountains, where the South Platte emerges through the Rampart Range through the hogbacks onto Eastern Plains. A hogback is a Homoclinal ridge composed of steeply tilted strata of rock protruding from the surrounding area The Eastern Plains of Colorado refers to region of the US state of Colorado on the east side of the Rocky Mountains, and east of the population centers The lower narrow section is sometimes called Waterton Canyon.

The term is used varying to apply to the entire section of the South Platte and the North Fork South Platte in the mountains between South Park and the eastern plains. See also South Park (disambiguation South Park is a high intermontane grassland basin, approximately 10000 ft (3000 m in elevation It is often applied to the communities along the North Fork near Bailey. Bailey is an unincorporated town and US Post Office in northeastern Park County, Colorado, United States. The narrowest part of the canyon is a remote and roadless gorge (Waterton Canyon) approximately 8 miles (13 km) long, at its lower extremity between the hamlet of South Platte and Kassler, where it emerges from the mountains. On this section, the canyon has walls that rise approximately 1000 ft (300 m) from the river bed. The river drops from an elevation of approximately 6100 ft at South Platte at the head of the gorge to approximately 5500 ft at the canyon mouth.

In the middle and late 1870s, the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad constructed the first railroad through the canyon and through the valley of the North Fork to South Park and eventually to Leadville and Gunnison. Events and Trends Technology The invention of the prototype telephone by Alexander G The Denver South Park and Pacific Railroad was a historic Narrow gauge railway that operated in Colorado in the western United States in the late 19th See also South Park (disambiguation South Park is a high intermontane grassland basin, approximately 10000 ft (3000 m in elevation Leadville is a Statutory City that is the County seat of and the only incorporated municipality in The historic City of Gunnison is a Home Rule Municipality that is the County seat and the most populous city of Gunnison County, Colorado The line was initially a narrow gauge, and was later acquired by the Colorado and Southern Railway and converted to standard gauge. A narrow gauge railway (or narrow gauge railroad) is a Railway that has a Track gauge narrower than the of Standard gauge railways The Colorado and Southern Railway was a railroad company in the western United States that operated independently from 1898 to 1908 then as part of the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Service on the line was terminated in 1937. Year 1937 ( MCMXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

In the late 1920s, the Denver Board of Water Commissioners proposed building a dam to inundate the canyon, but the request was turned down by the Public Utilities Commission. The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada A 1. 7 miles section of Waterton Canyon was inundated by the Strontia Springs Reservoir, completed in 1983 as part of the Foothills Project for water diversion. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar)

External links

• Topographical map