"On the western slope of the Rocky Mountains the Eagle River takes its rise, and gathering volume from hundreds of snow fed tributaries, rushes down to its junction with the Grand, pouring through the gorge known as Eagle River Cañon. One of the striking features of this cañon is in the fact that its walls are pierced near the summit with the shafts and tunnels of mines, and, looking up the rugged heights, one catches glim[p]ses of the shaft-houses and cabins of the miners, perched indeed like the nests of eagles, in the fastnesses of the cliffs, and adding a new significance to the name of Eagle River Cañon."
