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Rocky Mountains Essay, Research Paper

Rocky Mountains or Rockies, great chain of rugged mountain ranges in western

North America, extending from central New Mexico to northeastern British

Columbia, a distance of about 3220 km (about 2000 mi). The Great Basin and the

Rocky Mountain Trench, a valley running from northwestern Montana to northern

British Columbia, border the Rockies on the east by the Great Plains and on the

west. The Rocky Mountains form part of the Great, or Continental, Divide, which

separates rivers draining into the Atlantic or Arctic oceans from those flowing

toward the Pacific Ocean. The Arkansas, Colorado, Columbia, Missouri, Rio

Grande, Saskatchewan, and Snake rivers rise in the Rockies. The Rockies may be

divided into four principal sections?Southern, Central, Northern, and

Canadian. The Southern Rockies, which include the system’s broadest and highest

regions, extend from central New Mexico, through Colorado, to the Great Divide,

or Wyoming, Basin, in southern Wyoming. This section, which encompasses Rocky

Mountain National Park, is composed chiefly of two northern-southern belts of

mountain ranges with several basins, or parks, between the belts. The component

parts include the Sanger de Crisco and Laramie mountains and the Front Range, in

the east, and the San Juan Mountains and the Swatch and Park ranges, in the

west. The Southern Rockies include the chain’s loftiest point, Mount Elbert

(4399 m/14,433 ft high), in central Colorado. More than 50 other peaks of the

Rockies rising above 4267 m (14,000 ft) are in Colorado; these include Longs

Peak (4345 m/14,255 ft high) and Pikes Peak (4301 m/14,110 ft high). The Central

Rockies are in northeastern Utah, western Wyoming, eastern Idaho, and southern

Montana. They encompass the Bighorn; Bear tooth, and Unite Mountains and the

Absaroka, Wind River, Salt River, Teton, Snake River, and Wasatch ranges. The

Unite Mountains are the only major portion of the Rockies that extends east west

rather than north south. Among the peaks of the Central Rockies, which include

Grand Eton and Yellowstone national parks, are Gannett Peak (4207 m/13,804 ft

high), Grand Eton (4197 m/13,771 ft high), and Fremont Peak (4185 m/13,730 ft

high). The Northern Rockies are in northern Idaho, western Montana, and

northeastern Washington. They include the Saw tooth, Cabinet, Salmon River, and

Clearwater Mountains and the Bitterroot Range. The loftiest points in the

section, which includes Glacier National Park, are Granite Peak (3901 m/12,799

ft high) and Borax Peak (3859 m/12,662 ft high). The Canadian Rockies, located

in southwestern Alberta and eastern British Columbia, are composed of a

relatively narrow belt of mountain ranges that terminates at the Lizard River

lowland in northeastern British Columbia. The peaks of the section, which takes

in Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Waterton Lakes, and Yoho National Parks, include

Mount Robson (3954 m/12,972 ft high), Mount Columbia (3747 m/12,294 ft high),

and The Twins (3734 m/12,251 ft high). Slopes generally are very steep, and

there are numerous glaciers. The Rocky Mountains are a geologically complex

system with jagged peaks as well as almost flat-topped elevations. The Rockies

were formed mainly by crustal uplifts in comparatively recent times, during the

late Cretaceous and early Tertiary periods, and later were reshaped by

glaciation during the Pleistocene Epoch. Today the Rockies receive moderate

amounts of precipitation, most of which occurs in the winter. Lower levels are

covered chiefly by grassland, which gives way to extensive forests, principally

of conifers. Above the woodland is a zone of grasses and scattered shrubs. Most

peaks have little vegetation around the summit, and some have a year-round cap

of snow and ice. The Rockies are sparsely populated for the most part and

contain few cities. The principal economic resources of the mountains are

minerals, such as coal, copper, gold, iron ore, lead, molybdenum, petroleum and

natural gas, silver, and zinc. Important mining centers include Leadville and

Climax, Colorado; Atlantic City, Wyoming; Kellogg, Idaho; Butte, Montana; and

Fernie and Kimberley, British Columbia. Major forest products industries,

especially lumbering, are concentrated in the Northern and Canadian Rockies, and

large numbers of sheep and cattle are raised in the Rockies of Colorado,

Wyoming, and Montana. The chain has many centers for outdoor recreation and

tourism. Bighorn Mountains, isolated range of the Rocky Mountains, lying east of

the Bighorn River and extending generally north from central Wyoming into

southern Montana. The range averages more than 2134 m (7000 ft) in elevation;

the highest summit is Cloud Peak (4019 m/13,187 ft) in Wyoming. Along the upper

levels are large coniferous forests, which are part of Bighorn National Forest.

Bitterroot Range, mountain range, northwestern United States, a chain of the

Rocky Mountains, extending about 700 km (about 435 mi) along the Montana-Idaho

border. Rugged and forested, with an average elevation of 2740 m (about 9000

ft), it remains one of the most inaccessible areas in the United States. In 1805

the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled west through Lolo Pass (1595 m/5233 ft)

in the range. Guadalupe Mountains, mountain range, southwestern United States, a

branch of the Rocky Mountains, extending from

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