Excerpt from The University of Colorado Studies, Vol. 11 Two features of the river systems of the state, taken collectively, are particularly noteworthy: (a) three distinct drainages are repre sented, the Mississippi, the Rio Grande and the Colorado; (6) all of the large streams of the state have their headwaters in the mountains within the state. Both the diversity of drainage areas and the large number Of headwater streams are the result of the presence of the Continental Divide in central Colorado, separating the lower, eastern and western portions. This division of the land areas by the moun tains has a very important bearing on the fish fauna as a whole, Since Often many of the fishes of independent drainages are different, and the conditions to which fishes are subjected in the headwater streams are always more rigorous than in the lowland streams. The position of the mountains in Colorado is also responsible for the direction of the larger streams, these flowing east or west, while their tributaries enter from the north and south. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.