The Rocky Mountains got their name from their rugged appearance, not possible without their hardy composition of various stones. One essential component is sandstone, valued for its hardiness. With a reddish brown color, sandstone was formed by fragments of the ancestral Rocky Mountain range. After the great ice age, the mountain range eventually wore down, and melting glaciers deposited the stone beyond its basin. During the gold rush, mining activities boomed in this area. When gold resources were depleted, miners turned to the abundance of quartz, which was found to have layers of gold in the seams.