STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETV. 



43 



Peak on the nortli to CJray's Peak on the south, a distance of about 

 sixty miles. At the nearest jjoint due west, majestically rises Mount 

 Audubon to a height of nearly Iburleen thousand feet above the sea. 

 For symmetric al shape, steepness of ascent and impressive aspect, this 

 is the most nota])Ie ])eak of the range as seen from here. I saw its base 

 except on the east front, enveloped in aderse gray fog. I discovered this 

 fog had a rapid motion from west to east ; and vast masses of it were 

 rolling up from Middle Park. Casting my eyes along the whole range 

 in sight, 1 perceived through each notch in the range, similar masses 

 were rolling. 1 expected every moment to see the whole range envel- 

 oped and shut from view. What was my surprise, after watching some 

 time, to see that notwithstanding the rajridity with which these rolling 

 volumes moved, they made no advance eastward ; but mysteriously dis- 

 appeared in front. It soon became evident that the strong current of 

 east wind setting toward the range was the cause of this mysterious 

 disajjpearance. 



The Sun had now sufficiently risen to illuminate the range to its 

 base, and presented one of the most magnificent spectacles I ever be- 

 held. There lay the Snow Range with its deeply serrated crest sharply 

 defined against an intensely deep blue clear sky, while its fields of ice 

 and snow glistened like rubies and amethysts; and there rolled restless 

 and headlong through each notch those massive and mysterious volumes 

 of mist, e\er moving yet making no progress. It was not only an in- 

 spiring sight for a poet, but a ])henomenon of deepest import to the 

 philosopher. 



The mass of fog gaining volume from Middle Park in the rear, 

 gradually pushed up to the crest and cloud-capped each peak. Then 

 could be seen attenuated fibrous tufts of fog standing upright along the 

 summit of the range. A close inspection showed that the fog of these 

 tufts streamed with great velocity upward, disappearing in the deep blue 

 sky above. 



The complement of the phenomenon now presented itself. This 

 was a dense cloud stretching north and south parallel to the range, 

 and separated from it by a streak, about thirty degrees wide, of the 

 aforesaid intensely deep blue clear sky. This cloud rolled rapidly east- 

 ward toward the Plains, but its western margin was stationary, so that 

 its relative position remained unchanged as to the mouutains. In the 

 clear sky along the cloud's margin now reappeared in a continuous 

 stream, — as if shot from below, — the fog which had so mysteriously 

 disappeared over the mountain range. Tl:ie sequence was a heavy thun- 

 der shower in the afternoon, followed by a rain of thirty-six hours dur- 

 ation on the mountain and plains east, and a heavy fall of snow on the 

 range. 



The phenomenon however was not new to me. I had often, — how- 

 ever not in this exact form, — seen it in n:.y boyhood days, but this was 

 the first time that 1 comprehended its cause, and understood the laws 



