146 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



they had closed it up for winter. When we 

 got out of the tunnel the new canyon had 

 commenced, or, rather, one ran into the oth- 

 er. On the extreme summit of the range of 

 mountains there was quite a piece of ground 

 that was comparatively level, covered with 

 pine-trees. Of course, the cars ran through 

 the lowest point, so that there was no 

 chance to look miles 

 off and down into the 

 great valley. And not 

 once, in climbing 

 these great mountain 

 ranges have I seen a 

 place to look clear in- 

 to the lowermost val- 

 ley. One mountain 

 peak rises above an- 

 other so gradually 

 that, even if you get 

 to the top of "a peak 

 (which one never does 

 on the cars) you see 

 but little more than 

 neighboring peaks. 

 When a single moun- 

 tain rises out of the 

 plain you can easily 

 get a view of said 

 plains; but not so 

 with the peaks of a 

 mountain-range. Sin- 

 gle peaks seldom go 

 over a quarter of a 

 mile above the plains, 

 while mountain 

 ranges are two or 

 three miles higher 

 than the sea - level. 

 Going up the moun- 

 tains we found many 

 charcoal-pits for burn- 

 ing charcoal for the 

 smelting -furnaces in | 

 the vicinity of Salt 

 Lake. The principal 

 metal ores worked are 

 lead and silver. The 

 charcoal is burned in 

 permanent kilns, re- 

 sembling an egg in 

 shape, with the large 

 end down. 



Just before dark we 

 came to the wonder- 

 ful rocks called Castle 

 Gate, close by the sta- 

 tion of the same name. 

 A very good-looking 

 wall with straight and 

 almost smooth sides, 

 juts out from the 

 mountain, and comes 

 close up to the track. 

 Now, there is nothing 

 so very wonderful 

 about this were it not 



for the fact that this wall is from 500 to 800 

 feet high; still stranger, a sort of tower runs 

 up its straight outer edge, and this is further 

 ornamented by an enlargement on the ex- 

 treme top, resembling a turret. On the op- 

 posite side of the track, but a little further 

 up, is a similar one, smaller in size. If 

 viewed from the right spot, it is exactly like 



a picture which is made from a photo- 

 graph. By the dim light of the moon we 

 had. a little further on. several views of the 

 terraced mountains. These have a flat top, 

 some of them a mile or two long, and per* 

 haps half as wide, and, stranger still, the 

 sides are beautifully terraced with a series 

 of level shelves clear around. These shelves 



CURRECANTIS NEEDLE AND THE BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON. 



may be 25, 50, or 100 feet from step to 

 step. While the mountain is oval in shape, 

 it seems hard to believe it is not some gi- 

 gantic piece of engineering and architecture. 

 During the day we saw huge mountains, 

 with their rocky side looking as if some 

 monster giant had hacked it with a huge 

 butcher-knife, the hack-marks crossing each 



