31(5 



GLEANINGS IN EEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 



of surprise, somebody begins to smile, and 

 then there is a big laugh all round, to think 

 how easily they have been humbugged. I 

 hardly need tell our readers that all the lift- 

 ing I could do did not disturb the great 

 stone from its poise where it has rested for 

 so many ages. The stones and rocks in this 

 vicinity are much like those in the region 

 of Mammoth Cave. They are more or less 

 soluble in water; and as the rain trickles 

 down it dissolves enough of them to give 

 the water a plain color, so a great many of 

 the streams are red, or yellow, on account of 

 the chemicals they have dissolved from the 

 rocks. This red, or vellow color, I believe, 

 is mostly owing to the salts of iron. The 

 Indian name for yellow is " ute," therefore 

 we have Ute Canvon, Ute Mountain, and 

 Ute Springs. The Ute Springs have enough 



THE BALANCED ROCK, IN THE GARDEN' OF 

 THE GODS. 



iron in them to give a slightly sour taste, not 

 unlike weak lemonade ; and the presence of 

 the carbonic acid, to make the water spar- 

 kle, and give it the delicious snap, makes 

 one almost ready to acknowledge, as the In- 

 dians used to have it, that the Great Spirit 

 had given mankind not only a delicious bev- 

 erage, bubbling up from the bowels of the 

 earth, but a beverage that heals diseases 

 while it refreshes. Now, Dr. Mason inti- 

 mates, somewhere in this issue, that I am 

 rather averse to any sort of healings that 

 come out of a bottle. I want to tell him 

 that I begin to have faith just at present in 

 the virtues of Manitou spring water, even 

 though we do have to bottle it up at the 



springs and ship it by the carload to distant 

 places, where there is. demand for it. Be- 

 fore we go on, let us look back and say good- 

 by to our friend the Balanced Rock. The 

 monuments and pillars of the Garden of the 

 Gods are scattered over perhaps a mile or 

 two of ground. Some visitors have been 

 disappointed because nature did not arrange 

 them all in a group so they could be seen 

 without traveling. I confess, however, that 

 I rather like the idea of having them burst 

 upon my view as I climbed hills and de- 

 scended into valleys, one at a time. 



The next thing was the Needle Rocks and 

 the 'adjacent spires, the names of which I 

 have forgotten— see next page. 



The three rocks called the Needles are 

 seen on the left. They are thin Hat stones 

 thaU stand straight up,*perhaps a hundred 

 feet or more high. Some think there is 

 nothing to suggest needles. In fact, you 

 might think them one, instead of three 

 rocks ; but when you get along to just the 

 right point, as you look at them edgewise 

 toward the sky you will see that they are 

 entirely separated, clear to the ground, and 

 all you notice is three thin spires, so frail 

 you are tempted to think they must be sheet 

 iron or they would be broken off by the 

 wind. These three once composed a solid 

 rock, sticking up straight toward the sky. 

 As this rock, however, was composed of 

 strata of different degrees of hardness, the 

 wind and rain have dissolved out the soft 

 portions, leaving the needles, or leaves, 

 rather. Right back of the horse and buggy 

 you will notice another strange pile of rocks, 

 one of them reaching like a single tall spire 

 away up into the sky, almost. You can get 

 an idea of its height from the size of the 

 horse and buggy. At the left of this square 

 block, not unlike the ruins of some building, 

 is another of these queer bridges. In this 

 case, one of the spires has evidently broken 

 off and fallen on its neighbor. The rocks 

 a little further on, at the right hand of the 

 picture, are full of openings not unlike the 

 needles. In our next picture we have a 

 view of them from the other side. The horse 

 and buggy again give you something of an 

 idea of their height. 



And now we stand right in the center of 

 the sacred ground. I say " sacred," because 

 it seems to me that almost any child of hu- 

 manity must feel like uncovering his head 

 as he looks in awe and wonder at these 

 strange and curious structures towering up 

 like mountains. The picture gives you a 

 faint glimpse of the roadways that have 

 been made here and there in the sand. As 

 you push your foot into the reddish-yellow 

 soil, or, rather, gravel, you are impressed 

 with the idea that these rocks, at some re- 

 mote time, must have been very much high- 

 er than they are now, and that the ruin of 

 their former greatness is what makes this 

 rocky gravel that covers the whole land- 

 scape all round about. A little distance 

 away is a hotel that is kept up in summer 

 time. At the time of my visit they did not 

 receive visitors. The lady who had the 

 place in charge kindly answered my ques- 

 tions, however, pointed out the places of in- 

 terest, and supplied me with the photo- 



