52 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



hard rocks of the mountains the streams have succeeded in cutting 

 back only a short distance and have formed canyons like that of 

 South Cheyenne. At some places in South Cheyenne Canyon this 

 backward cutting has proceeded rapidly because the granite is shat- 

 tered, but at the Seven Falls the joints and fissures in the rock ex- 

 tend to one side, as shown in Plate XXX, whereas the stream tumbles 

 over a wall of the most massive rock imaginable, and the canyon ends 

 so abruptly that it seems almost as if it had been the work of 

 man. If the rock were not of this character the stream would prob- 

 ably have cut considerably farther back, and in that event the Seven 

 Falls would probably have been replaced by a series of cascades. In 

 time this cutting Avill doubtless be accomplished, for the stream is 

 always at work — it knows no cessation from its labors — and, although 

 the work of cutting the granite is extremely slow when compared with 

 human standards, it is continuous, and if conditions remain the same 

 as they are to-day the canyon will be cut far back into the mountain, 

 until, in even more remote time, the mountains themselves may be 

 worn down and a plain may be found where now we have our grand- 

 est scenery. The regularity and smoothness of the walls of South 

 Cheyenne Canyon are due largely to the massiveness of the granite 

 in which the canyon is carved. 



The traveler should climb to the top of the falls, where he can ob- 

 tain a much better idea of the magnitude of the gorge, and then he 

 will doubtless be impelled to climb still higher, to Inspiration Point, 

 which is said to be the spot most beloved by Helen Hunt Jackson, 

 the place where she wrote many of her most noted works of fiction. 

 One can hardly imagine a more inspiring sight than that of Colorado 

 Springs and the broad stretch of plain seen from this point; and 

 here, amid the grandeur of the mountains, the romantic imagination 

 of so ardent a lover of nature would readily be quickened into new 

 life. She pays this tribute to Inspiration Point : 



Beautiful cradle of peace! There are some spots on earth which seem to 

 have a strong personality about them — a charm and a spell far beyond any- 

 thing which mere material nature, however lovely, can exert; a charm which 

 charms like the beauty of a human face; and a spell which lasts like the 

 bond of a human relation. In such spots we can live alone without being 

 lonely. We go away from them with the same sort of sorrow with which we 

 part from friends, and we recall their looks with the yearning tenderness with 

 which we look on the photographs of beloved absent faces. 



Although Helen Hunt Jackson died in California, her last request 

 was that her body be brought back and laid to rest in this spot on 

 Cheyenne Mountain that she so dearly loved and that the place be 

 marked only by the boulders which nature had provided. This was 

 done, and many thousand travelers still visit the grave annually 

 and pay tribute to the gifted author, though her body now lies in 

 Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs. 



