eu. t, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Momiiiie-'ir Park i> traversed, where uianyhucd sandstone, 

 capped with igneous rock, assumes forms strangely grotesque. 

 Tupu comi Colorado Springs and Mnuitou. the Saratoga of 

 tin plains, and much more than iliui in all but folly. On- 

 ward by buttcs and mesas, through the cattle on a thousand 

 hills, through sage, atiri cacti, and tkehomes'of prairie dogs, 

 tillPujjblo, the great manufacturing center of Colorado, is 

 reached. 

 For the last hour the Rooky range had been receding 



toward the West, in which dire 

 following the Arkansas through a lo 

 ground Of ffOtldlOUS fertility. We pas 

 of acres of maize, as tall and lush ol gri 

 rich sod of Iowa, through loagucs of tie 

 flowers, Ubiquitous on plain and mount 

 ltov..< of cottonwood ajod l.i 

 oats, a very Eden oi al 

 City. Sereanobserva 

 train and speedily tillei 

 the mountain;., cut dow 

 less, age-long i<>ii of tH< 



set our faces, 



i through thousands 

 wtli as that on the 

 3 diminutive sun- 

 juutain, through dense 

 fields of wheal and 

 until we arrive at Canon 

 ou ear is attached to the rear of the 

 jvilh tourists; We enter a cleft in 

 from i up to bottom by thejeenae- 

 e rushing waters. The sides con 

 verge more and more, lill there is scant room for stream and 

 roadbed; higher and higher rise the many-colon i earned 

 mu. I jagged cuffs closer and closer, higher and ever higher, 

 till the wonder of the Grand Canon ends in the amazement 

 of the Koyal George. 



There is but scant room for the angry stream which roars 

 and foams between the narrow ruck ' wall.-, that lifr them- 



-clvi - straight up for more i 

 to pinn-icle lip the dislan 

 over :i bridge suspended Pr 

 rock overhead, and lollowii 

 rods or more, we pass lh<: 

 v.i.i.-. and thus through g 

 Balida, ninety six mile's fro; 



Abandoning 

 north, we take one that is headeclhia westerly direclion. 

 soon cross Poncho Pass; noted for its hoi springs, 

 scenic atiractions. and Lhe abundance ot its trout. 



Prom Me.-n-.v eleven miles beyond Saiida. the as 

 toward Marshall Pass is extremely rapid, II 



From river bed 



thousand feet. 



»m iron trusses mortised in the 



ig the -i r.-am lengthwise fur ten 



narrowest point, but thirty feel 



raudeur mdesoribable ascend to 



. 3i Pueblo. 



r train that is destined for Leadville in the 



tnd 



its 



frequently two bund 

 road climbs up on one 

 eod Of it, and ascends 

 jeci.nu spin-, ii cepeatt 

 reach. id, al an altilu.U 

 sea. The direct dist 

 hardly more than Ave 

 of the road cover no 1. 



id ele 



•en feet, t 

 alloy, ma 



ut the 

 3 than fifteen i 



111 

 grade being 



mile. The 

 dies a turn at the 

 u. rounding a pro- 

 last the summit is 

 vc the level of the 

 lo the summit is 

 ftgs and lappings 



' The tjroecon- 



sumed is one hour and thirty-eight minutes 

 The outlook is ma.4i1iru.e1n. On either aide slope down 



vale.- loi- Ihou-amls Of feet, Above us iis.< the peak of 



Mt. Ouray, so lure and smooth and grass-covered lhat a 

 child, delicately shod, could make |Joe asceiil with the great- 

 e.-t esse, bo far as the overcoming of obstacles is concerned; 

 bullet the "tenderfoot" noi rashly attempt it, tor such it 

 the rarity of the atmosphere, that bfeathlessneSS and throb- 

 bing temples auc the usual cesultsof the Slightest physical 

 effort. 



In descending we curved 

 tain Bides, through beautiful 

 crystal clearness, ovoi mesas 

 wuli ranches, saw-mills and 

 wide open plateau, and fur 

 glimpse of the citv Of (.-iuiin 



The town, wiiii it- in, or 

 capital of a county thai is I 

 Rhode Island taken logollie 

 streets run the inevitable 

 structures of stone and bri 

 perity and confident a as ■■> < 

 ■ or six churches 



m along 



FftllC 



nbered mouu- 

 Ut streams of 



■h river bottoms, dotted 

 , till tinally we enter a 

 distance catch our rirst 



jlX thousii 

 trgCT Iha 

 '. Along 

 Irrigating 

 .•k radical 

 ie fill ore. 

 a tine CO 



ad 



id inhabitants, is tin 



M 



its wide ;i 

 ditehes. 



stability 

 There an 

 til house. 



•lc 



and 

 id regular 

 Beautiful 

 and pros- 

 numerous 



, and two 

 There are now 

 I a hotel that is 

 the confluence 

 id by rail with 

 :y; surrounded 

 1, and by such 

 " -led Butte, 



eellel.l botClst, tw< 



luoreihau usually alert daily newspapc 



in course of construction a bwge siuelle 



to cost S185,000, Situated as Gunnison 



of the Gunnison and the Tomicbi ; coui 



tin exceedingly fertile L'neoinpabgrc 



by rich deposits of iron and autbracitt 



nourishing mining t.ovvus as Ruby, Got ... 



Tin Cup, Toiuicht and Pitkin, there can be no doubt that 



it i- d.- lined to become the most populous and affluent city 



in Colorado west of the Divide. 



Prom Gunnison we took the train for Cimarron, which in 

 August last was al the end of the track, For about twenty 

 live miles our course lay down through the valley of the 

 Gunnison. As advance Was made the scenery became more 

 and more picturesque. On our right were rare specimens 

 of nature's carving — monuments, pyramids, minarets, broad 

 domes, tall, sharp spires, and lofty castellated heights of all 

 huesaud magnitudes, until wo entered the rock portals of 

 the Black Canon. 



The tireless water has here also don..- marvelous work. On 



left, 



our 



clivitics 11. 

 high as those of 

 and darken this t 

 grandeur, a lit 1 1 



lv. 



Dim! 



nigh] when 

 Lights idem 



only, yei i" 



and' .saloons 



prpvised beds in the 

 ron and through th 



)oded ae- 



m our right cliffs 



tnselvea skyward 



ides of unrivaled 



mid we halt at 



[I was near ruid- 



, ace seemed aslir. 



icd through every canvas. There were tents 



lack was then- of offices and shops and hotels 



,d noisy dance-houses A- »-. lay on our im- 



er coach, across the noisy Oimar- 



larkness came the irritating notes of a 



d Gorge lift th 

 lia-h, riil.cn 

 11 is crossed, 

 typicail ond-of-track town 

 ;t the entire 1 



id, 



French horn, shrill misery from a violin, and the ell&rp 

 calling-off of a female blest with painfully stridulous voice. 

 Into our very dream- that musical torment wormed itself. 

 It was a night long to be remembered, dial first night at 



I 'tlll'll-l'.M. 



Cimarron. 

 From Lb 

 extending its track v 



ncxl il is expected tl 



that by co-operating 

 and with the Chicagi 

 Atchison, Topeka iV 

 Rio Grande will hei 



i Dei 



id 



ver it Kin Grande is rupidly 

 Before the end of J; 



II Bail Lake City will 

 viih the Central Pacific 

 , Burlington A- Quihcy. 

 Santa Fe in the i-"„-,.-i 1 

 . important link In a 



chc.l, and 

 in the W 

 and with the 

 ie Denver & 

 aew and most 

 attractive transcontinental railway chain. It will not be 

 long before 1 hi s enterprising corporation will have no less 

 than seventeen hundred mil. > ..f ait-steel track in full opera- 

 tion. 



As tho tourist is carefully transferred over higher than 

 Alpine passes, and whirled along steeps where even the ven- 

 turesome mountain sheep never found a footing, or through 

 gorges whose lowest depths of darkness lhe eves of man 

 had never pierced, ho cannot; help admiring the skill, the 

 patioucu, the liberality, and the heroism so displayed. In 



his excellent manual, "Health, Wealth, and Pleasure in 

 Colorado and New Mexico." Mr. F. C. N'itns, of Denver, 

 lell- hnw in the Royal Gorge, and in other places like it, 

 "Men and tools, and mules and cartswere let down over the 

 precipices, by ropes, and men and animals received their 

 fOdd, like Elijah, from above, till they cut a track through 

 the granite dill's; how lhe surveyors iirst picked their way 

 through the canon on the ice, where before only fishes and 

 birds had been; how the rotkmen llHng suspended in the 

 and drilled holes in the granite for blasts that sent tons 

 rock crashing into the stream, with a noise louder than 

 thunder.'' 



By supplanting the stages and pack trains of burros, the 

 Denver and Rio Grande Railway has been a m..st important 

 factorin making Colorado the rich State lhat il is to-day. 

 In!., ev. tv mining camp thai is worthy of consideration, 

 and in any way accessible, branches of 1 he road have been 

 extended or arc now being so advanced, in the Leadville 

 region it is tapping such towns as Red Cliff, Dillon, Frisco 

 and Breeken ridge, attaining at Summit an altitude of 

 il, 839 feet; in the Gunnison .region, Created Butte, Ouray, 

 and Lake City; in the Saiida region, Mavsville, Bonanza, 

 lli-mark. and Saguache-, from the Canon of the Arkansas, 

 Silver Cliff, Ko-ita, and numerous coal mines, and in the 

 south, El Moro. Del Norte. Wagon-wheel Gap, and the 

 New Mexican Espanola— the richest portions of the State 

 being .thus nourished and strengthened by these life-giviug 

 arteries of traffic. Well worthy" are these men of our ad- 

 miration, and of the $($00,000 that they are earning every 

 month, 



From Cimarron We rciurn lo Saiida, and alter a delightful 

 wandering Ilnough Brown's Canon, along the base of such 

 peaks as Harvard, Vale, and Princeton, each more, than 

 II. Dili) feci in hci-hi, Leadville is reached, lhe citv above 

 Bhe clouds, with its fifteen thousand inhabitants, audits 

 altitude of 10,200 feet. We knew that during the pasl year 

 Leadville had produced precious metals to the value of more 

 than 810,000,000, and still we were surprised by the size 

 and beautv oj the C'ly; by its hloeks of substantial stone 

 and brick buildings; by it- churches BOhQols, opera house 

 and many beautiful private residences. H one is in search 

 of a rough and lawless mining-town, it is necessary to search 

 elsewhere — iff fact, it is necessary to emigrate from Colo- 

 rado. Leadville is decidedly like any Eastern city of the 

 same size, save thai here some things are done openly that 

 in the East are done behind fast-closed doors;, but that arc 

 done all the same. 



Leadville is suftou&ded by places of unusual interest, 

 such as the snowy wonder of Holy Cross Mountain, the de- 

 lightful summer resort at Twin Lakes, whose waters al tract 

 the angler, and whose glacial moraines will not be heedlessly 

 passed by lhe geologist. The civil engineer will not forget 

 lo make a pilgrimage to the Calumet iron mines, where the 

 branch railroad attains a maximum grade df four hundred 

 and six feet per mile. 



From Pueblo southward the journey offers very little of 

 interest, save as the ev.-i beautiful mountain's in the west, 

 and the Spanish Peaks in the south bewitch the eye with 

 varying beauties of form and color; but from Wahatoya 

 onward interest increases with every added mile. Toward 

 the mountains and upward among Inem lies our way, In 

 sinuous course we wind up along their sides, around curves 

 of thirty degrees, and up grades of two bundled and thirty- 

 seven feet to the: mile. As the plain beneath recedes further 

 and further the lifting up is fell. Our progress is slow and 

 arduous. We unconsciously labor with lhe locomotive as 

 through the silliness of lhe half-lit night its dry, metallic 

 panting smites our. ears. Of a sudden a mist sinks down 

 upon us and shuts oul the lu-t traces of the hitherto iiidi- 

 sunet yet pleasing prospect. One turn is made around a 

 deep, concave bend, and a sharp spurt up a long and steep 

 ascent, when we emerge from the clouds and look down 

 upon a vast ocean of light, rifted here and thereby abysmal 

 darkness— islands of blackness — lapped bv multitudinous 

 waves of soft, silvern whiteness, tinged with nacreous sheen. 

 So Veta Pass is crossed almost ten thousand feet above the 

 tide, 



Into the grand valley on the other side of the range a 

 rapid descent is made. San Luis Park, the largest- of all in 

 Colorado, being one hundred and forty miles long and sixty 

 miles wide, covers an area considerably larger than iln- 

 entire State of Massachusetts, With a few exceptions the 

 plain is level as a floor, and devoid of nil timber save where 

 the groves of cottonwood fringe the numerous intersecting 

 sliean.s. Of lh« latter the San Luis and the Saguache How 

 into a marshy tract of laud called San Luis Lakes, from 

 which there is no visible outlet . The soil is amazingly 

 fertile, producing excellent crops wherever lhe irrigating 

 ditches have been sent. Men of intelligence and enterprise 

 are now spreading the waters of the Rio Grande over thou- 

 sands of acres, and there can be no doubt lhat they will 

 receive large returns for time and money so expended 

 Vast se. -lions of the Pai k are -fill unappropriated, and can 

 be purchased ai government prices, 11 falsi that oughl lo 

 tempt many a toiler from the Bast. 



Pursuing our journey we pass Alamosa in mid-plain, and 

 soon thereafter A utonilo, bard by the adobe plaza of Cone- 

 jos, with it ancient church and convcm, a typical Mexican 

 town. Further onward another a-c nt i- made. We now 

 take a last look backward across till Park, and behold, 

 eighty miles distant, the graceful outlines or Sierra Blancu, 

 most beautiful of peaks along the entire range, and with 

 one single exception the highest in the United Slates, having 

 ail elevation of 1 I.JOd feet 



We then climb mesa after mesa in iulcrmiuable windings, 

 so that frequently six miles of travel are hardly equal to 

 three miles of direct advance. At the "Whiplash" a section- 

 house is passed three times in less tbau ten minutes, the 

 (rack being shaped like a low and broad S> the width of 

 Which may be halt a mile, and the height certainly less than 

 eighty rods. Loops .are made where the embankments of 

 the higher touches the sills of the lower track. So we wind 

 along leisurely, rising higher and higher, till ou turning 

 iln cresl of a "hill twenty-three miles from Antonito, we are 

 surprised tt) And that we are skirling along the rim of the 

 .'ill- thai overlook the beautiful Los Pinos Valley. 



The scenery is unusually picturesque. As far as the eye 

 can reach, back and forth, vale follows vale. The moun 

 tains opposite are dark with evergreens, flecked and fringed 

 below with dense growl lis of bright, aspen; while down in 

 'in. valley beneath •wanders the glistening streamlet through 

 the grayish-given of grass and gage. On our side the scene 

 iscver changing. Now we pass through groups of highly 

 colored monumental rock; then by dark eruptive monoliths 

 of astounding heights, standing In startling contrast with 

 cretaceous formations of almost endless hues, of delicate 

 rose., bright yellow, and vivid green, alternating sharply 



with reds and browns, and shades of blue, constituting a 

 landscape that is unique and and strangely fascinating. 



As the witching panorama passes by, the tourist suddenly 

 notes that the end of the valley is reached, a bold mountain 

 range seemingly cutting off every chance of egress; but the 

 mountain side is climbed, the train rounds the out-iutling 

 brow, thunders through a tunnel, and then runs along a 

 narrow ledge cut into the precipitous cliffs of Toltec Gorge. 

 But a stone's throw across rise up opposing rock walls more 

 thun two thousand feet in height. At dizzying depths below 

 the foam-flecked stream rushes on and leads our way. We 

 follow along peaceful vales ofbciiutyso transcendent that 

 one longs for leisure there to rest for days and days, as do 

 tho sons of Nimrod and the disciples of Father Izaak that. 

 dwell in those white tents by the Los Pinos. But we must 

 hasten on over the Divide at an altitude of more than 10,000 

 feet; through Chnina, blest with genial Boniface and famous 

 for its dainty trout feasts; tbroueh the forests of the Tierni 

 Amarilla, one hundred miles in fength, on whose brushlesS, 

 grass-covered plains stand grand old pines, smooth of bole, 

 and tall and straight as masts; then onward we pass by 

 Amargo.the agency for the untidy, shiftless Apacfes; by 



the wondrous trap dikes betw. in Dlflce and Navajo; over 

 the Pkdra and the Rio de los Pino-; then by lenario'. among 

 the yellow-topped tepees of the Southern L'tcs, owners of im- 

 mense Hocks and herds, and across the Rio Florida dow n into 

 bustling Durango. 



The "first town lot in Durango was sold in September, 

 1880, yet at this date it. contains between three and I'om 

 thousand people, who support a daily newspaper, two 

 banks, numerous schools and churches, and one theat.-r. A 

 tin<- -inciter, giving 1'iuplovnicnt to several hundred men, 

 lee lately been erected, The town carries on an extensive 

 wholesale trade with neighboring mining camps. Coal and 

 iron of excellent quality and practically inexhausiil.le tjiian- 

 tity are found in the immediate neighborhood. The long 

 blocks of substantial business buildings speak of prosperity 

 and presage si ability. 



Not far from Durango, west by south, are found some of 

 the mosi Interesting ruins of the ancient cliff dwell. 1- 

 whose houses are liung "like eagles' nests among the lofty 

 aralgs, and which far antedate the Teutonic ruins of Middle 

 Ages." 



Following the beautiful valley of the Rio flc His' Anitnas, 

 we pass through fields of great fertility, by private resi- 

 dences that betoken thrift and opulence, till a halt is made 

 at Roekwood, eighteen miles north from Durango. \\ e 

 have hardly left this station before we find that the valley 

 converges more and more until it culminates in the Grand 

 Gorge Of lhe Animas. Midway between lop and bottom the 

 roadway has been cut into the side of the perpendicular 

 cliff. Beetling heights are above us, and down below, at 

 an amazing distance, the tumultuous waters of the narrowly 

 confined river. Here beauty and grandeur have kissed each 

 other — the beauty of rock and mountain slope, of the .-wi.-li 

 and sheen of wafer, and the -raudeur ot ma.-s and astound- 

 ing height. At evtrry tnrn of the river new beauties an- re- 

 v.-al.d. new vi.si.ns of exceeding loveliness. TboseTVatera 

 of brightest, emerald flow garrulously over shingly bed, oj 

 gather quickly in still, dark [tools, or rush Impatiently 

 through narrow clefts, mid from height 10 height dash them- 

 selves into a seething whiteness! Por thirty miles river and 

 road run side by tide, closely pressed by cliffs and wooded 

 si.iji- that rise abruptly more than four thousand feet on 

 this side and on that, thirty miles of exquisite enjoyment, 

 and then the valley wends out, and there before us in Bak- 

 er's Park lies superb Silverton, surrounded on all sides by 

 loftj . siiow-tipt mountain ranges. The scene is remarkably 

 Swi'ss-like. The groups of low, fiat-roofed houses, tin- beau- 

 tiful mountains, the glistening snow, the cool breezes, and 

 the cloudless sky of darkest blue, all these must recall for 

 many a one memories of lmppv Alpine days 



But the place is intensely American! The streets are 

 Clean, wide, right-angled, and bordered with irrigating 

 ditches tilled Willi lhe clear, cold wal.-r than (limes 'down 

 from those snowy summits Thousands are digging in Ihose 

 mountains and bringing forth treasures in abundance. With 

 railway, postal and telegraphic communication, with shops, 

 and schools, and churches, and hotels, and newspapers, (un- 

 does not feel as if he was ou the frontier. Person and 

 property arc as safe in Gunnison, Leadville, Durango or 

 Silverton as in an\ (own of lhe .same 3i2« along the Hudson 

 River. 



In a quiel way Silverton is honeycombing lhe mountains 

 aud gaiherimr great quantities of valuable mineral, most of 

 which is now' being sent to Durango lor treatment, but il is 

 expected that, before the Close 0i this year. lb. Bcckwifh 

 smelter will be ready to go into operation in Silverton 0- Il 



In returning from the Silver San Juan toward Dettvi c we 

 stop al Alamosa and make a side trip of 135 miles to Lake 

 City, Forty miles northwest from Alamosa, at Del Norte, 

 Wl enteroneof tbCTBtftgesOf Sanderson'- Overland line al. 

 half-past ten in lhe morning, and reach our destination at 

 Ihr.-e (.'dock on lhe following morning. Our leisurely 

 journey lies along the wide and charming valley ot the Rio 

 Grande' del Norte, on either side of which lofty, many- 

 eoloi-.-d ebiTs and fir covered mountains are standing guard. 

 As Wagonwheel Gap is approached quietness gives way to 

 grandeur, the mountains On the south and the walls of rock 

 on the north drawing near and nearer till at last height 

 almost touches height. 4 capital place is this to tarry at 

 with rod or rifle, iboul a mile south of the little wayside 



inn a fashionabable summer resorl has been established 

 close by two hot springs far-famed for (heir medicinal vir- 

 tues. ]'n one of these th. water boils up al o temperature of 

 1J50 deg. F., while hardly leu feet from it there is a spring 

 of water intensely cold. 



The narrow rock gateway of the tap having been passed, 

 the scenery relapses into the aforetime quici.iu-.-s lillai An- 

 telope Springs the river is forsaken, and the road turns 

 sharply to the right across a most wild and mountainous 

 region! As we climbed up to an elevation cf more Ihan 

 10,500 feet on one of the last days of August, a dreadful 

 snowstorm was encountered. With the velocity of a hur- 

 ricane it rushed down upon us. rjhnming the thickly falling 



Bakes in a blinding tUTy, till landscape and palhu'av were 



completely blotted out, The horses' feel balled -..badly 

 that we could but creep along slowly in a temperature bitter 

 cold. 



Quickly as the storm had hurst upon US so suddenly it 

 passed by. The sun shone at once w Ith mid-niunicr brilli 

 anee and" intensity. The dark green branches of the ever- 

 greens w.-re heavily snow-ladc,. while the crystal ice 

 spiculie afloat in the air and the whiteness under toot were 

 touched of rare iridescence. 



Corduroy is here called an excellent roadway, and over 

 six miles of it we thundered along at terrific speed, then 



