COLORADO MOUNTAINS. 
39 
where whole States are wrinkled up and spoiled 
for all level purposes, and nothing so vastly im- 
posing produced after all ! 
When Nature got as far west as the Mississippi 
river she grew decided, and when she made 
plains, she made plains, and when she made 
mountains, they were mountains which no one 
could possibly mistake for hills ! 
Eastern mountains will do very well to prepare 
one’s mind for them— that’s about all ! 
Really, Mount Washington and the famous 
peaks of the Appalachian system would, beside 
Pike’s, Grey’s and Long’s peaks, be only nice 
little hills — entitled to a passing glance if they 
put on no arrogant airs ! 
I mean no disrespect to them — am only sug- 
gesting that as mountains among mountains they 
are rather small. I know with what historic in- 
terests they are associated — what poets and writers 
have hallowed them in story and song. In these 
they have a charm no newer scenes, it matters 
not how majestic, can possess. 
(Aside to Coloradoans.) This must be con- 
ceded now, but just wait until the centuries shall 
have thrown over your peaks — upon which Na- 
ture rests her brow when she weeps, and from 
whose broad shoulders her snowy hand is never 
wholly withdrawn — a human history commen- 
surate with their grandeur, a poetry as beautiful 
