a GARFIELD PEAK. THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT A RECORD OF A SUMMER'S RAMBLE IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND BEYOND. BY ERNEST INGERSOLL. 1 We climbed the rock-built breasts of earth ! We saw the snowy mountains rolled Like mighty billows ; saw the birth Of sudden dawn ; b_eheld the gold Of awful sunsets ; saw the face Of God, and named it boundless space." CHICAGO: R. R. DONNELLEY & SOXJ5, PUBLISHERS. 1885 COPYRIGHT, BY S. K. HOOPER, R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS, THE LAKESIDE PRESS, CHICAGO. TO THE PEOPLE OF COLORADO, SAGACIOUS IN PERCEIVING, DILIGENT IN DEVELOPING, AND WISE IN ENJOYING THE RESOURCES AND ATTRACTIONS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED WITH THE HOMAGE OF THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. PROBABLY nothing in this artificial world is more deceptive than absolute candor. Hence, though the ensuing text may lack nothing in straightfor- wardness of assertion, and seem impossible to misunderstand, it may be worth while to say distinctly, here at the start, that it is all true. We actually did make such an excursion, in such cars, and with such equip- ments, as I have described ; and we would like to do it again. It was wild and rough in many respects. Re-arranging the trip, lux- uries might be added, and certain inconveniences avoided ; but I doubt whether, in so doing, we should greatly increase the pleasure or the profit. "No man should desire a soft life," wrote King /Elfred the Great Roughing it, within reasonable grounds, is the marrow of this sort of recre- ation. What a pungent and wholesome savor to the healthy taste there is in the very phrase ! The zest with which one goes about an expedition of any kind in the Rocky Mountains is phenomenal in itself ; I despair of making it credited or comprehended by inexperienced lowlanders. We are told that the joys of Paradise will not only actually be greater than earthly pleasures, but that they will be further magnified by our increased spiritual sensitiveness to the "good times" of heaven. Well, in the same way, the senses are so quickened by the clear, vivifying climate of the western uplands in summer, that an experience is tenfold more pleasurable there than it could become in the Mississippi valley. I elsewhere have had something to say about this exhilaration of body and soul in the high Rockies, which you will perhaps pardon me for repeating briefly, for it was written honestly, long ago, and outside of the present connection. ' ' At sunrise breakfast is over, the mules and everybody else have been good-natured and you feel the glory of mere existence as you vault into the saddle and break into a gallop. Not that this or that particular day is so different from other pleasant mornings, but all that we call the weather is constituted in the most perfect proportions. The air is ' nimble and sweet,' and you ride gayly across meadows, through sunny woods of pine and aspen, and between granite knolls that are piled up in the most noble and romantic proportions. " Sometimes it seems, when camp is reached, that one hardly has strength to make another move ; but after dinner one finds himself able and willing to do a great deal. . " One's sleep in the crisp air, after the fatigues of the day, is sound and 5 6 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. serene. . . You awake at daylight a little chilly, re-adjust your blankets, and want again to sleep. The sun may pour forth from the ' golden win- dow of the east ' and flood the world with limpid light ; the stars may pale and the jet of the midnight sky be diluted to that pale and perfect morning- blue into which you gaze to unmeasured depths ; the air may become a per- vading Champagne, dry and delicate, every draught of which tingles the lungs and spurs the blodd along the veins with joyous speed ; the landscape may woo the eyes with airy undulations of prairie or snow-pointed pinnacles lifted sharply against the azure yet sleep chains you. That very quality "of the atmosphere which contributes to all this beauty and makes it so delicious to be awake, makes it equally blessed to slumber. Lying there in the open air, breathing the pure elixir of the untainted mountains, you come to think even the confinement of a flapping tent oppressive, and the ventilation of a sheltering spruce-bough bad." That was written out of a sincere enthusiasm, which made as naught a whole season's hardship and work, before there was hardly a wagon-road, much less a railway, beyond the front range. This exordium, my friendly reader, is all to show to you: That we went to the Rockies and beyond them, as we say we did ; that we knew what we were after, and found the apples of these Hesperides not dust and ashes but veritable golden fruit ; and, finally, that you may be persuaded to test for yourself this natural and lasting enjoyment. The grand and alluring mountains are still there, everlasting hills, unchangeable refuges from weariness, anxiety and strife ! The railway grows wider and permits a longer and even more varied journey than was ours. . Cars can be fitted up as we fitted ours, or in a way as much better as you like. Year by year the facilities for wayside comforts and short branch- excursions are multiplied, with the increase of population and culture. If you are unable, or do not choose, to undertake all this preparation, I still urge upon you the pleasure and utility of going to the Rocky Mountains, travelling into their mighty heart in comfortable and luxurious public con- veyances. Nowhere will a holiday count for more in rest, and in food for subsequent thought and recollection. CONTENTS. I AT THE BASE OF THE ROCKIES. First Impressions of the Mountains. A Problem, and its Solution. Denver Descriptive and Historical. The Resources which Assure its Future, Some General Infor- mation concerning the Mining, Stock Raising and Agricultural Interests of Colo- rado. - - - ... 13 II ALONG THE FOOTHILLS. The Expedition Moves. Its Personnel. The Romantic Attractions of the Divide. Light on Monument Park. Colorado Springs, a City of Homes, of Morality and Culture. Its Pleasant Environs : Glen Eyrie, Blair Athol, Austin's Glen, the Cheyenne Canons. - _ - - - - .- 26 III A MOUNTAIN SPA. Manitou, and the Mineral Springs. The Ascent of Pike's Peak ; bronchos and blue noses. Ute Pass, and Rainbow Falls. The Garden of the Gods. Manitou Park. Williams' Canon, and the Cave of the Winds. An Indian Legend. - - 36 IV PUEBLO AND ITS FURNACES. The Largest Smelter in the World. The Colorado Coal and Iron Company. Pueblo's Claims as a Trade Center, and its Tributary Railway System. A Chapter of Facts and Figures in support of the New Pittsburgh. - - 51 V OVER THE SANGRE DE CRISTO. Up and down Veta Mountain, with some Extracts from a letter. Veta Pass, and the Muleshoe Curve. Spanish Peaks. Beautiful Scenery, and Famous Railroading. A general outline of the Rocky Mountain Ranges. - - - - 60 VI SAN Luis PARK. A Fertile and Well - watered Valley. The Method of Irrigation. Sierra Blanca. A Digression to describe the Home on Wheels. Alamosa, Antonito and Conejos. Cattle, Sheep and Agriculture in the largest Mountain Park. - - 71 VII THE INVASION OF NEW MEXICO. Barranca, among the Sunflowers. An Excursion to Ojo Caliente, and Description of the Hot Springs. Pre-historic Relics a Rich Field for the Archaeologist. Senor vs. Burro. An Ancient Church, with its Sacred Images. - - - 81 7 8 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. VIII EL MEXICANO Y PUEBLOANO. Comanche Canon and Embudo. The Penitentes. The Rio Grande Valley ; Alcalde, Chamita and Espanola. New Mexican Life, Homes and Industries. The Indian Pueblos, and their Strange History. Architecture. Pottery, and Threshing. 92 IX SANTA FE AND THE SACRED VALLEY. Santa Fe, the Oldest City in the United States. Fact and Tradition. San Fernandez de Taos the Home of Kit Carson. Pueblo de Taos Birthplace of Montezuma, and Typical and Well- Preserved. The Festival of St. Geronimo. Exit Amos. - 106 X TOLTEC GORGE. Heading for the San Juan Country. From Mesa to Mountain Top. The Curl of the Whiplash. Above the silvery Los Finos. Phantom Curve. A Startling Peep from Toltec Tunnel. Eva Cliff. " In Memoriam." - - 115 XI ALONG THE SOUTHERN BORDER. The Pinos-Chama Summit. Trout and Game. The Groves of Chama. Mexican Rural Life at Tierra Amarilla. The Iron Trail. Rio San Juan and its Tributaries. Pagosa Springs. Apache Visitors. The Southern Utes. Durango. - 120 XII THE QUEEN OF THE CANONS. Geology of the Sierra San Juan. The Attractions of Trimble Springs. Beauty and Fertility of the Animas Valley. The Canon of the River of Lost Souls. Engineering under difficulties. The Needles, and Garfield Peak. - - 129 XIII SILVER SAN JUAN. Geological Resume. Scraps of History. Snow-shoes and Avalanches. The Mining Camps of Animas Forks, Mineral Point, Eureka and Howardville. Early Days in Baker's Park. Poughkeepsie, Picayune and Cunningham Gulches. The Hanging. - ... 136 XIV BEYOND THE RANGES. Ophir, Rico, and the La Plata Mountains. Everything triangular. Mixed Mineralogy, Real bits of Beauty. " When I sell my Mine." An Unbiased Opinion. Placer vs. Fissure Vein Mining. - - 149 XV THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE Rio SAN JUAN. Rugged Trails. Searching for Antiquities. The Discovery. Habitations of a Lost Race. Prehistoric Architecture, " Temple or Refrigerator." " Ruins, Ancient beyond all Knowing." Guesses and Traditions. Some Appropriate Verses. 156 XVI ON THE UPPER Rio GRANDE. Good-bye and Welcome. Del Norte and the Gold Summit. Among the River Ranches. Wagon Wheel Springs. Healing Power of the Waters. The Gap and its History. A Day's Trout Fishing. - 166 XVII EL MORO AND CANON CITY. A Great Natural Fortress. Down in a Coal Mine. The Coke Ovens. Huerfano Park and its Coal. Canon City Historically. Coal Measures. Resources of the Foot- hills. - - 177 CONTENTS. 9 XVIII IN THE WET MOUNTAIN VALLEY. Grape Creek Canon. The Dome of the Temple. Wet Mountain Valley. The Legend of Rosita. Hardscrabble District. Silver Cliff and its Strange Mine. The Foothills of the Sierra Mojada. Geological Theories. - 185 XIX THE ROYAL GORGE. The Grand Canon of the Arkansas. Its Culminating Chasm the Royal Gorge. Beetling Cliffs and Narrow Waters. Running the Gauntlet. Wonders of Plutonic Force. A Story of the Canon. - - 193 XX THE ARKANSAS VALLEY. Entering Brown's Canon. The Iron Mines of Calumet. Salida. Fanning on the Arkansas. Buena Vista. Granate and its Gold Placers, Twin Lakes. Malta and its Charcoal Burners. A Burned-out Gulch. - - 201 XXI CAMP OF THE CARBONATES. California Gulch. How Boughtown was Built. Some Lively Scenes. Discovery of Carbonates. The Rush of 1878. The Founding of Leadville. A Happy Grave Digger. Practice and Theory of Mining. Reducing the Ores. - - 209 XXII ACROSS THE TENNESSEE AND FREMONT'S PASS. Hay Meadows on the Upper Arkansas. Climbing Tennessee Pass. Mount of the Holy Cross. Red Cliff. Ore in Battle Mountain. Through Eagle River Canon. The Artist's Elysium. Two Miles in the Air. On the Blue. - 222 XXIII FROM PONCHO SPRINGS TO VILLA GROVE. In Hot Water. A Pretty Village and Fine Outlook. Pluto's Reservoirs. The Madame's Letter. Poncho Pass. The Sangre de Cristo Again. Villa Grove. Silver and Iron. ........ 225 XXIV THROUGH MARSHALL PASS. The Unknown Gunnison. A Wonder of Progress. Climbing the Mountains in a Parlor Car. Four Hours of Scenic Delight. Culmination of Man's Skill. On the Crest of the Continent. The Mysterious Descent. - - - 243 XXV GUNNISON AND CRESTED BUTTE. Tomichi Valley. Gunnison from Oregon to St. Louis. Captain Gunnison's Discoveries. A Discussion with Chief Ouray. A Beautiful Landscape. Crested Butte. Anthracite in the Rockies. .___-_ 250 XXVI -A TRIP TO LAKE CITY. Lake City. A Picture from Nature. A Hard Pillow. The Mining Interests. Alpine Grandeur of the Scenery. The Home of the Bear and the Elk. Game, Game, Game. ___-._ _ 262 XXVII IMPRESSIONS OF THE BLACK CANON. The Observation Car. Gunnison River. Trout Fishing Again. The Rock Cleft in Twain. A Beautiful Cataract. A Mighty Needle. The Canon Black yet Sunny. Impressions of the Canon. Majestic Forms and Splendid Colors. - - 266 10 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. XXVIII THE UNCOMPAHGRE VALLEY. Cline's Ranch. Montrose. The Madame and Chum Respectfully Decline. The Trip to Ouray. The Military Post. Chief Ouray's Widow. The Road on the Bluff. Hot Springs. Brilliant Stars. - - 273 XXIX OURAY AND RED MOUNTAIN. A Pretty Mountain Town. Trials of the Prospectors. A Tradition. From Silverton to Ouray by Wagon. Enchanting Gorges and Alluring Peaks. The Yankee Girl. A Cave of Carbonates. Vermillion Cliffs., Dallas Station. - 278 XXX MONTROSE AND DELTA. Playing Billiards. Caught in the Act. A Well- Watered District. Coal and Cattle. A Fruit Garden. A Big Irrigating Ditch. The Snowy Elk Mountains. A Substan- tial Track. A Long Bridge. - . 290 XXXI THE GRAND RIVER VALLEY. An Honest Circular. Grand Junction. Staking Out Ranches. The Recipe for Good Soil. Watering the Valley. Value of Water. Some Big Corn in the Far West. A Land of Plenty. Going West. - 296 XXXII THE COLORADO CANONS. A Memorable Night-Journey. Skirting the Uncompahgre Plateau. Origin of the Sierra La Sal. Crossing the Green Rivsr. Wonders of Erosive Work. An Indian Tia- dition. The Marvelous Canons of the Colorado. - 303 XXXIII CROSSING THE WASATCH. The Tall Cliffs of Price River and Castle Canon. Castle Gate. The Summit of the Wasatch. "Indians!" San Pete and Sevier Valleys. " Like Iser Rolling Rapidly." Through the Canon of the Spanish Fork. Mount Nebo. - - 312 XXXIV BY UTAH LAKES. Rural Scenes Beside Lake Utah. Spanish Fork, Springville, Provo and Nephi. Relics of Indian Wars. Pretty Fruit Sellers. First Sight of Deseret and the Great Salt Lake. Ogden and Its History. - .... ^TJ XXXV SALT LAKE CITY. Sunday in Salt Lake City. The Tabernacle and the Temple. Early Days in Utah. Shady Trees and Sparkling Brooks. Social Peculiarities of the City. Mining and Mercantile Prosperity. Religious Sects. Schools and Seminaries. - 324 XXXVI SALT LAKE AND THE WASATCH. The Ride to Salt Lake. A Salt Water Bath. Keep Your Mouth Shut. The Shore of the Lake. An Exciting Chase. A Trip to Alta. Stone for the Temple. An Exhilar- ating Ride. - - ..... 335 XXXVII A i- REVOIR. At Last. On Jordan's Banks. Chum's Grandfather. Let Every Injun Carry his Own Skillet. The Parting Toast. Good-Night. - - - - 342 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE GARFIELD PEAK - Frontispiece. DENVER - - 17 DEPOT AT PALMER LAKE - .... 20 PHCEBE'S ARCH - - * - - - 21 MONUMENT PARK - ... 24 IN QUEEN'S CANON ....... 28 CHEYENNE FALLS - . - 31 IN NORTH CHEYENNE CANON - . 34 A GLIMPSE OF MANITOU AND PIKE'S PEAK - 37 THE MINERAL SPRINGS - 40 PIKE'S PEAK TRAIL - - ... 45 RAINBOW FALLS ... 49 GARDEN OF THE GODS - .... 53 ENTRANCE TO CAVE OF THE WINDS ... 57 ALABASTER HALL - - - 62 VETA PASS - 67 CREST OF VETA MOUNTAIN - ... 69 SPANISH PEAKS FROM VETA PASS ... 75 SANGRE DE CRISTO SUMMITS ------ 73 SIERRA BLANCA - 83 OJQ CALIENTE - .... 86 EMBUDO, Rio GRANDE VALLEY ... 89 NEW MEXICAN LIFE .... 94 A PATRIARCH 98 MATD AND MATRON 99 OLD CHURCH OF SAN JUAN 102 PUEBLO DE TAGS 107 PHANTOM CURVE - 112 PHANTOM ROCKS - 118 IN MEMORIAM 119 TOLTEC GORGE - - - 125 EVA CLIFF - 130 GARFIELD MEMORIAL - - 131 NEATI THE PIN T OS-CHAMA SUMMIT 136 CHIEFS OF THE SOUTHERN UTES - 141 CANON OF THE Rio DE LAS ANIMAS 146 ON THE RIVER OF LOST SOULS 152 ANIMAS CANON AND THE NEEDLES ... - 157 12 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. PAGE SILVERTON AND SULTAN MOUNTAIN - - - 162 CLIFF DWELLINGS - .... jgg WAGON WHEEL GAP ----.._ 173 DP THE Rio GRANDE - - - - 178 GRAPE CREEK CANON - ----- 181 GRAND CANON OF THE ARKANSAS - - - - 186 THE ROYAL GORGE - - - - 191 BROWN'S CANON - - - 194 TWIN LAKES - - - - 199 THE OLD ROUTE TO LEADVILLE - - - 202 THE SHAFT HOUSE - - - - 204 BOTTOM OF THE SHAFT ------ 205 ATHWART AN INCLINE - . 206 THE JIG DRILL ....... 207 FREMONT PASS -------- 211 CASCADES OF THE BLUE - ... 214 MOUNT OF THE HOLY CROSS - - - - 219 MARSHALL PASS EASTERN SLOPE 223 MARSHALL PASS WESTERN SLOPE - - - - - 227 CRESTED BUTTE MOUNTAIN AND LAKE - - 230 RUBY FALLS - - - 232 APPROACH TO THE BLACK CANON ... 235 BLACK CANON OF THE GUNNISON ... - 241 CCRRECANTI NEEDLE, BLACK CANON - - 247 A UTE COUNCIL FIRE - - - 251 OURAY 255 GATE OF LODORE ... - 261 WINNIE'S GROTTO ------ 264 ECHO ROCK - - - 267 GUNNISCN'S BUTTE ... . 271 BUTTES OF THE CROSS - - 274 MARBLE CANON - 279 GRAND CAXON OF THE COLORADO - - - 283 GRAND CANON, FROM TO-RO-WASP - 287 EXPLORING THE WALLS ..... 292 CASTLE GATE . - - - '297 IN SPANISH FORK CANON - . ... - 300 TRAMWAY IN LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANON - - - 305 SALT LAKE CITY ........ Jtti MORMON TEMPLE, TABERNACLE AND ASSEMBLY HALL - 325 GREAT SALT LAKR ..... 331 I AT THE BASE OF THE ROCKIES. OLD WOODCOCK says that if Providence had not made him a justice of the peace, he'd have been a vagabond himself. Xo such kind interference prevailed in my case. I was a vagabond from my cradle. I never could be sent to school alone like other children they always had to see me there safe, and fetch me back again. The rambling bump monopolized my whole head. I am sure my godfather must have been the. Wandering Jew or a king's messenger. Here I am again, en route, and sorely puzzled to know whither. THE LOITEKIXGS OF ARTHUR O'LKARY. ~jjij) HERE are the Rocky Mountains ! ' I strained my eyes in the direction of his finger, but for a minute could see nothing. Presently sight became adjusted to a new focus, and out against a bright sky dawned slowly the undefined shimmering trace of something a little bluer. Still it seemed nothing tangible. It might have passed for a vapor effect of the horizon, had not the driver called it otherwise. Another minute and it took slightly more certain shape. It cannot be described by any Eastern analogy; no other far mountain view that I ever saw is at all like it. If you have seen those sea-side albums which ladies fill with algae during their summer holiday, and in those albums have been startled, on turning over a page suddenly, to see an exquisite marine ghost appear, almost evanescent in its faint azure, but still a literal existence, which had been called up from the deeps, and laid to rest with infinite delicacy and difficulty, then you will form some conception of the first view of the Rocky Mountains. It is impossible to imagine them built of earth, rock, any- thing terrestrial ; to fancy them cloven by horrible chasms, or shaggy with giant woods. They are made out of the air and the sunshine which show them. Nature has dipped her pencil in the faintest solu- tion of ultramarine, and drawn it once across the Western sky with a hand tender as Love's. Then when sight becomes still better adjusted, you find the most delicate division taking place in this pale blot of beauty, near its upper edge. It is rimmed with a mere thread of opaline and crystalline light. For a moment it sways before you and is confused. But your eagerness grows steadier, you see plainer and know that you are looking on the everlasting snow, the ice that never melts. As the entire fact in all its meaning possesses you completely, you feel a sensation which is as new to your life as it is impossible of repetition. I confess (I should be ashamed not to) that my first 13 14 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. view of the Rocky Mountains had no way of expressing itself save in tears. To see what they looked, and to know what they were, was like a sudden revelation of the truth that the spiritual is the only real aud substantial; that the eternal things of the universe are they which, afar off, seeru dim and faint." There are the Rocky Mountains! Ludlow saw them after riiiiiful -heet of water. kno\vn as Palmer Lake from which ; s derived a large quantity of the purest ice. Here a novel and attractive depot has been erected by the railway company. and extensive improvements, including a dancing pavilion and sum- mer hotel, cottages and boat-houses, have been made. In the hoii<-M seasons the temperature is always cool and invigorating, and no spot within accessible distance is so well adapted for an economical and delightful resort for Denverites. On the southern face of the hill the rock-formations break out into still more marked resemblances to ruined castles, showing moats, arches and turrets. It follows that our Artist was enraptured ^p|\v w ' In '' K> nimantic features of the place, and the ^to. Photographer insisted on taking out his camera .jfflU Bk ;1IU ^ J^'"' 11 ,- at work. One of his results, ^Q^B^^BB^ Phehe's An-li. is contributed to the this volume, fro m the rapid, and tention sorbed swiftly ing p a n o - Close by are ains their ramids holding your eyes from plains. "In mony of form." them : "in effect sky. in breadth pictorial fund of The descent D i v i d e is o u r a t - is ab- bythe chang- r a m a . the mount- QUEEN'S CANON. snowy py- entranced far. farout on the variety and har- said Uayard Taylor of against the dark blue and grandeur, I know of no external picture of the Alps which can be placed beside it. If you could take away the valley of the Rhone, and unite the Alps of Savoy with the Bernese Oberland. you might obtain a tolerable idea of this view of the Rocky Mountains." Pike's Peak is constantly in sight, and every curve in the steel road presents it in a different aspect. Presently we find ourselves on the bank of Monument Creek, pass the station of the same name, and soon encounter a series of small basins, and side valleys, green-carpeted and with gently sloping and wooded sides. " Observe those odd rocks! " suddenly exclaims the Madame. " No- tice how, all along the bluff, stand rows of little images, like the carved figure-friezes of the Parthenon; and how those great isolated rocks have been left like' the discarded and broken furniture of Cog and Magog." TH/-: MONUMBJfTB. 29 yes," I say. "but the tone of your imagery is low. Long, long ago a higher sentiment called them ' monuments,' and this whole illy- defined region of grotesquely-cut .sandstones, Monument Park." And then we all fall into a discussion of the process of formation of these quaint obelisks, which is interrupted by the Artist. "Here is some pertinent testimony in Ludlow's admirable book, the 'Heart of the Continent,' which by your leave I will read to you. Ready? " "Fire away I" we reply, and do the same with our cigars, making a treaty of amity in the blaze of a mutual match. '"I ascended one of the most practicable hills among the number crowned by sculpturesque formations. The hill was a mere mass of sand and debris from decayed rocks, about a hundred feet high, conical, and bearing on its summit an-irregular group of pillars. After a protracted examination, I found the formation to consist of a peculiar friable con- glomerate, which has no precise parallel in any of our Eastern strata. Some of the pillars were nearly cylindrical, others were long cones; and a number were spindle-shaped, or like a buoy set on end. With hardly an exception, they were surmounted by capitals of remarkable projec- tion beyond their base. These I found slightly different in composition from the shafts. The conglomerate of the latter was an irregular mixt- ure of fragments from all the hypogene rocks of the range, including quartzose pebbles, pure crystals of silex, various crystalline sandstones, gneiss, solitary horn-blende and feldspar, nodular iron stones, rude agates and gun-flint; the whole loosely cemented in a matrix composed of clay, lime (most likely from the decomposition of gypsum), and red oxide of iron. The disk which formed the largely projecting capital seemed to represent the original diameter of the pillar, and apparently retained its proportions in virtue of a much closer texture and larger per cent, of iron in its composition. These were often so apparent that the pillars had a contour of the most rugged description, and a tinge of pale cream yellow, while the capitals were of a brick-dust color, with excess of red oxide, and nearly as uniform in their granulation as fine millstone-grit. The shape of these formations seemed, therefore, to turn on the compar- ative resistance to atmospheric influences possessed by their various parts. Many other indications .... led me to narrow down all the hypothetical agencies which might have produced them, to a single one, air, in its chemical or mechanical operations, and usually in both. . . . One characteristic of the Rocky Mountains is its system of vast indenta- tions, cutting through from the top to the bottom of the range. Some of these take the form of funnels, others are deep, tortuous galleries known as passes or canons ; but all have their openings toward the plains. The descending masses of air fall into these funnels or sinuous canals, as they slide down, concentrating themselves and acquiring a vertical motion. When they issue from the mouth of the gorge at the 30 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. base of the range, they are gigantic augers, with a revolution faster than man's cunniugest machinery, and a cutting-edge of silex, obtained from the first sand heap caught up by their fury. Thus armed with their own resistless motion and an incisive thread of the hardest mineral next to the diamond, they sweep on over the plains to excavate, pull down, or carve in new forms, whatever friable formation lies in their way.'" By this time Colorado Springs was at hand, and as we had decided, like all other sensible people who come to Colorado, to sojourn awhile there and at Manitou, our cars were side tracked. And while Amos be- took himself to the preparation of our evening meal, we admired the gorgeous sunset, and disposed our effects for the first night out. Henry Ward Beecher once said that while the new birth was neces- sary to a true Christian life, it was very important that one be born well the first time. Colorado Springs was born well. It was organized on the colony plan, and the first stake was driven in July, 1871. Intelligent and far-seeing men were leaders of the enterprise, and in no way was their sagacity more apparent than in the insertion, in every deed of transfer, of a clause prohibiting, upon pain of forfeiture, the sale or manufacture of alcoholic beverages on the premises conveyed. This tem- perance clause was introduced, by General W. J. Palmer, the president of the colony, who during his services as engineer of railway extensions, had observed the destruction which the unrestrained traffic in intoxi- cants worked to life and property. It was not sentiment, but a sound business precaution, as the result has proved. Of course this provision has been contested/but it has been legally sustained, and has given the town the best moral tone of any in Colorado. The location was also wisely chosen, broad and regular streets were carefully laid out, a sys- tem of irrigation established, thousands of trees planted, and reserva- tions for parks set aside. Some of the avenues running north and south might with propriety be designated boulevards, being 140 feet in width, with double roadways separated by parallel rows of trees. Other trees shade the walks at either side, and at their roots flow rapid streamlets of clearest water. The drives are smooth and hard, and the soil never be- comes muddy, the moisture penetrating rapidly through the light grav- elly loam. The gentle inclination southward renders drainage a very simple matter. Seen from the railway, the town appears to be located upon a con- siderable elevation. In fact it stands upon a plateau in the midst of a valley. The thirty-five miles of streets and avenues are closely lined with substantial business blocks, pretentious residences, or tasty cottages. The pink and while stone of the Manitou quarries is largely used: and pent-roofs, ornamental gables, red chimneys, and the whole category of renaissance peculiarities, have representation in the architecture. The A MODEL COLONY. 31 dwellers in these abodes are principally of the cultured and refined classes. Invalids from the intellectual centers of the East find health and congenial society here, while numbers of opulent mine owners and stockmen make the Springs their winter home. The public buildings are all creditable; the Deaf-Mute Institute, Colorado College, the churches and schools being specially noteworthy. The Opera House is a veritable bijou, handsome and con- venient in all its appointments, and, with a single excep- tion not surpassed west of the Mis- souri. The new hotel, The Antlers, erected at a cost of over $125,000, is of stone, and is without doubt the most artistic and elegant structure of its kind in the State. It occupies a sight- ly position at the edge of the plateau, and from its balco- nies and verandas a marvelous and most inspiring view is presented. The foothills lie along the west, about five miles distant, the massive outlines of Cheyenne Mount- ain a little to the left, and the huge red towers that mark the gateway to the Garden of the Gods lifting their crests over the Mesa at the right, CHEYENNE FALLS. Whlle abOVC 32 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. all is reared the snow-crowned summit of Pike's Peak. To the north, is seen in the foreground the gray shoulders of the buttes. and in the distance the dark pine-covered elevation of the Divide. Easterly the laud rises gently in a gray, grass-clad plain, until it cuts the blue liori/on with a level line; while southward the mountains trend away, purple in the distance. Colorado Springs lies under the shadow of Pike's Peak: and in the short autumn days the sun drops out of sight behind the mountain with startling suddenness at four o'clock. Then come the cool shadows, when fires have to be replenished, and doors and window- closed. .From ten o'clock until the sun hides behind the hills, the blue skies, the soft breezes the grateful warmth, suggest that month in which, if ever. come perfect days. The June roses are absent but the days are as rare as a day in June. The average temperature here is sixty degrees, and there are about three hundred days of sunshine in the year. Within a radius of ten miles about the Springs are to be found more "interesting, varied and famous scenic attractions than in anv similar compass the country over," we are told by the guide, and we are quite ready to believe when they are recounted. A drive of three miles across the Mesa, with its magnificent mountain view, brings you to Glen Eyrie, the secluded home of General Palmer, originator of the Denver and Rio Grande railway. "At the entrance you pa>> a little lodge a sonnet in architecture, if one may so express it the -mall but perfect rendering of a harmonious thought: you cross and rer rushing, tumbling mountain brook over a do/en different bridges, some rustic, some of masonry, but each a gem in design and fitness; then at last, after the mind is properly tuned, as it were, to perfect accord, the full symphony bursts upon you. In the shadow of the eternal rock, with the wonderful background of mountains, surrounded by all that art can lend nature, is this delicious anachronism of a Queen Anne house, in sage-green and dee]) dull red, with arched balconies under pointed gables, and carved projections over mullioned windows, and trellised porches, with stained glass loopholes and an avalanche of roofs." A little distance from the house strange forms of red sandstone lift their heads far above the foliage, like a rile of genii marching down on solemn mission from their abodes in mountain caves, while on the ledges of the gray bluffs opposite, the eagles have built their ne-t<. Farther up the Glen, and yet a part of it, is Queen's Canon, a most rugged gorge, in which the wildness of nature has been for the mo-t part unopposed. The same turbulent brook comes dashing down, in a series of cascades and rapids, from the Devil's Punch-Howl, near the head of the Canon. Rustic bridges cross it near the foot one of which is made the subject of an engraving ; but soon the pathway breaks into a mere trail, which leads over boulders and fallen tree-trunks, or clings to precipitous cliffs which tower hia'h overhead. LEAPING WATERS. 33 One mile north of Glen Eyrie is Blair At hoi, with its exquisitely tinted pink sandstone pillars; while about the same distance to the south is the Garden of the Gods, which it seems, however, more proper to classify with Maiiitou's environs. Five miles northeasterly from the Springs are Austin's Bluffs, and a few miles west of these, Monument Park. Nearer by, and due west, are the Red and Bear Creek Canons. An excellent way of reaching Pike's Peak is by the Cheyenne Mountain toll road, which terminates in a good trail passing the Seven Lakes. The Cheyenne Canons, at the northern base of the mountain of the same name, are greatly frequented, and justly rank high in the category. They are two in number. South Cheyenne Canon is full of surprises. " The vulgar linear measure of its length is out of harmony with the winding path over rocks, between straight pines, and across the rushing waters of the brook that boils down the whole rocky cut. The stream, tossing over ' ils rough bed and dropping into sandy pools, drives one from side to side of the narrow passage-way for foothold. Eleven times one crosses it, by stepping from one rolling and uncertain stone to another, by. balancing across the lurching trunk of a felled tree, or by dams of drift wood; and, finally, skirting a huge boulder that juts out into the water, and jumping from rock to rock, the head of. the Canon is reached. The narrow gorge ends in a round well of granite, down one side of which leaps, slides, foams and rushes a series of waterfalls. Seven falls in line drop the water from the melted snow above into this cup. Looking from below, one sees (as in our illustration) only three, that, starting down the last almost perpendicular wall and striking ledges in the rock, and oblique crevices, send their jet shooting in a curved spray to the pool. In this deep hollow only the noonday sun ever shines, and a narrow bank of snow lies against one side in the shadow of the cliff. Going up the Cafion, with the roar of the waters ahead and the wild path before one, the loftiness and savage wildness of the walls catch only a dizzying glance, but coming out, their sides seem to touch the heavens and to be measureless. The eye can hardly take in the vast height, and with the afternoon sun touching only the extreme tops, one realizes in what a crevice and fissure of the rocks the Canon winds. Across the widest place between the walls a girl could throw a stone, and from that it narrows even more. The cool, dim light down at the base contrasts strangely with the red blaze that reflects from the top of the high walls; and emerging from one group of pine trees, a turn in the Canon confronts one with a whole wall of sandstone burning in the intense sunlight. A comparison between this and the Via Mala and the other wild gorges of the Alps is impossible, but had legend and history and poetry followed it for cen- turies, South Cheyenne Canon would have its great features acknowl- edged. Let a ruined tower stand at its entrance, whence robber knights 34 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. IN NORTH CHEYENNE CANON. had swooped down upon travelers and picked out the teeth of wealthy Hebrews; let a nation light for its liberty through its c-hasm; and then let my Lord Byron turn loose the flood of his imagery upon it. After all, its wildness and untouched solitude are most impressive; and with- out history, save of the seasons, or sound, save of the wind, the water and the eagles, centuries have kept it for the small world that knows it now." So discourses a very charming lady writer. North Cheyenne Canon is scarcely less interesting, though less widely known. Its beauty is of a milder type, the walls advancing and retreating, and anon breaking into gaily-colored pinnacles on which the THE COLORADO NIGHTINGALE. 35 sunlight plays in strange freaks of light and shade. The little brook winds like a silver band beside the path, encircling the boulders which it cannot leap, and all the while singing softly to the rhythm of swaying vines. The birds chirp in unison as they skip from rock to rock, and in the harmony and essence of the scene all are subdued save the Artist, whose deft pencil cannot weary in so much loveliness. When words fail, it is fortunate he is at hand to rescue writer and reader alike. It was during our stay at Colorado Springs we made acquaintance with the burro. It is the nightingale of Colorado; its range of voice is limited, consisting indeed of only two notes; but the amount of elo- quence, the superb quality, the deep resonance and flexible sinuosity which can be thrown by this natural musician into such a small compass are tremendous. As they lope down the street, the larboard ear in air, while the starboard droops limply, the long tapir-like nose quivering with the mighty volume of sound which is pouring through it, the slop- ing Chinese eyes looking at you sideways with the lack-lustre expression of their race, and an artistic kick thrown in occasionally to produce the tremolo that adds the last touch of grace to the ringing voice, you are overwhelmed. We betook ourselves to the train one evening, after our by no means thorough exploration of the neighborhood, and began our prepa- rations for a few days' absence at Manitou. It was only five miles away, and we had decided not to take our cars up. Retiring early, we fell asleep to dream of new pleasures, for which our appetites were already whetted. Ill A MOUNTAIN SPA. . . . And the ray Of a bright sun can make sufficient holiday, Developing the mountains, leaves, and flowers. And shining in the brawling brook, whereby, Clear as its current, glide the sauntering hours With a calm languor, which, though to the eye Idlesse it seem, hath its morality. PETRARCH. S well omit the Lions of St. Mark from a visit to Ven- ice, as to pass by Manitou in a tour of Colorado. Manitou, the sacred health-fountains of Indian tradi- tion, the shrine of disabled mountaineers, the "Sara- toga " of the Rockies. Leaving Colorado Springs, a branch of the railway swings gracefully around the low hills in which the Mesa terminates, and points for the gap in the mountains directly to the west. Nearly three miles from the junction we pass the driving park, and immedi- ately after run up to Colorado City, the first capital of the Territory, and now a quiet little hamlet, whose chief industry is the production of much beer. Recalling the temperance proclivities of the Springs, it is unfortunately not strange that a drive to Colorado City in the long summer evenings should prove so attractive to the ardent youth of untamed blood. Then the road passes into the clusters of cottomvoods and willows which fringe the brook, crossing, recrossing, and dash- ing through patches of sunlight, whence the huge colored pinnacles in the Garden of the Gods are descried over the broken hills at the right. It is a striking ride, and curiously the location of the railway has not been allowed to mar its native beauty. Describing the contour of a pro- jecting foothill, we obtain our first glimpse of Manitou, with its great hotels, its cut-stone cottages, and its picturesque station. Just across the way, and in the lowest depression of the narrow vale, is a charm- ing villa, embowered in shrubbery, with quaint gables and porches, and phenomenal lawns and flower-beds. It is the home of Dr. W. A. Bell, for years vice-president of the Denver and Rio Grande railway. The village itself is grouped in careless ease along the steep and bushy slopes of the valley, straggling about and abounding in miniature chalets, precisely as a mountain village ought to do. The Fontaine-qui- 36 HEALTH AXD PLEASURE. 37 Bouille, full of the spriirhtliness of its youth in Ute Pass, and its escapade at Rainbow Falls, comes dashing and splashing, and singing its happy song: " I chatter over stony ways, In little sharps and trebles; I bubble into eddying bays, I babble on the pebbles." Down close to this frolicsome, icy-cold stream, are built the larger hotels, the Beebee and Manitou, surrounded by groves of cottonwood, aspen, wild cherry and box elder. They are cheery, clean, homelike, A GLIMPSE OF MANITOU AND PIKE'S PEAK. 38 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. and handsomely furnished. The broad piazzas afford the finest views of Pike's Peak, Cameron's Cone, and their confreres. Here gather the " beauty and chivalry " of many climes, and in the long, soft evenings, devoid of dew or moisture, the cozy nooks offer the seclusion for \ve had nearly said, flirtation or cool refuge from the healed dancing- hall. Rustic bridges cross the brook, leading into a labyrinth of shade and on up to the crags behind. At the rear of the hotels, Lover's Lane. a most romantic ramble, starts out in a half-mile maze through arbors, and flowering shrubs, and over little precipices, for the springs. Ueside the path, and in out-of-the-way spots among the bushes, are alluring seals, only large enough for two, where you may sit, while at your feet the selfsame brooklet murmurs: " I steal by lawns and grassy plots; I slide by hazel covers; I move the sweet forget-me-nots That grow for happy lover*." Further up stream, a little way, are the homes of the citizens, and more hotels and boarding places the Cliff House, Barker's, and a dozen others. Here, too, on the banks of the creek, boiling up in Im-ins of their own secretion, and hidden under rustic kiosks of a later date, are the springs themselves. They are six in number, varying in temper- ature from 43 to 56 F., and are strongly charged with carbonic acid. "Coming up the valley," writes an authority,'" the first is the Shoshone, bubbling up under a wooden canopy, close beside the main road of the village, and often called the Sulphur Spring, from the yellow deposit left around it. A few yards further on, and in a ledge of rock over- hanging the right bank of the Fontaine, is the Navajo (shown in the foreground of our picture), containing carbonates of soda, lime and magnesia, and still more strongly charged with carbonic acid, having a refreshing taste similar to seltzer water. From this rocky basin, pipes conduct the water to the bath-house, which is situated on the stream a little below. Crossing by a pretty rustic bridge, we come to the Manitou, close to an ornamental summer-house; its taste and properties nearly resemble the Navajo. Recrossing the stream and walking a quarter of a mile up the Ute Pass road, following the right bank of the Fontaine, we find, close to its brink, the Ute Soda. This resembles the Manitou and Navajo, but is chemically less powerful, though much enjoyed for a refreshing draught. Retracing one's steps to within two hundred yards of the Manitou Spring, we cross a bridge leading over a stream which joins the Fontaine at almost a right angle from the south- west; following up the right bank of this mountain brook, which is called Ruxton's Creek, we enter the most beautiful of the tributary val- leys of Manitou. Traversing the winding road among rocks and trees for nearly half a mile, we reach a pavilion close to the right bank THERAPEUTIC QUALITIES OF THE WATERS. 39 of the creek, in which we find the Iron Ute, the water being highly effervescent, of the temperature of 44 3' F., and very agreeable in spite of its marked chalybeate taste. Continuing up the left bank of the stream for a few hundred yards, we reach the last of the springs that have been analyzed the Little Chief; this is less agreeable in taste, being less effervescent and more strongly impregnated with sulphate of soda than any of the other springs, and containing nearly as much iron as the Iron Ute. " These springs have; from time immemorial enjoyed a reputation as healing waters among the Indians, who, when driven from the glen by the inroads of civilization, left behind them wigwams to which they used to bring their sick ; .believing, as they did, that the Good Spirit breathed into the waters the breath of life, they bathed and drank of them, thinking thereby to find a cure for every ill; yet it has been found that they thought most highly of their virtues when their bones and joints were racked with pain, their skins covered with unsightly blotches, or their warriors weakened by wounds or mountain sickness. During the seasons that the use of these waters has been under observation, it has been noticed that rheumatism, certain skin diseases, and cases of debility have been much benefited, so far confirming the experience of the [last. The Manitou and Navajo have also been highly praised for their relief of old kidney and liver troubles, and the Iron Ute for chronic alcoholism and uterine derangements. Many of the phthisical patients who come to this dry, bracing air in increasing numbers are also said to have drunk of the waters with evident advantage. " Professor Loew (chemist to the Wheeler expedition), speaking of the Mauitoti Springs as a group, says, very justly, they resemble those of Ems, and excel those of Spa two of the most celebrated in Europe. "On looking at the analyses of the Manitou group it will be seen that they all contain carbonic acid and carbonate of soda, yet they vary in some of their other constituents. We will, therefore, divide them into three groups of carbonated soda waters: 1. The carbonated soda waters proper, comprising the Navajo, Manitou and Ute Soda, in which the soda and carbonic acid have the chief action. 2. The purging car- bonated soda waters, comprising the Little Chief and Shoshone, where the action of the soda and carbonic acid is markedly modified by the sulphates of soda and potash. 3. The ferruginous carbonated soda waters where the action of the carbonic acid and soda is modified by the carbonate of iron, comprising the Iron Ute and the Little Chief, which latter belongs to this group as well as to the preceding one." Such are the medicinal fountains that not only have proved them- selves blessings to thousands of invalids, sick 'of pharmacy, but cause the summer days here to be haunted by pleasure-seekers, who make the health of some afflicted friend, or weariness from overwork in them- selves, excuse for coming ; or boldly assert themselves here purely for 40 THE GREST OF THE CONTINENT. pleasure. Time was when this entrance to a score of glens was a rendez- vous for game and primitively wild. Even a dozen years ago it would answer to this description, and now one need not go far in winter to find successful shooting. "In summer time," to quote the Earl of Dun- raven, "beautiful but dangerous creatures roam the park. The tracks of tiny little shoes are more frequent than the less interesting, but harm- THE MINERAL SPRINGS. less, footprints of mountain sheep. You are more likely to catch a glimpse of the hem of a white petticoat in the distance than of the glancing form of a deer. The marks of carriage wheels are more plen- tiful than elk signs, and you are not now so liable to be scared by the human-like track of a gigantic bear as by the appalling impress of a number eleven boot." Do not imagine, however, that all the boot-tracks mark "the appal- ling impress of a number eleven." The Madame tells me they dress as well at Manitou as at Saratoga; to me this seems a doubtful kind of compliment, but she intended it to cover the perfection of summer toilets. At Manitou, indeed, you do all you think it proper to do in the Green Mountains, or at White Sulphur, or any other upland resort, but in far more delightfully unconventional ways, and the enjoyment is pro- portionately increased. No Eastern watering-place affords opportunity for so many desira- ble excursions, each distinct from the other in interest, each superb and of itself a sufficient inducement to come to Colorado. Just overhead towers the glorious old crest of Pike's Peak, the beacon of '59, and ever since the type of American mountains. He who does not ascend the Peak (if he is in fair health) can never get a good character from ASCENDING PIKE'S PEAK. 41 Manitou. Of course all of the pro-out, party went. Moreover we went fancy-free and note-book forgotten a happiness as great as Patti's when she saw there was no piano on the ocean steamer in which she was to take passage. "How was this?" do you ask? Lillian Scidmore had been there before us, and reaped with her keen sickle every spear of wheat in the whole field. To show our gleanings would amount to nothing; so here is her whole sheaf: "The tenth of June having left the world upon its axis, a little band of heroic spirits made ready to mount the bony bronchos, and toil upward from the green and lovely vale of Manitou to the rocky height above. The noonday sun was sending down its most scorching rays, and the idlers on the hotel piazza were mopping their brows and repeat- ing the wearisome formula of ' the hottest day ever known in Colorado.' Tin- MID was ardent, to say the least, but the crisp breeze that came rustling down from the higher canons tempered its effects. "The sympathetic chambermaid of the Beebee House had been hovering in my doorway for a half hour before the start, urging me to take more and more wraps, and relating horrible anecdotes of the ( 'hieago lady ' who had her nose burned to a white blister and her face so raw, ma'am, that we could hardly touch it with a feather for three day-.' With such gentle admonition there was no struggle when the kind-hearted one proceeded to apply her preventive, and under a triple layer of cold cream, powder and barege veils we made the trip, and returned rather fairer in skin for the bleaching process. The perspira- tion ran off the guide's forehead before he had strapped on the first bundle of overcoats, ulsters, shawls, rugs and furs, but the grateful sensation they imparted to us a few hours later will cheer me through many midsummer days. The party included, among others, a gentle- man and his wife from St. Louis, and the same wicked Colorado editor who is the author of all the fine spun yarns about the Pike's Peak volcano and the mountain lions. " Such horses as we rode can be raised and trained only on a moun- tain trail, and if they could but speak, what tales of timidity, stupidity and absurdity they might relate. My own Arabian was a tan-'colored bea-t, shadimr off to drab and old gold, known in the vernacular of the country as a buckskin horse and rejoiced in the sweet name of ' Bird It was a veritable misnomer, for birds do not generally sit down and roll at every piece of green grass or cool water that they come to, nor try to shake their riders off over their necks. My sudden flights to earth were heralded in all the turgid and flamboyant rhetoric of the circus ring, and equestrian feats, each outrivaling the other in novelty and unexpectedness, diversified the route. It was proposed to call ihe creature Jordan, because she rolled; and again it was suggested that as it was ' sine.hed ' out of all shape it had mistaken itself for an hour- glass, and concluded that it was time to turn. Another horse for a lady 2* 42 THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT. rider answered to 'Annie,' and this gentle beast was only kept from lying down in every stream by energetic pullings and vigorous thrash- ings. The good son of St. Louis, bidden, like Louis XVI at the