New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-09-29
CLIHBIYG PIXIES PEAK.
From Our Own Correspondent
COLORADO Cry, PIXIES PEAK,

several sks, but received appalling reports about
tho difficulties of the journey from those who had
performed it. SeyeI al had made the tempt and
! faisd Ooe gentleman in excellent health became
! deluious from the light Air and fatigue Another,
! abo ascended Ofizaba with comparative ease,
few wears since, after eli nbnc within 500 feet Of
the top, was compelled through utter exhaustion to
return without setting foot upon the summit.
| These omiuOus failures, and many predictions
that they would not accomplish the tip, only stun
ulated the desire of the two ladies' of our company
TO undertake it, So ten days ago We left Denver
for Colorado City. Before u.s. seventy miles to the
south rose Pixies Peak, the Mecca of our pilgrim
,pe-groy and scared, lifting its wrlnkled brow
above the daIk purple of the nearer mountains.
Six miles cut our road left the Platte at Montana,
the first city - founded in the Gold Region, which
has now reapsed into two or three dreary ranches,
with the adjacent ground trencbed and disembow
eed By the miners Fourteen miles further we
reached the summit Of a high divide. Behind and
below us, twenty miles away, were the walls and
roofs of Denver tUited with trees. The dim,
dr., airy prares stretching toward the hsriZOn, gir
died and fTinged by The dark timber lines Of the
streams: and beyond, the rugged, many-hued noun
tain WALL rising to the clouds in panoramic beauty
II en- our route descended iuto quiet grove, the
a sweet with the cath of the pine, and the earth
and evening ride over piny ridges and through plea
fant valleys, was among the fantastic mounds and
pillars of stone which form so remarkable feature
of the region. Castle Rock" huge bOTlder up
on the summit Of eOne.shaped bill, wore IN the
moonlight wonderful res, mban;e to the human
face revealing all the features in great dstiactne5s
1T bic Rock" and Signal Hill" two isolated
buttes, several hundred feet in hight, bear, near
their SUBMITS, enormous horizontal slabs of stone
MT m smooth
and level upon the top, snd the last received ITS
name from the signal fires formerly klndled by the
red man upon it, where an Indian grave b is recent
ly be-, n discovered. The picturesque hills IN the
vcanity abound 10 game. few days since, an am-
bilious sportsman wounded young bear, when his
amusement was suddenly checked by the abrupt
appearance of the Infatuated mother bruln, who
freed the hunter, and kept him up among The
branches for several hours
On the second morning the Peak was clear,
rugged. and dist net, at the distance OF thirty
miles, exhibiting two little spots of snow near the
apex and faint line, like trail or fOOt-path, just
trace able from the base to the summit We were
still among the monuments of crumbling granite
and limestone hewn and sculptured by the action
of water Capitol Rock" crowniog little emf
Dence assumes the form Of a strong fortress with
frowning alls and an arched and cOrniced gate
way. Further south, on Monument Greek, the
pillars and statues rise To the hight OF fifteen or
twenty feet, in differing cOlOrs and great variety
of fantastic shapes. Pagan idols animals, and hui
man forms, picturesque little cottages, Samese
twins ard almost numberless images of the palpa-
bic and familiar NAV be detected among them with
little aid from imagination. They are nterspersed
with pine groves and in localities so strongly
resemble tombstOnes that the behOller caa readily
fancy himself in Greenwood, Mount Auburn, Spring
Grove or one of the other fields of God IN the
enyrons of our metropolitan cities. Two miles
l. IN fhat rttl
Rocks which have been appropriately named the
Garden of the Gods.
A gentleman of this city who had once made the
TIP consented as there were ladies N the case to
become our guide, philosopher, and friend. On
Wednesday morning our preparations were com
plete and, escorted by party of friends, we rode
TO the boiling fountains twO-and-a-half miles from
town, and fortified ourselves with cOpOus draughts
from their invigorating waters. The ladies were
carried half a mile further up the canon, over an
almost impossible road, adorned at short intervals
with corduroy bridges, when the sudden SCATTERING
Of two whifnetrees abruptly terminated their ride.
So leaving our friends to repair damages at their
leisure, We commenced our journey
"Ou and up where Natu,es h6sr
Beats strong amid the bill g."
Six athletic, muscular citizens of Colorado, nc
custOmed to manual labor separate company
which CHANGED to be going mp that mOrning-led
the caravan. Our own party Of five, IN single file,
brought up the rear. Each of ts members was
provided with 81 ut cane and tin drinking cup
The ladies, in BlOOmer costume had thrown aside
their sun.bOnnets for broad brimmed hats; and in
light satcbels, suspended from their belts carried
few creature comforts. TIE unhappy trio of men,
in stout boots ard heavy wooden shirts. without
either coats or vests as if not sufficiently baasttd
by reyOyers and knives, or hatchets, bent under
their heavy packs of blankets Ny own, enhanced
by three days provisions for the party, weighed q
pounds, and / thought it twenty seven hundred
before The TIP was ended.
Our route unmarked by any path, was up a
steep. narrow canon of one Of the afiiuents of the
Fontaine qUi BOuille, so obstructed by slippery,
preciptOus rocks, as to be utterly impossible for
any iOur-ioOted beast. The starting point, the
reader will remember was higher above the sea
level than the summit of Mount Washington. The
lmped water below came lea ping and flashing
down the rocks in q stream Of silver. The abrupt
canon walls were thickly studded with shrubs
of oak and tall trees of pine spruce, and fir.
Wild cherries and hops, and clusters of purple
berries, grew in great proiusion. The valley
abOunds III gems of beauty" pocket editions of
poetry in velvet and gold" One of these mt which
we paused for our noon camp, would cause the
heart Of an artist to sing for joy. The stream,
first appearing in view under natural stone bridge
above u.s. came leapng down in a cascade of snow
white foam dashed into sparkling brads and fringes
BY the uttng rocks, and was then lost among the
huge bOulders at our feet. An irregular mass of
granite rose abruptly upon one side more than
hundrfd feet and ON either bank the singing waters
we're shaded by the tall pines aud the blne-tpped
FRS Between and beyond their DARK branches
gray, coue-ehaped hll-barren of tree or shrub
rose in The back ground, against a wonderfully blue
and pelucid sky. / never realized the utter poverty
Of descriptive language until gazing upon that
matches picture
A lively shower soon recalled us to the practical