St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-12-27
sT. CLoU D DEMOCRAT, =;
taxa q. sw1ssalLa. .s11roa : PROPRIETOR.
THURSDAY, DEC. 9th, 1860
VOL No, az:
Pennsylvania Scenery.

s 5a1-sE
Pennsylvania Scenery.
A correspondent who accompanied tho
Prince Of Wales on the Penn. Central
Il; r. thus describes the scenery on the
Western end of the route: o.
1.-THE FIRST view Of the mountain range
= impressive. It lies against the sky like
. forti6cation hung with holiday banners
aud garlands,, as for festival. The first
plunge into outlaying ravines,, on either
side, the abrupt slope of parallel noun
tain spurs, half in liz ht and half in shad-
ON, lifting its Wild splendor of leaves to
the sky, gives one chill. The slopes
culver with the flying fervor Of the after.
noon, but the train is in the shadow, and
derisivc fringes of pine look down upon it.
Now, rounding the spur; of sentinel
mountain and the prospect widens: Yon-
der rise the silent terraces Of the noun
tain, reaching away till they become dim
with distance; We feel the toll Of the en-
CINE as 1t strikes the upguards; titled
Zelda glide past US, aud are succeeded by
tangled slopes of woodland, too steep for
the pillow, inaccessible, except to the deer
and the eagle, dotted with little brown
deserts Of shards, with projecting masses
and abutments Of rock bleached white
with sunshine, or stained with falling wa
ter, long trailing sprays of vines falling
frou jagged precipices, like cataracts ST
emerald Shot through with blood, ana over
which wander so softly the football of the
wind that one mig ht fancy it the ghost of
some dead wind that long ago blew no.
body good. We are amid the mountains,
indeed. They rise on either hand, like
pavilions of many colorea tapestry; tents
pitched by the gods, and hastily deserted
on account Of the climate or some other
good reason, for they wear the sere mel
ancholy look Of being abandoned. But
they are very gtand-I knew could not
describe them. It was imbecile to attempt
it. Pardon the pi=arrerie Of the images,
So ruthlessly wrenched from the temple Of
the grotesque, and so flimsily pasted against
the grim portal of this barbican Of the hills.
At Galtzen, the beginning Of the steep
ascending grade, Lord Renfrew, DR.. Ack-
land, the Duke Of Newcastle, and several
other members of the suite went forward
for ride upon the engine. From this
place to the summit, the scenery is Of the
widest and most fantastic character. It
Is not wholly free from the terrible
Sharp curves, spanning ravines hundreds
Of feet in depth; long narrow lodges,
hewn in the rock, against which the track
clings, aud beneath which yawn gloomy
gulfs, and long reaching abysses, shadowy
and dim, like graves awaiting some chance
tenant in the shape Of a train; riffs be-
tween the mountain tops, flooded with sun
shine; weird little clusters of houses,
making believe that people live there;
long steep embankments, and finally, up
on the summit. tunnel, cut through SOL
id rock for nearly three thousand feet, are
among its grandeurs and terrors. At in
tervals, during the passage of the train
throug the tunnel were stationed men
with red lamps red lamps seem to imply
to the railway mind that it is all right
Such, at least, was the implication Of this
perspective of ruby lights which glared
out Of the darkness, as the train passed,
like bloodshot eyes. Beyond the tunnel
began the declivity. For many miles the
descent is so rapid that the train moves
with almost lightning speed without the
aid Of steam, and with the brakes hard
down. There are horseshoe bendings
and windings so abrupt as to overawe the
mind with apprehensions of disaster, but,
as the speed Of the, train is religiously
elackened at these points, no facilitating
visions of flying down steep entertainments
need be conjured up. It is curious to
sec two trains bound, one for the Atlantic
seaboar and the other for the Mississippi
river, running parallel, in the same direc-
ton, one toiling heavily mp the steep, the
other piunging wildly down the sharp de-
clivity, with a deep, frowning gorge be-
tween. At one part Of the road, however,
this is daily occurrence. .a.~
The FATHER OF R1vERs.-The Miss
issippi River extends 1900 miles from
the frozen regions OF the North to the
sunny South, and with the Missouri Riv-
er is $500 miles in length. It would
reach from New York across the Atlantic
ocean, or from France to Turkey and the