St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1863-08-20
PENNsfLyANIA. .CENTRAL RAIl1f.OAD
~. K.iStandare

fENNsflyAN1A .cENTRAI RA114koAD.
A correspondent Of the St. LOFTS Daily
Union writes for that paper description
Of a trip, from Washington to St: Louis,
from which we clip the following graphic
paragraphs concerning the scenery along
the route Of the great Pennsylvania Cen:
trail Railroad, that are wen worth We, read.
ing: - > = .: b. ''.1i
Did you ever travel over the western sec.
tion OF the Pennsylvania Central by daylight?
Neve, Then YOU have missed one a,aone
the many good things life was made for; you
have missed seeing one Of the granGiest. exhi-
sitions Of infinite power and human, art that
can be found on this continent Of wonders. 1T
is now O'Clock Of q summers afternoon, and
the heat, dust and crowd about the Harris
burg depot are scarcely tolerable. Let us Jump
into the train just starting, and lie away to,
breathe the fresh air and revel; in the bright
! and glorions scenes Of a mountain region,
where " '"! -" r. IL '!iij'.I GIi =
'Joy smiles in the fountains, health flows in
H. the rills, ., ..
And the ribbonss" sf silver unwind from the
T. !''i hlllS.''! JDu j.nti ~! iti!. 't.t .,I
For the first hour the train follows UP tie
course Of Q descending stteam-the blue Ju:
niata-winding along through meadows and
wheat fields, and around the spurs, of project
ing hills now bursting through some pleasu
ant town, full of busy life, and then out into
the cultivated fields and sylvan shades of the
country. AS we advance the stream grows
smaller, and on the principle that railroads
can be built where water runs, We must follow
its meanderings through the gorges Of the hills
now turningto mountains, until we find its
origin in fountains that gush from the rocks
on yond;r blue heights. AS the water de-
soends so we must climb, and by the aid Of
some mastery eng cheering, performed years
ago, we glide on at gentle gait at thirty.
miles an hour; now through deep gorges with
overhanging foliage that brings premature
shadows upon our path, now <plunging into d
caver4ous. aperture that has been bored
through an obdurate mountain which would
thrust itself in; tue way, and then out gaaiin ill
into the bright sunlight and along by the mar
gin of the singing waters Now, where they
fret and foam over the rocks, and now where
they sleep sin,t crystal pools, and the sunlit
clouds, and green trees and mountain top1s,
come down to bathe in their clear depths, pic
tured there with such 'exactness Of outline and
such truth OF coloring that, as you look above
and below, you can scarcely say which is the
image and which the object. Still on, and ON.
and always upward, for night must find us
where the eagles brood. f.. = ri .,.,'a "a.
1 As We glide still onward along the pan of
the mountain, we ore sometimes upon the verge
OF q beetling cliff, with sheer height of a
thousand feet, and as you look down to the
depths below, trees become shrubs, soaring
hawks are flying insects. Now, through al
opening gorge in the west, came the painted
glorles OF summer sunset. A gorgeous pris.
tine Of gold and purple clouds, the Rarbingers
Of a thunder storm That lies beyond. set in, a
framework of rock and tree, and flowing va:
ter, and and looking like an opening vista to the
But now our nobla stream has changed to a
brook, f and the brook to o mountain ril], that
sings as it goes ''"' 1'N#' HI ~
'By thirty hillsII hurry down, '"''
I'd e.. Or slip between the ridges, iii
ii By twenty thorps, o little town, :.
! f.. y.,. And ahqy g hundred 6ridge.; .
r, IT,. And out again carve and flow, y. -jn:
,l;4n ,a- To, JON the brimming river. ,,,
[u~jn.,F For n men may some, and men maygo,
Night oyertakes us at Altoona, where we
refresh ourselves at The boqntiful table of the
most noted railroad caravansera on the conti-
nent. A crippled engine has placedius three
hours behind timey and the passengers are
|complaining that they sshall not make tie
Pittsburgh connection for, the West, But
while we were at; supperIa'fresh locomotive is
attached and at 9 O'clock weistart with q
scream, rattle and ~ roar, to rush over 100
miles in three hours 0 The full moon ,is in the
sky and the fire fiehdei III out iambig; tho dry
pines of the .rhountains,e and asll;We Whirled
along upon the side Of the pred7pics now look
ling up to thoimoon and FIRE alightedI submits,
and nowndown into theq fathomless abyss be-
low, no grander spectacle icaa ibe8 ina giped
than tkatt ttwhich unfolds and changes with thies
progress Of the rushihgn train We used 10
think ten miles an Neutrality-suspicious., and most
d dangerousspeedA Twenty miles now is slow
travelling, and thirty or forty upon fast IT trains
fsx %ilss roin i jns12ha W. pasj59 59R 9tRhroueh
tain 81 The line Of the roai.. This little riVu.
let that We saw Ave minutes ago He mean slenna
through mountain gorge wnas n 81 III Way to
the atlantic s. but the bsigia eascadl that nov
q ctsparkles in the moonlight az itleaps from yon
kder rooksy is sending its waters ons long jour
ney Of ptwot 3 thotsand milss.tto thsiGllf 81
tf Mexico. These ierystal drops nhatblatsly per;
colated throug gh the dssures Of The same noun
tain and are now on the way to, mingle With
7 the ocean at almost opposite points Of the
compass, will be neither lost nor long divided