The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1866-11-30
TTEE SUMMIT OF THE ROCKY MOUN.
TAINS 'G.......s b..

i A correspondent making tour ofthe
/ Rocky Mountains, speaking of the
i beautYof the snow-hoWers and the
grandeur of the scenery, says: ..a.r.
! Another quarter of an hour, and the
! sleeps fell back in front, leaving love
ly Alpine meadow, dotted with clumps
Of pine, the vivid green Of its turf
sprinkled with snowy star-fowers, and
! theereek of icycrystalwinding through
4 it, .....a......,. ...... .....s
Twas delighted when Mr.. Byers gave
the word to unsaddle. 1t was barely
/ three quarters of a mile, he said, to the
summit of the Pass. Whether we
would cross was still a doubtful matter,
and before attempting it both beasts
and men must be fed.-The former
were turned loose to Craze at will, with
4 their long larlats dragging after them ;
4 the latter unlocked the cups from their
button-holes, opened the coffee bags, cut
the ham with hunting knives, and par
4 took of the biscuits which We're not
sufficiently "sad." The water of the
brook was so intensely cold that it al
most made one scream. Yet imnedi-
ately out Of and through it grew a flow
er so purely beautiful that we all cried
out with admiration on discovering it.
| Out of ring of broadly Ovate leaves
under the water rose a straight stem,
! twelve to fifteen inches in height,
crowned at the top with cluster of
/ dark crimson velvet flowers, about the
size and with the rich mealy bloom of
/ the pOlyanthus. 1t is called, here, the
Alpine primrose, but know of fneith-
er cowslip or primrose that will com
1 pare with it. The odor is very peculi-
ar, resembling that of Russian leather.
/ Here is treasure for our florists.
! While we took our lunch and rested
our bones, Mr.. Byers and White dis
cussed the passage of the mountains.
Directly in front of us depression in
the fr-clad ridge indicated the summit
OF the Pass, on eitherside Of which bald,
snowy peaks rose considerably above
the timber line. White had crossed
the range last week, with drove of
| twenty-five Government horses; but
he had gone considerably to the north
ward of the Pass, in order to avoid the
SHOWS. 1t was question whether we
should reopen the old trail, or follow
his example and climb the frightful
looking steep ON our right to a point
beyond the timber. Being q green
hand, | said nothing but felt relieved
when the Pass was selected, for the
SHOWS had been melting very rapidly,
and l was convinced that we could faI-
sify the predictions Of our friends.
The horses We're saddled, the mules
repacked, and we set out upon our I'M
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the meadow; and even where it had
melted, the soil was elastic, treacherous
bog, that we did not venture to ride.
Onall sides rilIs came rushing down,
.uprooted trees barred the way, or pools
| of black mud had collected. 1t was
| impossible to follow the trail, although
we could trace it by the marks of the
shovels. Slowly, in single file, stoop-
ing every twominutes to lean upon our
horses necks and gasp for breath, Spat-
| tered with mud and wet with snow
water, we climbed through the forests,
| taking heart with the knowledge that
this was our last hard pull. The trees
rapidly grew thinner, the roaring rills
| became noiseless threads of water, the
| snow-drifts over-lapped each other and
must be Waded, and then-the steep
suddenly fiattened and a keen wind
swept over the summit of the Pass.
1t Is a sharp crest, withnot ten yards
between the oppositedeclivities. Here
there was an open space covered with
bunch grass among the fields Of snow
We were just at the limit Of timber, a
little more than 1000 feet above the
newell. No general panorama of the
range is visible, but there are inclosed
! views to the east and west.-Behind us
a sweep of bleak, frosty summit, too
near, apparently too hard and SHARP
to be beautiful. Before Us, far away
| over The deems of endless dark greer
forest, a grand Alpine range,
Lifting there
A thousand shadow-penciled valleys
And snowy dells in golden air."
Still further, thirty or forty miles be
hindit, osetwogreat snowy pyramids
. evidently beyond the North Peak, anC
not inferior to Mont Blanc. This viev
was superior in all elements of simple
, ity TO anything l had ever seen sine
: entering the mountains.
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