The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1870-02-19
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From the ". Y. Independent
Gems Of WeSteIR Scenery.
BY HON. SCHUYLER CoLFAx.

BY HON SCHUYLER CoLFAx.
The near approach of the season when manl
ianilies aud individuals will be discussing th,
direction in which they shall turn their steps I,
enjoy the pleasures Of travel induces me to writ
this article, commencing Westward journey
toward cur own Pacific slope, rather than daring
1he storms of the ocean by a visit to Europe. Tht
-xIravagant and oft-quoted exclamation, See
Naples, and die, has in the past turned the
thoughts OF many whose leisure or means enable
chem to travel to the Old World, where so much
that is picturesque, so much that is noted in
history, so much that is sublime in grandeur is
so lie witnessed. Not ito die, of course. But
so make life happier evermore, by the wider ex-
l.rrence, the broadened mind the fuller knowl-
edge that results from travel besides the pictures
OF impressive scenery so often inefaceably i'm
pressed upon the mind, and which the mystic
power of memory can summon, again and again,
before the mental vision.
IL has always seemed to NE, however, wiser
and more profitable for Americans to travel over
the continental of their own nation, tG learn
mOre thoroughly by actual observation OF the
grandeur, of its more than imperial domain and
the vastness OF its almost illimiable resources as
well as to enjoy the magnificent scenery of its
mountains, before they ramble in regions foreign
10 them in all their interests, and which excel
antiquity and accumulated wealth, rather than
in natural scenery which gladdens the eye by its
beauty.
o. Salt Lake City, and the peerless Yosemite
50 much has been written the past season by
tourists that shall omit all reference to them
ere end allude to other objects Of interest to be
Sound by travelling toward the setting sun.
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS AND COLORADO.
Where the Union Pacific Railroad reaches its
highest summit, at Sherman, over 5000 feet
above the level of the sea, but little mountain
scenery is discernibIe Like the South Pass on
the old route Of emigraui travel, and Bridger's
Pass on the later route of the daily overland
stage, the Railroad Pass seems to have been
marked outby Nature eveling down these noun
taiHs that form The backbone of the North
American Continent
To see the Rocky Mountains in their majesty,
with the wonderful parks lying 6,000 to 5000
feet above the sea, and larger in area than some
of our stales) which they eufold in their embrac-
ing arms the traveller should leave the Pacific
Railroad at Cheyenne for Denver, ITO miles south,
half of which distance is already traversed by
rail- and the rest a fine natural road, requiring
but few hours in the stage-coacb- There, on
the banks of the Platte, with the apparently
5oundless plains to the north and east and south,
"a sublime panorama of mountain scenery TO the
west is ever before the behOlder. 10 the glance
OF IA moment the eye sweeps over one hundred
and twenty miles of range, with its peaks and
cliffs and table mountains, grandly towering to-
ward the skies, sparkling in the morning sun,
1arkeuiug at eventide, and blackened sometimes
by the storms that sweep over il. Cities, and
mines, and natural parks are embosomed within
it. 4 deep blue sky, that could scarcely be
rivaled by Italy, almost always gladdens you.
And the air that you breathe, clear and dry and
pure, is like Iouic to the system. Two or three
weeks will euable the traveller to cross the Snowy
Range on horseback at the BERTRAND or BOwlder
Pass, some II, 600 feet above the sea, with grand
aud changing views at every hour enjoy the
bea.;iv at the brilliant fora close to the edge OF
the sac line traverse the Middle Park, sur
rounded RmpbitheairicslIy by its encircling
mountains visit the Sulphur Spring, and enjoy
its healing virtue aud, ascending Grays Peak,
is 600 feet high, see mountains rolling away in
every direction. Returning to Denver through
the mining towns of Empire, Georgetown, Cen
ira City, etc, aud stopping over at Idaho, the
Saratoga OF Colorado, you cau visit the South
Park on wheels ascend the majestic Mount
Liucoln chief of the towering mountains OF our
ration ; cross the range over to the valley of the
Arkansas, and tie charming surroundings of its
Twin Lakes and return by Colorado City, the
Garden of the Gods, and Pike Peak Ia mountain
standing out from the Range on the Plains, and
Denver the whole of this South Park trip, with
its wild and varied scenery, easily performed in
carriagr-except, of course, the ascent of Mount
Lincoln Nowhere can three weeks be more
pro6taoy and delightfully."- spent by the invalid
or the seeker of the pleasures of travel and to
those who enjoy the roughing and bracing ex-
periences of camping-Out, and the pleasure OF
fishing in streams filled with delicious trout,
there is IA double enjoyment in store.
THE GREAT BASIN AND THE sIERRAs.
'Dashing on westward in a Pullman Palace
sCar'-ihe perfection of ease in travel-you cross
she great intramontane basin of the continent,
(Which, over 300 miles by 600 miles in extent,
walled in by the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra
Seyadas, has no outlet for its waters in any d.
rectio1 10 the sea. Here rivers like the Carson
and Huusta!St, rise and swell into fine streams,
then, instead Of seeking the ocean through lake
or baY, sink forever out of sight and other
rivers, so large in volume as to be unfordable,
like the Weber and Bear, pour their fresh waters
into Great Salt Lake-that inland sea, 100 miles
il lPngth, with mountainous islands towering
above Ito have them converted there into the
b,iuiest water on the globe-so salt that fish
cannot live 10 il, and so dense that those who
cannot swim hoat in it like a cork. The grandesi
scenery on this part of the route TO the Pacific is
where the road passes through Echo Canon,
formerly the gateway Of approach to the Mormon
capital, and fortified by the followers OF Brigham
Young against the approach OF the United State;
army. sent there by President Buchanan, in 1858
II is a natural valley, cut through mountain
range, opening widely at its eastern approach
with grassy aud sloRing hilsides on either hand
but gradually narrowing in between bold and
pretipitous rocks until, where il strikes thu
Weber Valley, there is but little more space thar
the iron tracks require. The DEVILS Gate anC
the Weber Canon rival it in their bold and
striking features.
Curving northerly, to strike the old emigran
trail. in the Valley of the Humboldt apparently
DESIGNED by Providence, like the Valley of tht
Platte, Echo Canon, ETC., for the pathway of tht
swift-moving railroad trains that ttraverse them
the Sierras, really the Andes of our continent
are soon in sight. Towering toward the skies
they unduIate away in the distance-an mpassa
Bile barrier, apparently, to the triumphant ad
vance of the great motor of this century, th'
locomotive, until the conqueriug energy OF thu
Californians who formed the Central Pacific Rail
road Company, with almost herculean labors
carried their trains over its SUBMITS. Words arr
weak to describe the engineering which achieved
this result. Enormous raviues filled up by the
persistent labors Of years, huge bills cut down t
ibe required grade, dark tunnels blasted through
towering cliffs, track cut into the side of almos
precipitious mountains, where from the car
window you can look down into the valley 500
feet beneath you, and nearly forty miles OF snow
sheds Of solid timbers to guard against the thirty
feet SHOWS for which the Sierras are famed. Al
these triumphs Of man over the obstacles OF Ma
ture attest the grandeur and immensity of th
work by which this frowning range has beer
scaled