The Republican journal., 1872-10-17
NUMBER Is.
PIXIES PEAK.
A Ladv's Account of the Ascent.

we would 90 up Pixies Peak. or die; 50,
as we did not die, we went up Pixies
Peak. We boasted of health and courage,
and secuted fear, so that we might be al
lowed to 90. but we trembled inwardly
at the prospect and at the awful stories
told to Us by the Old settlers.
Colorado is, for some reason on other,
the abiding place-the home, may say
of large stories Whether from the rari-
ty of the air, the colossal character of the
scenery, or the generally experimental
and unsettled condition Of life here. GER
tain it is, that unless the narrator has HIM
self experienced what he tells, YOU can
generally afford to throw away half OF
any story you hear and then believe half
of what remains. So we went on securing
our tin cups and strapping our blankets
with only an occasional quaver.
COMPOSITION OF TIE PARTY.
The cavalcade, four gentlemen and
three ladies, mounted on two mules and
five ponies, besides 4 guioe and pack
horse, started at 9 O'clock, We We're i
gay party. Let me Sce-therc was our
artist Just the incest fellow in the world
ALWAYS take an artist with YOU; he won't
pioDtplN NhtlCi ttiil- Dut ne IL N'tlt ~ ne
Jolly, and some of his waterproof cloak
poses, and instructions in the pre-Rapl.rl-
lite art of iackknitc swallowing at lunch
time, are worth trip from New York to see
Then there was the journalist, crave and
dignilied, helpful and iudicia. Next
comes the New Englander religious and
gallant, generous and careful of cur light
est wish; with his mind 50 stuffed with
noble orations and religious poetry that
what we did not know of Daniel Webster's
speeches and Watts hymns when we came
back. must be laid partly TO our wicked
hearts. and partly to bad habit we got
into (owing, | think, to the rarity of the
air). of parodving those gems OF our ma
tional literature. Last, but not least
among the gentlemen, comes Abel Crit
tenden, a real Coloradan. Then there
We're three of rs ladics-wrll, never
mind about us--we we'n the 'average
American lemale"-that spoilt child of
fortune. who will 90 everywhere, and do
everything, and then, whether she bring
up on the top OF rihc', Teak or the bot
tom of the ocean, il she be alive, expects
TO find all her home comforts provided
for by long-sut1erlng men. and feels IA
pillow. A guide or general clrctaker
with pack-horsc completes the tale
We ladies must have presented Il funny
spectacle, riding in our dark-hue flannel
gymnasium suits, with short double skirts
and Turkish trowscrs, wearing Il scarlet
shawl tied over one shoulder for warmth,
we said-realIy for picturesqueness.
50 we wound along first through the
narrow valley OF olw dear Boiling Fount
ain River until we came to the Iron Spring.
The spring, of al the water | tasted,
comes nearest to the champagne in its et-
fectS 1t is Il positive and immediate slim
ulant, and makes one feel both courage
Gus and witty. A good draught in the
brilliant sunshine sent Us singing on. and
the tents of campers, friends and Strang-
ers gave us all hail and good wishes; for
the ascent, though frequently performed,
is still regarded aS rather Il "perilous en-
prise" for ladies'
BEGINNING TO CLINE.
Then we began TO ascend the foothills.
which look almost Us high A. Pike HIM
self from tic valley. Oh, the beauty of
those first three miles the plain spread
ing out beyond the gorgeS, green aud
smiling ON one side-Cameron's Cone
sending streams of dark pine flowing soft
ly into the valleys on the other up, mp,
up-ti'I the formidable ridges that We
have crossed Iool; almost like ant-hlls--
up. till we have passed the clouds that
are painting the plain with all sorts Of
weird shapes and shadows. and we seem
TO breathe an air freed from all the notes
and ,-a,,nr- ~ tIt, lC;Ua,, ~ lTnIy 1,Tptt Y
the other people look. vending up IN In
dian file, a~ one stands on some eyrie-lille
projection iii advance How certainly
the patient mule plants his foot, always
in the right place, and gains the upper
lift after ones heart has been in her mouth
at mounting on some tremendous cliff
where one miS-step would send 4 poor
helpless little body rattling down thou
sand feet below Positively, those crea-
lures with as on their backs often made
ascents which we could not have accom-
plished without scrambling on our hands
and knees,
A COLORADO CHARACTER.
Each lady had her cavalier, and rs we
assembled Abel Crittenden told me some
of his adventures among the Indians; and
as be himself is essentially~a product OF
Colorado in Indian and trader times. hay
inc come here when child | shall give
a little sketch of the man and what he
told me.
First of ALL here is the man himself rs
| observed-young, handsome, tender
hearted, gallant, q perfect slave to wo-
man and children, amusing Il sick child
by the hour, or preparing our camp beds
with the dei'tness and perfection OF II wo-
man; singing love songs to his guitar:
STOPPING from his horse to pick up 4 pin
or a flower from the ground without re-
laNing his gallop; able to tell every man
or beast that had passed over our dry,
hard trail for days; brave, CHEEKY, attcc-
tomato This is one side OF his character
Rough, cunning rs Il fox, unsparln9 as a
savage, that is the other side. The strange
mixture can be explained in one word
Indians This man, who loves even books
after fashion, and is alive to every SEN
timent Of the refined and civilized kind,
as it affects white people, could tell, with
out blush or shudder of cutting down In
dian women and children ut night us they
We're sleeping in their tents, and carrying
off their scalps us a trophy.
BLOOD FOR BLOOD.
''But what do you mean How could
you ?" said |.
''I'll tell you why I could,n said he.
"When was nineteen years old | found
my friend and comrade, Joe Crandalt, Il
boy whom had eaten with and starved
with, hunted with and slept with on the
plains, cruelty murdered and half burnt
at the stake where those ticnds had tied
him, and where they had deliberatey y and
slowly tortured him till he died" And
Crttendcn touched his bowic-knifc wtha
look out of his usually merry blue eyes
which would do more to explain indian
affairs to II New Yorker than all the state
papers in Washington.
'.But still, that was done by men,
what excuse does that offer for slaughter
ing women and children?"
eve meyer did tha: except at Sand
Creek" said he, and then the provocation
was great For one thing, among many of
the same kind, the Cheyennes had Just
come down in the night on peaceful and
hard working family named Hungate. of
Rolling Creek, and had murdered and cut
up the father, mother and five children,
though they did not attempt to fight.