, 1872-11-04
Caribou Town and Mine.
Denyer---lts Commercial lmportance'-
The Suburb OF Villa Park.
The Agricultural Resources Of Colorado.
Its Facilities for Stock.
Raising.
1I-


= O@HFEas tots Uctoaets i8fj
One more excursion from Denver. through
Boulder Canon, to Caribou, finished our Rocky
Mountain wanderings. The distance to the canon
of Boulder is about 26 miles, over the finest Of
roads, with the mountains rising always lust
aboveyou,-massiveg granite walls, rifted, broken,
and infinitely shaded. AS you descend into
THE BOULDER VALLEY,
one Of the finest agricultural districts in Colora
do lies before you, with the town just beyond,
under the shadow Of the rocky cliffs. On the
right, some distance away, is White Rock, look
ing Like a huge white sand-bank while farther
on is another Of those isolated buttes that rise 80
conspicuously along the verge Of the plain. On
the 1eft aad jutting out at right angles with the
mountains, there is a series of high, fist, oblong
plateaux, as smoothly and evenly rounded and
leYel1ed as artificial terraces fashioned by human
| hands.
Spending q night in Boulder, IT'S started at an
early hour for days drive through the
LARGEST AND Widest CANON
in the Territory. The road winds, for nearly
| dfty-seven miles, between lodges that tower,
in many places, to tha height of 1000 or 5000
feet, sometimes bare and naked, sometimes
covered with 8 struggling growth Of evergreen.
Boulder Creek foams and dashes over the heap
ed up rocks, in thousand white waterfalls, that
scatter their spray almost intoyour face. Cross
ing and recrossing it thirty-one times within q
dozen miles, your passage seems to be cut of,
at every turn, by 3 solid wall. Passing sharp
angle, another still looms before you, and yet
another, before you, behind you, On every side
Of you; while, far, far above, the jagged edges
are fringed with trees, sharply defined against
the narrow patch Of sky; and the eagles eyrie
perched upon shelving rock just below them,
dwindles into small speck. Driving for miles
through these gigantic winding walls, with the
swift torrent roaring always in your ears, you
experience q certain feeling Of relief as you
emerge and move into the open sunlight.
| At Middle Boulder, we visited the large, new
| reduction works connected with the famous
! Caribou Mine; then, winding around the noun
] tain, With sunny glades lying far below US, and
the distant hill-sldes just touched with bright
! autumna1 hues; past the beginning Of new
mining towns; up, almost to the snow-felds,
! We found ourselves
| IN CARIBOU,
! with binding snow-storm beating in our faces.
The little town, with it's long rows Of unpainted
] houses, looked rather drea1y in its frosty Sep
! te1nber setting. The dreariness did not abate
when We found ourselves nearly fast in the mire
in the middle OF the principal street but, in
spite Of appearances, Be found comfortable
hotel aud good dinner; after which we started
bou Mine, which is said to be
THE RICHEST MINE IN THE TERRITORY.
But mines are not ornamental places, what
ever may be said Of the contents; and space
forbids detailed description Of the mysteries
Of shafts, and tunnels, and ores, which we're 80
courteously explained to US.
The sun shone brightly over December land
acspe, as We drove down the mountains, the
and the piercing wind behind us, and reached
Denver in the mildest Of September evenings
So literally is Winter here Graded in the lip
Of Summer
But Denver, as ne saw it On entering the Ter
ritory, and Denver as it impresses us on the eve
Of departure, ara widely different places. The
isolated city, with the inte1minable plain On
every side, and the mountains Is miles away, is
the central point of country OF whose varied
resources we had no previous conception. The
poetical Atrazia has . more substantial reason
Tor calling itself the Golden Land,
than few yellow sands in the capricious bed
Of Cherry Greek Perhaps, too, it dropped some
There, to-day cantres the trade Of the noun
tains and here are shipped the mineral treas-
ures that constitute large share OF tho wealth
Of Colorado.
ta considered moderate estimate Of the value
OF the gold and silver exported this year, with
the prospect Of very large increase npxt year,
as the mines are developed and the facilities for
reducing tl6 oTe are improved.
TIE AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES
Of the country have hitherto been held as Sec
ondary, on account Of the supposed cost Of irri-
CATION. But the system Of colonies, which pre-
walls 80 largely here, has distributed the prefm-
mary expenses OF farming, and is rapidly filling
the Territory with agricultural settlements.
With irrigation, the soil affords ample crops Of
small grains, and vegetables reach luxuriance
Of growth that is almost fabulous. Everything
seems to STOW on gigantic scale in this region
nf rror74sSra7f OH and e..
Imagine the capacity Of = soil that produces
cabbages weighing 60 pounds, beets SO inches in |
circumference, squashes weighing 200
pounds, and everything in. the came
tale; but, having had ocular demonstration Of |
the facts and Measurements, can say conf |
IDENTIFY it is not fairy tale The country al |
ready supplies itself, and every year is adding |
largely to its productive resources, as well as to
its population.
THE FACULTIES FOB STOCK -RA1sNa
might render possible return Of the old pas
toral times, when shepherd and shepherdess
had nothing to do but piay on the lutte, and /
took care Of themselves. Il is said that there is
no country in the world where stock can be t
kept With SO little care and cost, as in the Colo
RADIO Parks and Plains. But the Ccrydons and
Phillises could hardly dream very long. in the
old Arcadian seclusion, for the mountains and
valleys are literally over1un with
TOURISTS AND HEALTH-sEEKERs.
The mineral springs, the bracing atmosphere,
the lfe-giving climate, and the endless pano-
rama Of beauty and grandeur that stretches
always before you, make it the Eldorado Of the
invalid and, OF those who come, q large num-
ber make it . permanent home. Indeed, it
seems likely to become the land Of reconstructed
inyalids although many who seek the higher
altitudes without proper advice and precaution
go sway disappointed.
OF all these advantages and resources,
DENVER Is THE KEY-
Hore the railroads centre. Here everybody
comes to start into the mountains, and here
everybody comes to depart. Scarcely thirteen
years old, desolated in it's infancy BY fire
and Graded by "roughs," it has
to,dsy the appearance of h city Of quarter Of
houses, fine churches, fine residences, all the
metropolitan conveniences, and is fast adding
the 1uxuries that have belonged exclusively to
the old cities. It has it's dozen miles OF boule~
Yards laid ont and partially completed. Along
the line of these bonlevards it has suburban res
idence-grounds. Crossing the Platte, and fol-
lowing its banks toward the southwest over
the fine, broad street, already bordered with it's
double rows OF shade-trees, You pass Highland,