Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-11-07
C0L0RADo SQENER Z.
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C0L0RADo SQENER r.
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(Corressordent.ofthe the \. Y. Evening Petit :
COLORADO CITY, September, 1872.
''The Garden of the Gods' Is gsner
ally an objective point to the Travellers
ambition from the moment he enEers
Colorado. The very name ills ones
fsncy With vague visions, which, On
examination, be finds to be composed
in nearly equal parts Of the "Gslesaal
City" in 'Pilgrim's Progress" the
castle picture in Coles Voyage OF
Life" and such dim remembrances a.
may have survived to him ofthe Mount
Olympus Of Homer and Virgil. a.
The experience ofour own little party
may, perhaps, show better than any
generalization how far the garden per-
forms the celestial and horticultural
promises Of its enchanting name: We
slaFted On a true Colorado morning.
The natives here call day which
promises TO be rsiny and disaesseaise
a "states day."
These pleasures parties look very
pretty as, with the addition Of chance
equeatrians, they wind through the
valley or over the hills, under the IN
tense sunshine and an atmosphere OF
more cutter blueness" than is ever
seen elsewhere out Of Italy. a two
mile drive On the right bank Of the
rushing river brings Us to the gateway
ofthe garden.
BDaENsE TOWERING ROCKS
No description which I have ever
seen gives correct idea Of the impress
sion produced by these tremendous
stones. Rising directly from the plain,
of a red color unsurpassed in vividness
by the brightest cornelian, stand two
boulders three hundred feet high-at
once majestic and graceful in outline,
and leaving just enough space between
them for fne natural roadway. The
idea of q systematically planned arehi-
tectual eject is irresistible. "Who put
them there ? when? how?" we ask1n-
voluntarily, for, in position, shape, and
color; they are so artistic that our minds
revert at once to such ruins as Luxor
and Baalbec rathe7. than to any purely
natural objects.
At the right, just before we pass
through the grand portal, Is shining
macs Of gypsum, as intensely white as
the sandstone is red. and perhaps half
as large IS the column nearest to it.
Once past the entrance an overwheim-
ing impression ovsrtskes US of being In
a gigantic temple, whose seulpfured
columns and gigantic images are oTum-
bling to ruin before our eyes. All
around; rising abruptly frOra the light
soil, are sandstone obelisks, fifty, sew
sntv-fve, and even one hundred and
nfty feet high; so narrow, so tall, and
so baffingIy intentional In their shapes
and groupings, that ones fancy runs
riot in e thousand vagaries. These
fTowuing monsters, surrounded by IN
couth fortns Of animals which seem TO
f. wn at their fsst, representt TO Us de-
graded heathen deities who; Milton tells
Us, never ceased to lament over their
lost empire; here they stand, petrihed
by the neglect and contempt Of the
ages.
SO wondered slowly through what
seemed to be the remains Of forgotten
worship more picturesque than the
Egyptian, more solemn than the Greek,
but psrtsking Of the Symbois Of sach.
We crept into low-browed cavern on
one side of the gateway, whose huge
bosom could contain sll the orscles ever
uttered from Delphic times to the last
meeting OF the Spiritulists: but we were
glad to hurry out again, as the pos5ibiii-
ty of being punished for our irrever-
ence by the shutting Of its narrow jaws
overcanas even the proverbicl stolidity
of The nineteenth century American.
The wonderful mountain fora here
seems to outdo itself in honor to the
genii of the place.
IF westIfie our vagrant fancies, still
science asks nearly the same questions
as ignorance. How did hese separate
red and white rocks come up or down,
within twenty feet of each other, on a
soil unlike either stone, and totally
unlike the soil of Pixies Peak, of which
they might otherwise seem to Be a
debris? If they were the result of the
same upli&, why ara they not geolo-
gically cosemporaneons9 II of different
ages, why do the strata show such SIM
ilarity of tilt and direction7 In vain!
The solemn figures keep their secret
we'll, turn up their noses visibly at our
childish ignorance of facts which they
must know as the Yankee knew his
father, "Just as easyPs
The traveller rides shudderingly be-
meath the overhanging masses, which
generally appear as Indifferent to the
requirements ofgravitation as the Lean
ing Tower of Pisa, and wonders to
what storm each will finally succumb
and what fleeing pleasure party will be
caught by the fearful destruction. These
sensations cause the exit fromsthe gar.
den to be hailed with feeling of relief
and we drove out upon smooth road
which leads us between rich stones
/ crowned by natural-looking old cast
les.
PARADISE IN A WILDERNESS.
At g sharp turn in the road oul