The Republican journal., 1873-07-03
One Hundred and Forty Miles in Two
Hours.

! Clear Creek is n miniature river that
| runs through the canon of the same name
1t descends upon a down grade of four
hundred feet per mile, with here and there
\ fall over = rocky precipice fifteen or
! twenty feet in height Large bOulders,
forty and fifty feet in diameter, and weigh
ing thousands of tons, impede its dashing
| progress every two or three hundred
yards, while its curves are so sharp and
| So frequent that the stream can nowhere
he seen for 4 distance of a thousand feet
| Granite cliffs two or three miles high pro-
lect over it on either side, and give a
| lrlghtiul, romantic and dangerous appear
anrc TO the rushing torrent beneath.
| Just below Black Hawk, on the side of
the stream, 4 small reservoir has been
constructed in which is kept an ordinary
skifl' Last Sunday two little sons of Mar
Tin f. Walker, aged respectively ten and
twelve years, got into the boat, and were
| splashing the water with a stick, when
the tastenin@s gave way and the boat went
drifting towards the rapidly running cur
rent. The little boys soon discovered
| their danger, but We're powerless to avert
| it; So they clutched hola of the side of
| the boat, and with palid countenances
!
caught by the current and began descend
ing Ut a fearful rate oyer Black Hawk rap
ids they went like an arrow, clearing i
distance OF sixty feet at y single dash
| Lighting again on the torrent surface the
boat seemed to have gained a new i'm
petns, and shot by the boulders and
around the rocky points with the celebrity Of
a sunbeam
IL ,l. -
the starting point conductor Gibbons, who
was Standing on the rear platform of the
down &. G. train saw the boat coming,
and immediately stopped the train. All
| hands repaired to the waters edge, and
| dld everything III their power to arrest the
| flying boat but past them she went like u
bullet from Il rifle, and was out of sight
in 3 moment. The conductor then or
| dered the engineer to put on full head
Of steam and follow as rapidly as possible,
which he did constantly sounding the
alarm OF danger. lie did not get another
glimpse of the boat, bnt the alarm brought
the employees ut Beaver Creek Station to
the lookout, and quickly making II Slip
moose they sought to throw it over the
bow OF the boat as she came under the
bridge. This they succeeded in doing,
but could no more hold it than they could
have held u thunderbolt, and over Beaver
Creek Falls She went with the speed OF
the lightning. The falls are about
thirty feet high and at the foot are a mum
Der OF large boulders, but the velocity of
| the boat was such that il cleared them
easily, and struck the water some twenty
feet beyond.
From here no one saw the boat or its
| living freight, until it reached Il point one
hundred miles below Denver. Through
| Golden into the Platte river, and under
the Denver bridges she WENT unnoticed,
nor Stacked her pace until she lodged in
DRIFT at the distance below Denver above
mentioned. The Platte does not run very
rapidly, but the boat had acquired such Il
wonderful speed in its descent from the
mountains that it far outrode the current.
A Mr. Walsh, who lives on farm near
the DRIFT where the boat lodged, discov-
cred the boys still in the boat which was
nearly full of water, and took them to his
home. They were restored to their over
J2yed parents the following evening, after
having accomplished the most perilous
journey in the quickest time, ever before
made by any human being who escaped
alive The distance travelled was one
hundred and forty miles in two hours, but
how it was ever done, or how the boat
escaped being dashed to pieces upon some
OF the huge boulders OF rocky cliffs which
everywhere intercept the course of Clear
Creek is nothing short of q providential
miracle. Probably not again in a thou
sand years could the journey be made
with the best appliances, and by the most
skillful mariners. central City. Col,
Coach.