The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1873-08-21
.TIFFIN TRIBUNE.
rIaIn. THURSDAY Eve. August q. ISIS.
oar 0En sialBs.-'

In the Washington dispatches in
yesierday,s Ledger there was made
brief mention of the explorations of
Professor Haydon's party in the
Rocky Mountain region OF Colorado.
IF the official report he has transmit
ted to Washington could only be
made IN the picturesque language
with which travellers dress their de-
scriptions, some of our tourists who
90 "abrOad" to look at mountain
scenery would understand that nobler,
more extensive, and more beautiful
mountain masses are far easier Of ac-
cess at home.
Some of the grand peaks mentioned
In the brief synopsis Of Professor Hay
don's report are only . three or four
days. journey away from Philadel-
phia. The majestic forms oi Longs
Peak and Pixies Peak are N sight
from the hotel windows at Denver,
and there is railway now all the way
to the foet of Pixies Peak, which is
only five hours ride from that young
city Of the plains. The tops of these
mountains are Il, 80 feet above the
level of the sea, and from 1000 to 10, :
O00 feet above the plains at their foot.
They are covered with perpetual
enoW. The view from their SUBMITS
or even from their sides, is grand be-
yond all power of description In
words. Westward, northWard and
southwaId is boundless sea Of noun
tain billows, rising above which the
eve rests upon lofty and isolated sum-
mits succeeding each other until they
fade away in the blue mists of dis
tanee more than a hundred miles
away; and eastward is the placid sea
of the equally interminable prairie,
threaded by the Platte and its tribu-
taries, and now dotted with the fast
growing settlements of thrifty emf
grants from "the States" q ~
These snow-clad mountains, the
sight of which, as we have said, is
within three days railway ride from
Philadelphia, are as lofty as any of
the Alps except Mont Blanc, Monte
Rosa and the Matterhofn, and are
within few hundred feet of the loft
lest of these. Now, however, Profess
sor HaydOn's party have brought in
to view noble peak, that, from its
peculiar form, has been named the
Holy Cross, which rises to hight of
II, 600 feet. above the highest of the
Alps, and about 5000 feet above the
average OF them. 1 o4 e -
But few OF our people keep in mind
the fact that they are so near in point
OF travelling time to the region of per-
petual snow, and to mountain scenery
which rivals the finest in the Alps. 1t
Is getting to be alcustom in Colorado
and California to call the mountain
regions of those countries the "Switz-
erIand of America This may be
expressive to some people, but it be-
Titles our grand mountains. Masses
of mouatsin equal to the Swiss Alps
might be taken from either of the
Cordilleras or the Sierra, and enough
to make many more SWitZerlands
would stilleremain. In grandeur, Ell
ther one of the mountain chains mem
toned is the equal of the Alps, and
there is good authority for the state
ment that in massive Tuggedness and
in the sublimity of picturesque Wild
ness the northern Sierras or Cascade
Mountains surpass the Alps by far.
There Is no such immensity in the
sweep of landscape to be seen in
ftJhttLCAldu0 eAS SllttS COL1L1duUc4 lHOu1
the upper reaches of Mount Shasta, in
California; there is no such valley as
that of Yosemite; no such cataracts
or cascades as those of the Sierras;
nothing to compare with the Parks"
which figure in Professor Haydon's
report, and which are within two
days ride of Denver, and within five
days of our own city. English tour
lists make ocean voyages and travel
four or five Thousand miles in the OPP
posite direction to look at the noun
tains, landscapes and scenery which
in no respect surpass them, and which,
in infinite variety and unique charac-
ter, do not compare with them.
1t cannot be too often repeated that
some of these grand mountain masses
with their foothills upon the prairies,
their middle distances swathed in
clouds, their everlasting snow caps
cleaning in the sunshine, are within
seventy-two hours ride of our own
homes. All of the sublime grandeur
We have mentioned is within from
three to nine days travel, and every
hour OF it travel of the most pleasure
bic description. In fact, the Amefi-
can need. hardly 90 from his own
country to seek for the picturesque,
the beautiful, the varied, the grand,
the majestic, the marvellous, in the
Of nature; and just as the
or New Yorker can in
the torrid heats of summer place hina-
self IN three days within the region of
everlasting SHOWS, so he can in mid
winter, in the same space Of time, |
himself to part of his own
country where the orange blossoms
are in full bloom in the open air.
Philadelphia Ledger.