Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1875-01-23

PIE GARDEN OF THE GODS.

PIE GARDEN OF THE GODS.
If ever there was a place on earth
where the gods of the Greeks and Ro-
mans may be supposed to have lived
and had good time, that place must
have been in Colorado. Near the foot
OF the famous mountain known as Pixies
Peak lies the Garden of the Gods"
It is small valley, just on the edge of
the Rocky Mountains, and is completely
surrounded by high, perpendicular
wall of white sandstone. There are
two entrances through this wonderful
wall; one of them, the larger, is called
The Beautiful Gate" 1t is q narrow
gap in mass of rock more than one
hundred feet high. As you enter YOU
look over valley. fenced in on all sides
with white sandstone; and, nearly op-
posite, at the top of hill, is another
small gateway, half concealed by huge
rock about the size of an ordinary cot
tage. This mass Of rock is so balanced
on the edge of the slope that it looks
as if it might jump off and 80 thunder
ing down the hill while you look at it.
The Garden of the Gods abounds
with beautiful trees and foliage, and,
towering amid this loveliness, are some
of the most extraordinary, queer and
fantastic shapes ever made out of rock.
Ages ago, when this part of the world
was in a state Of terrible commotion,
vast layers of rock were forced up out
of the earth in all sorts OF positions.
Some were vertical, some slanting, and
some were crisscross and mixed up gen.
orally. Learned men say that was the
way these layers of sandstone, which
once were fiat, got up edgewise and in
all other ways. We must take their
word for it. There was nobody there
to see.
Trees and shrubs, after q time, grew
up around, and the disturbed earth had
peace. Then came the mountain winds
and the long autumn rains. The wind
blew the sand against the rocks, which
were so soft that you could dig holes in
them with strong jack-knife. The
wearing of the sand and wind and wa
ter against these stony surfaces carved
them into all sorts of wild and funny
shapes. Ages and ages passed away,
probably, before these grotesque sculp-
lures looked as they do now.
Here and there among the trees rise
up fantastic shapes like spires, towers
and steeples. Some of the fanciful
names given these are i" Montezuma's
Cathedral" "Cleopatra's Needle"
Washington Monument" L" The Ca
thedral Spires" and " Needle Rock"
But. of course, the half human look.
ing objects that gave name to this
curious garden are most likely to attract
attention. The names by which they
are known are as fantastic as the shapes
themselves. One, figure of n woman,
draped and standing mournfully alone,
has many names. It is called The |
Mourning Bride, " The Widow" ""The
Old Maid" and by other titles, any one
of which may happen to stick to the
pathetic figure, that might be called
4" Lots Wife, only tits pillar of stone
instead Of pillar of salt. Then there
is huge water-worn bowlder, that
looks for all the world like gigantic
frog in the act of getting ready to jump.
You get tired looking at this stony frog.
He seems just about to leap, but he
never does. He has been in that posi-
ton for I don't know how many hund-
red years, and he has not jumped yet.
On one part of the wall, where the
white sandstone is mixed with red, is
gigantic head of a buffalo. There it
rests-horns, ears, nostrils and all
glowering down at you, just as if it
were a petrifed mammoth buffalo's head
stuck up there as trophy, as the head
and antlers of deerare sometimes hung
up-trophies of the chase. Another
singular group is "The Nun and the
Seal" You will have no difficulty in !
making out this picture: and, as the
seal is peering over the rock at the nun,
who seems to have been at prayer, this
group is sometimes called Interrupted
Meditation" If I may be allowed,
should say it might be called "The
Hight Of Impudence." 1t is about fifty
foot hinb -Cf N;oboJnc