The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-06-10
A WONDERFUL COUNTRY.

IA WONDERFUL COUNTRY.
i The New Mining Region at the Source
o. OF the Rio Grande-A Cluster of Noun
tains Resnarkabie for Their Height
and Grandeur. a.
A Washington correspondent of the
4 Chicago Inter Ocean furnishes that journal
with the following extracts from The forth
coming report of Prof. Hay d IL of his last
iyear's explorations 10. n.sSouthwestern Col
4 Orado near the sources OF the Rio Grande
River. - l5 '- ts' =
T. DIR. Endlich, the geeIogist, gives an in
teresting description of the mineral re-
sources of the country. Veins of silver OF
Unusual richness have been opened and
are being worked in various Localities, and
4 smelling furnaces were being erected! =
L. sDF. Franklin Rhoda, assistant ,topo-
grapher, gives the following
/ GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION of THE COUNTRY: !:
- We started from Colorado Springs ON
! the 18th of July, 1874, taking the. road
leading up the Fontiine qui Bouirfe, and
over Ute Pass into South Park. Itwoul,l
have been much shorter to have gone to
Pueblo by rail, and thence on horse or
mule back around the southern end Of the
Greenhern Mountains, through Huerfano
Park and AiUgca Pass, and across San Euis
! Valley to Del Norte. But at this time of
the year we knew that along the low
plains the heat would be intense, and the
grass and water scarce. AS it was, we had
a delightfully."- cool trip all the way, with
plenty of grass for our animals. Our road
lay across South Park, theace down the
I Arkansas River and across the range at
Puncho Pass into the San Luis Valley.
Our first station, was made on peak
which had been occupied in 1873 as station
thirty -four, and is 12,0 900 feet in elevation.
A little to the west of south, and not more
than fifteen miles distant, rose up the high
group containingseveralp peaks ranging in
| height from 13 800 to near 1900 feet.
! Farther around to the west. but much
more distant, appeared high pyraWidal-
shaped peak, which is situated south OF
The Rio Grande, and is marked on the
map as FFr =-7ss 1s1F4s
RIO GRANDE PYRAMID. .
! A little further to the right, and still more
distant. was souble-topped peak, and
named Mount OsO. Still further around
another distant, high peak appeared to be
the elimination of high mountain mass /;
this is Mount AOlus. ..
Having finished this part of the coun-
\ try. we travelled down the White Earth
to the point at which it emerges from the
upper canon. Here the new road from
Saguache crosses it at small angle, and
swinging far up to the nDrth to avoid the
high bluffs, it finally turns up Lake Fork
at point about twelve miles from the
crossing of the White Earth. Thence our
course lay upstream, and We Travelled
along just west OF our plateau stations
and nearly under the bluffs. From
camp Just below the junction of Goodwin
Greek and Lake Fork we made station s
on point about five miles east of Uncom-
| pahgre Peak. The next station to be
made was on the great peak itself. In or
der to accomplish this it became neces-
sary to move with our pack-train about
| five miles up Goodwin Creek, to a point
where it is Joined by small stream COM
| ing in from the north. Leaving the train
at this point, and taking an extra mule
with us to carry our blankets and food,
we rode with great difficulty up the side
| gulch, and camPed atan elevation of H.
| 900 feet, near the timber line We started
out early the next morning, expecting to
have very difficult climb. Contrary to
all expectations, we found the ascent very
easy, and arrived on the summit, at 7:30
a. M, having been two hours and half
in climbing up 2, 400 feet. From here, for
the first time, We We're able TO see
THE GREAT MAssIvENEss OF THE NOUN
TAINs
in our district. To the south the peaks
appeared in great numbers. and in the
distance appeared group of very scraggv
mountains about which the clouds were
circling as if it was thCir home. Subse-
quently we found that they were most Of
the time thus envelOped. The high
mountains near us covered the horizon
from the east around by the south to the
west. Nearly due west of us appeared a
very high, sharp peak, which was AFTER
ward ascended as Mount Sneffels; and
just to the south of it another high mass.
bearing in its center a large, flaring patch
of snow. The culminatiBg point of this
was later station 80, or Mount Wilson.
Southeast of us, and about light or ten
miles distant, was mass of peaks, fill
ing the whole space between Lake Fork
and Goodwin Creek, all of bright
red color. The highest of these points
is over Il, 900 feet above the sea. Ten or
fifteen miles to the southwest was another
smaller mass of lower peaks of the same
color, while in various places appeared
mountains of white, yellow, and blue, all
the colors being very well defined and
clear. They were caused by the oxidiZa-
ton of iron and other ingredients of tht.
rocks. TO the north the mountains fall
very suddenly down to the bed of the
Gunnison; in fact, the peak is situated on
the extreme north line of the Uncompail-
gre Mountains. Just before we left the
summit, clouds came along, and we were
soon enveloped. 1t was at this time that
we experienced, for the first time in the
season,
AN ELECTRICAL PHENOMENON,
which latter interfered SO much win the
typographical work We had scarcely got
ST rted TO work, when we began to feel a
tickling sensation along the roots Of our
hair, just at the edge of our hats, caused
by the electricity in the air. At first this
sensation was only perceptible and not at
all troublesome; still its strength sur
prised us, since the cloud causing it was
lyet several miles distant to the southwest
of us. In the early part of the storm the
tension of the electricity increased quite
slowly, as in indicated by the effects on
our hair. By holding up our hands above
our heads, tickling sound was produced,
which was still louder if we held ham,
mer or other Instrument in our hand.
The tickling sensation above mentioned
increased quite regularly at first, and
Ipresenuy was accompanied by peculiar
sound almost exactly like that of the fry
ing of bacon. This latter phenomenon,
when continued for any length of time,
becomes highly monOtonous and dsagreea-
bic. Although the clouds were yet dis
tant, we saw that they We're fast spread
I ing and already veiled many degrees OF
the horizon, As the clouds approached
nearer, the tension of the electricity in.
creased more rapidly, and the extent OF
our horizon obscured by them increased
in nearly the same ratio; so that the rapid
increase in the electric tension marked
also an increased velocity in recording an
giles and making sketches. We felt that
We could not stop, though ,--7r a
- THE FRYING OF OUR HAIR
became louder and more disagreeable for
certain parts of the drainage of this region
could not be seen from any other peak,
and we did not want to ascend this one q
second time. As the force of the electric
Iity increased more and more and the rate OF
increase became greater and greater, the In
strument on the tripod began TO click like
the telegraph machine when it is made to
work fast; at the same time we noticed