Sharp County record., 1877-08-31
HIGH Up IN THE WORLD.

scenery Amidst NOhuellu bNi'''
Mineral Wealth. MT
The trip from Capital City over
the range to Ouray, Colr Is one
Of the most remarkable in all this
mining country. The distance Is only ~
miles, but nearly half OF that Is over
snow upon the range. o..
You get up by daylight at Merits
cabin about at timber line, and find the
little tream of water sparkling with ice,
and after hasty breakfast set out so as
to oct over before the snow becomes soft
enough to let you sink in, as in that case
you would 60 down waist deep or more
at every step. After crossing noun
tain torrent on a log all covered with
ice, on hands and knees, and climbing
/ for miles up Il zig-zag trail, you arrive
at the summit about l2,5OO feet above
sea level, or nearly two miles and a half
high. This scenery once seen is never
to be forgotten. Not a tree or bush or
blade of grass, but dwarfed and stunted
herbage, and no sign of bird or animal,
save now and then snow-bird or the
chipmunk, while even the eagles flight
is far below, and the Rocky Mountain
sheep that delight to sport upon the
highest cliffs prefer the southern slope
until the snow is gsge On every side,
both near and far, great granite peaks
half buried in the snow rise up in dis
NAL orandpur. while silence as of death
all around.
1t is as if one was above the ordinary
action of nature and even the bright
beaming sun seems pOwerleSs to give
life. And your own heart Gutters tu-
multuOusly, and the mouth opens wide
to catch the thin air as you hasten on
with weary step over frozen snow TO
reach a land of forests, flowers and
birds below. Thence downward, as
though you never would get done de-
scending, along the sides Of great noun
tains of rock high overhead and dizzy
depths into which you care not to look
far below; thence upwards over pro-
iecting mountain spur, thence down.
wards where YOU can scarcely stand and
across a mountain torrent as white in
foam as Niagara below the falls, and
then, foOtsore, faint and weary, find
yourself in the little new town Of Ouray.
Every thing is new; scarcely a house
more than few months old and hardly
one completed Every thing is activity
and life; every body seems satisfied that
rich harvest of wealth is hid away in
those nightly mountains. The climate,
too, cOnduces to energy and activity.
The town is shut in by SnOw-clad noun
tains on every side but the northwest,
so that the air is always cool, and at
night the more blankets you have the
better you sleep.
Whether the hopes that are built
upon the treasures in the mines will be
realized or not, remains to be seen, but
there is no doubt that treasures Of silver
and other metals are found here
Labor, time and capital, however, must
be expended before these treasures can
be possessed One man finds a vein
and sells it for ten thousand dollars,
and another for ten times ten thousand,
and another spends his bottom dollar
for flour at fifteen cents per pOusd and
other things in proportion, and gets
away as best he can without a mine
that he can sell for shilling or that
will pay him to work, and bleSseS the
mines inversely Five or ten miles be-
low there is beautiful valley, valuable
for farming by irrigating and almost
absolutely necessary to supply this place
with food, but most of it is an Indian
reservation and the settlers are notified
by the Secretary Of the Interior to leave
by the first of October, of which they
think very hard, especially as the
Indians put it to prOperuse. Beyond
this valley and westward the country
opens out into rolling lands and table
lands and extension valleys, till you
reach the mountains of Southern Utah,
some two hundred and fifty miles distant.
Wagons make the trip there and back
for flour, dried fruits and other things in
the fall of the year, when the rivers can
be crossed, and return in forty days,
buying flour at five dollars per barrel
and selling it here at twenty-five. This
is an excellent country for toSrists;
there are several valuable hot mineral
springs here and any amonnt of winter
in-summer on the ranges, and bear hunt
ing, and trout fishing, and cascades and
peaks and skies as of Switzerland, and
water as from melting SHOWS Of Mount
Olympus, and cactus blooming in the
creviceS of rocks and wild flowers
forcing up through snow to bloom, and
much to make life happy.
PAUL BAGLEY.
Enidn To lnnun,.c ntinn