Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1877-12-28
A Great Enterprise.

1HIlSliIlS rive upon lIdTLIilOOI.
Great Enterprise.
Ever since men began to dig for silver
and gold in Colorado, one Of the MANY
hard things they have had to do, has
been the iourncying into the rich silver
regions Of the san Juan country. The
great Sangrc Iii Cristo range, with it,
uncounted peaks, all from twelve to iif
teen thousand feet high, is II barrier
which only seekers after gold or after
liberty would have courage to cross
One Of the most picturesque sights
during the past two or three years, has
seen has been the groups Of white-top-
ped wagons creeping westward toward
the passes of this range; sometimes
thirty or forty together, each wagon
drawn by ten, fifteen or even twenty
mules the slow-moving professions
look like caravan lines in desert two,
three, four weeks ON the road, carrying
in people by households; carrying in
food, and bring out silver by the ton;
back and forth, back and forth, patient
men and patient beasts have been toll
ing every summer from June to Oc-
tObcr.
This sort of thing does not go on for
many years before railroad comes to
the rescue Engineering triumphs
where brute force merely cvadcs; the
steam-crginc has stronger lungs than
mules or men, and the journey which
t4tn = ,inI in
Such II feat rs this the Denver and Rio
Grande railroad marrow GAUGE is now
performing in Colorado A little more
than year ago saw the plowsharc cut
the first fllrrow for its track through
the cuchuras meadows ut the foot of the
Spanish Peaks. One day last week |
looked out from car windows rs we
wlirlcd past the same spot; II little
town stood where then was II wilder
ness, and On either side Of our road
acres Of sunilowers whose brown-ccn-
tered disks of yellow looked like trem-
bling faces still astonishcd at the noise,
Past the Spanish Peaks; past the new
town of Ncta; into the Ncta Pass; up,
TIP, nine thousand feet M, across u neck
Of the Sangro di Cristo range itself;
down the other side and out among the
foothills to the vast San Luis valley, the
plucky little railroad has already pushed.
II is u notable feet of engineering. As
the road winds among the mountains its
curves arc 50 sharp that the incNpcrl-
cnrcd and timid hold tllcr breath.
From one track, running along thc edge
OF n procipicc, you look up To another
which you are presently to reach; it lies
high ON the mOuntnln-Sldc, four nun
drod feet above your head, yet II looks
hardly more than II Stonc'sthroW across
the rayinc between. The curve by
which YOU are to climb up this hill is Il
thirty degree curve. To the non-pro-
lessional mind it will perhaps give y
clearer idea of the curve to say that it
Is shaped 1.-The il muc-shopa much
narrower shoe than IL horseshoe The
famous horseshoe on the Pennsylvania
railroad is broad and easy in comparison
with this. There are three of these
thirty-dcgrcc curves within II short dis
lance Of each other; the road doubles
on itself like the path Of II ship lacking
in adverse winds. The grade is very
steep, two hundred and eleven feet to the
mile; the engines pant and strain, and
the wheels make strange sound, Mt
once sibilnnt and ringing on the steel
rails. You % bnt six miles MI hour;
il seems like not more than four, the
leisurcly pace is SO unwonted Il one for
steam engines With each mile of as
cent the view backward and downward
becomes finer; the Spanish Peaks and
thrplnins IN the distance, the dark IN
vines full Of pine-uccs int the foreground,
and Ncta Mountain on the left hand "
II giant hulwarl lllrrowcd and bare.
There are So many seams ON the sides
of this mountain chat they have given
rise to it, name, Ncta, which in the
Spanish tongue means "ycm. a. ~.
Scribao .toy January