The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1877-12-06

going 10 parldlu NltN- over tHt idI-iaufto
La Neia pass, and mixed passenger ant
freight train going on TO FL Moro. And
why the road stopped at FL Moro whert
there was nothing at all in the way of :
town before, and but very little Of towr
nov. instead of going four miles further Il
Trinidad, town OF apparently two thou
sand inhabitants, is one OF the freaks Of
railroad corporation that is past the ken o
ordinary mortals. The town of FL Moro il
principally composed of Oiero, Sellars 4
Co. and Chick, Browne x Co, and their al
taches, who have held the bulk Of the New
Mexican trade for years. by always keeping
their stores at the terminus OF railroad com
munication.
At Trinidad commences the real ascent
of the Ration range Of mountains, and Vol
20 up and up till at the summit You stanc
some 5000 feet above the level of the sea
and the view from there is simply grand
We left FL Moro on Sunday morning. The
tops of the mountains enyeloped in dens,
clouds. and in the valley the snow had JUS
began to fall, but the weather was not colo
and we imagined We could cross the noun
tains to the first stopping place, 70 mile
distant, but the
FALL OF Snow
steadily increased as We assembled, as wei
as the velocity of the wind, SO that by tn,
time We reached the Summit House. KEEP
by Dick" Wootin, as he is Familiarity known
in this whole country, and Il miles from
our starting point, We were willing TO stoI
and accept his hospitality for the balanc,
OF that day and night. We had often heard
oil being showed up in the Ration Noun
tains' and feared that such calamity had
overtaken us, but Monday morning opened
up clear and bright, though a triie cold
Rut before leaving the hospitable hearth OF
Uncle Dick Wootin we will say that if any
poor unfortunate has the ili-luck TO be
showed up in the Ration Mountains" may
he reach the Summit House TO be cared for
Mr. WoOtin is an
OLD MoUSTAINEER,
having been in the mountains since 1885,
and his fund OF adventure as a trapper, guide
and Indian fighter is sufficient to furni-h
entertainment through the severest SHOW
storm, even though il last all winter.
Monday morning We bid this monntaineer
adieu. and commenced the ascent 10 the
summit, about two miles distant, through
the deep snow. Just at the loot OF the last
rise stands a rock marking the boundary
line between Colorado and New Mexico.
There we alighled from the ambulance and
walked TO the summit OF the range. as we'll
for our own amusement as TO relieve the
mules, and arriving AT the top the sight
well repaid any extra exertion. Away of
to the north, fully one hundred and fifty
miles distant, We could see Pike Peak
basking in the sunlight, while Just over the
point, apparently not more than 4 stones
throw away, majesticaliy arose the hoary
crest OF the highest of the Spanish Peaks.
whose head, having been freshly powdered
with the virgin snow over night, glitlered
aud glisiened in the bright morning sun as
though covered with diamond dust. And
all the way between there, and all around
Is lar as the eye could reach arose noun
tain peaks oil greater or less altitude, and
all more or less deeply covered with snow.
But standing
EIGHT THOUSAND FEET ABOVE THE SEA
level with the wind bowling at the rate Of
twenty miles an hour, is not conducive OF
long continued enthusiasm over 4 scene
even as beautiful as that, and We again got
il. our conveyance and commenced the de-
scent, which from the summit 10 the open
;Diain at the foot OF the mountain, Is fully
seven mile, through, ever. changing scenery,
though at all tunes grandiy wild and pic
iUresque.
Arrived at the foot of the mountain, we
entered upon an open plain that had, to a
certain extent, 4 familiar look, and had it
not been for the snow-capped mountain
peaks visible in all direc ions, we might
readily have fancied We were again in
Gods country"-in our own beautiful
Kansas. From there on to Fort Union,
here is a great sameness in the landscape
! he mountains are always visible to the
right, with occasional high bluffs, and iso-
ated mountain peaks in other directions
Occasionally We descend into beautiful val
eys which it seems might be made almost
earthly paradises, and anon We climb rug
ycd and rocky hi Us out of them and pass
IN over a level table-land.
Both the
MARROW GUAGE AND A., t. & 5. F. ROADS
iave made surveys for a line of railroad
Icross the Ration Mountains That the
Narrow Guage can build a road across
hem there is no doubt But whether a
,road-guage road can build a track across
UGH high mountain ranges seems to me
ather problematic. The A., T. 4 s. F.
ompany are determined 10 build their
Dad across the continent, and compete with
nv and all Others for the through traffic
they have the energy and pluck to do it,
'ut having passed beyond the ratu- al point, |
There they should have turned off to come
own through this country, they are now
eeking passage through the Rocky |
fountains, either by the way of the Grand |
anon, of the Arkansas and through South |
IN Utah, or across the Ration range and |
own by the way of Santa Fe, and so on to |
he Pacific. The natural confirmation of |
he country seems to indicate that the road |
hould have turned of, either at Fort |
lodge, or some point not further west than |
as Animas, thence passing entirely
round the Ration range, and striking the /
able-lands Of New Mexico without cross
lg any mountain range at all. This NAV
II be found the most practicable route for 1
hem to take, but that the company will 60
trough to the Pacific Ocean there seems to |
e no doubt.
THE AMERICAN RESIDENTS
New MeAlco Complain bitterly OF the
Diitical bondage they are in BY reason Of
lie superiority in numbers of the Mexican
cement, and their total inability to rid
of it by reason of the Territorial
ticials pandering TO and sustaining this
exican element i'm all the outrages they
elk 10 commit On our way across the
'untry We conversed with many intelligent
mericans and their stories corresponded
;actly. One particular instance was cited
the county of Colfax, settled almost
,tirely by Americans, and in which regular
rms of Court had been held for wears.
ing attached to the county of Taos where
e population is almost exclusively Next
IN, for judicial purposes. And all efforts
, the part of the American population of
,lfax county have been utterly fruitiess in
freezing il. The idea of taking an Amer;-
n from an organized county like Collar
ross high range of mountains 10 another
unity to be tried by
JURY OF oREAsERs.
no cannot understand the language in I
iich tine proceedings Of the court are had
d majority Of whom have not in their
mpVnition any Of the elements of com- I
on honesty, d an outrage that cries sloud
: redress The neuupapers of the country | I
ould investigate this matter, If the publie
- viii nok Cd iflhsss thiles aee rooIlv ID
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