The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1877-08-04

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The ride through Clear Creek Canyon Il one
not likely toibe forgotten. Rather b Il likely
h:aS snS e: the sn
| ellis, and the rumble and roar OF the narrow,
| but deep. swift and turbulent stream from
| you are whirled along this great chasm, be.
| times q thousand feet high. crossing the creek
seven times In the distance-so tortuous Is ffs
| of sight, and the whole of It brooded over by
| an atmosphere OF convergent shadows.
which e the sb, sun now sna
heat that parches like a fever. The sheer i'm
mensity of the spectacle Is overcoming. The
mind can not grasp it. and you tire at length
| vision. There is an element of mockery to
you in the sullen and inaccessible noun
tains. Man appears pigmy in their midst.
Gradually, you find the notion growing upon
you that there is n great deal OF monotOny,
and not particle OF beauty. in all the steep,
ing that is something like discomfort comes
creeping over You; and by and by, you turn
away from it, and sit idly glimpsing the busy
evasions of the creek current among the rocks
down below.
But you will look up again when you get to
Beaver Brook. did, at least, and the Lady
of Shalott stood beside me on the platform,
while directed her attention to the magnifi-
cent scene. The mountains there break into
kind of triangle: and the canyon has three
less than in other places, but the SUBMITS are
cut in sharper outlines, the range of vision is
freer and less fatiguing, and the contrasts are
At first glance, it recalls the Heart of the
Andes" only it crowds its glory into much
smaller compass that is depicted in that
famous study. The dOwn-gOing sun east
an enchanting light over It, as we viewed it,
turning the gray mountain sides to gold, hid
ing the few awkward angles in purple, and
flame In all directions is neutrality-suspicious.
ity that does not signify mere pOnderousness,
but which has effects which soften without
the splendor to the Outlying provinces, a tiny
white cloud comes sailing through the little
patch of blue that lies away up yOnder like a
downward moment, and then on straight up
the canyon, until 1t rounds an ugly, frowning
curve, and is lost to sight in the aching void.
companion with this last thought on my lips,
" what Il an aching void any howT'
Did You never have headache"" said the
Lady of ShalOtt.
Then handed her to a seat-between the
End Man and the Inspired IdiOt-and lighting
a fresh cigar, rode in q brown and selfish
reXerie from there to Denver.
party of Kansas Peakers" already mention
en- that panned OUT the first gold on the
site of the town in the summer of 1855; and
another party from Kansas came along few
months later and founded the town itself,
naming 1t for the then Governor of Kansas
Territory. And then, did we not send them
one of their first school mas ans and did they
not get their first grist- mill from Leaven
worth, before they had raised their first
bushel of grain; and does not their principal
and was it not our Ned wynkoop who went
out with Park Mcclure to fight that historic
duel which two Thousand people assembled to
with the usual perversity of her sex, brought
to a bloodless and provoking end? OF course,
we felt at home there; and the hospitable
special emphasis Of qualification. ~ '
There is probably no other city of its age and
Its
wide and inviting also; its yards and parks
are gay with grass and flowers; and rows of
etabie GARDENS too ese and ont little Way YOU
will come upon fields of growing wheat. But
nothing takes root in q natural way. The
genius OF irrigation presides over-or rather,
The little life giving bitches wander
along the edge of the sidewalks ut the
foot of the shade trees, and arrest your
steps at every turn and crossing; and out on
the hills you can trace the wider, canal-like
ones that bring the water from the river miles
away. 1t seems ludicrous. You must allow;
but without it there would be no Denver. And
they believe in it, those people-as religiOusly
as We of Kansas believe in our own rain fall
Indeed, fancy use has so accustomed them
to it that they think it an improvement on
the ordinary method of moisture. They even
try to invest it with sort of scriptural radi-
ance. God first placed man where the earth
was watered by rivers, they say: now he Is to
be brought back.
After two days of Denver-red- letter days,
they were in the calendar of our journeyings-
ward, by the Smoky Hill route of the early
times. That the party was thoroughly sur
feited with pleasure was easily to be seen, for
the curtains were drawn over the windows,
and every married man sat in the seat with
his own wife. Right at our backs, Just out of
Denver, was still to be had what is perhaps
the finest of all views of the mountains; but
very few of us cared to turn round for it. We
could not think it possible that We had left
unseen any thing worth looking at Besides,
we were fatigued with mountains, and wish
ing for a swift change to the candid and ia
miliar beauty of the prairies.
The first Kansas "Peakcrs," passing over
mountains in 1855, picked up a fragment of a
st. Louis paper on which they read, "The
Pixies Peak gold excitement is on the rapid
the first gold, of which they had written
nothing home, they wondered how any "eN-
element could have been raised about it.
vague rumors of their gold had reached
Kansas, and that an editor sitting in his
office at Fort Scott, cudgeling his brains
public" George A. Crawford was mt his Ell
bow to second the inspiration. "But if 1
write the thing up" he went on, land it
proves a fraud, they'll hang me-" So he toss
ed u copper to decide his course; and it fell
for the Peak. The editorial was written, i'm
good bright cOlOrs; that st. Louis paper
copied ii; and from there 1t went through the
country like u call to arms-with what ulti.
mate results not even a Kansas editor would
have dared to predict.
1t is all clear now; and we know why the
man who wrote that decisive editorial was
not hung. The nimble copper came right
side up, for it gave us Colorado. Such was
the sentiment with which we steamed away
from the receding mountains, that blue and
beautiful morning; and we abated no jot of
it, am sure, when, ut the closing of the day,
in the Oncomtng, persuasive twilight, we
crossed the State line, and sent up a right
royal cheer for our own matchless kansas
first in war, first in peace, and first in the
hearts of all her people.