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

which nature contradicts herself, and awe
makes beauty spell rather than q delight. 4
| I stood on the car-platform near the en-.
gineer who constructed this fantastic railroad
III. A. 4c4urtne, young man not yet thirty
him modestly run over the details of his tn
| umph. The track starts MP the mountain at
an average grade of one foot to every twenty
crootedness, as Il scales the edges Of pre-. E.
| cipitOus peaks and crosses chasms so dark
| in depth that the eye can not reach the bottom
a gorge hundred Yards vide, You see the line
| of the road ahead of You along spur OF
the mountain eight hundred feet overhead.
in width. but $40 feet higher than on the low
er side-and two miles Of writhing and climb
ing place you on the perilous height just
named. Looking backwai d, now, on the Op-
posite side OF the gorge, You see the track
over which you passed but half an hour be-
fore, only q stones throw distant in hori-
zontal line, and still SO far below you that
you are stupefied with amazement-and far,
far beneath that, yet, the yellow wagon road
winds out and in, Swallowed with unseen
foliage, and narrow like grave.
cent, and we land upon the summit, |, AS feet
above La Vcta, a mile and half nearer
heaven than we were when we left home, g.
est point attained by any railroad in this
country, and, with only one exception, in the
world. There we found a climber belt" of
ferns, myrtle, and whortieberry bushes to
give il an air of feeble picturesqueness. We
funched and cracked Jokes in the scant shade
some vines in her hair and raised her flushed
face to say, "How splendidi" the Lovers
for we had pair of those interesting lunatics
with us-went gathering pine;cones and
bouquets of wild grasses; and the Inspired
Idiot, silenced up to this time by his fears, so
far recovered himself as to remark: "This Is
the most stuck up excursion ] ever saw"
summit, and of course we had to celebrate.
So, when we started down again, a halt was
made mt Prospect Point, and the voice OF our
President so familiar in Kansas conventions,
sounded a little speech and proposed the
customary cheers in honor of the event. Then
McMurtrie came forward to thank the party
umph, and to say. with a bit of pardonable
exultation, "A man need not be old, in these
days, to accomplish great things" Col Dodge,
Congressman and our Chief Justice; and
then, standing there on projecting ledge,
literally between heaven and earth, our Giee
the continent the rich music of America"
As they sang, there lay before us such u
panorama as was never seen on canvas-a
sight which, to my mind, surpassed all others
of the journey In extent and grandeur. Two
hundred miles of mountains in plain view!
And our altitude subdues the ruggedness of 1t
all, without marring the distinctiveness of its
over it out of some new and blander sky. In
front the Spanish Peaks, to the right the
Snowy Range, to the left Bald Mountain, and
away on yonder the white top Of Pixies Peak
clouds! The Lady of ShalOtt was leaning on
my arm as looked at it; and, when the bell
rang, and we turned to go, l gazed into her
eyes with dumb stare of rapture. "It's
real NICE" she said. And yet we are told that
women are enthusiasts. May God for
give this exception, them never can.
poet calls " the rosy trepidation of the
dawn" next morning, and went by stage to
the road Travelled by many o
the first pixies Peakers"-from Kansas they
were, you recOllect-celebrated the Fourth of
July nineteen years ago; on through COlora-
sas party had a permanent camp; and near
the massive and grotesque rocks" rocks of
ages" our End Man characterized them
which the fancy Of some other Inspired Idiot
Gods. 1t is as little like garden, this ag
giomeration of towering and tumbling
rocks, as midnight is like MONDAY; and as Tor
gods, I'd as soon think of looking for them i'm
u Kansas Legislature. Iquarrel only with the
name; the thing itself is like a chapter of
Victor Hugo.
Manitou, as is well known, is the focus of
and varying delights and our party
tasted them all. 1t is also historic, for Pike
of Pixies Peak was there in 1906; and Long of
Longs Peak in lsso-one of his party, DIR.
James, being the first person to ascend Pixies
Peak; and Fremont in 1873, encamping near
the Soda Springs; and Capt. Ruxton of the
British army in 1861; and the gold seekers
Julia Archibald Holmes, being the first one of
her sex to stand on the summit of Pixies Peak,
" and for anght know" says the careful his
who ever stood that high anywhere"
Two of our excursiOnists made the trip to
the Peak, above the clouds, through two feet
Of snow; and one Of them has written an ad
mirable account of it. Others made visit to
the famous Cheyenne Canyon, and the SIMS
ter curiosities of Monument Park. But most
Of the party loitered about Manitou; loath to
from the different springs and tried the sew
eral baths. We trayersed the Lovers Walk,
time and again, with burlesque imitation of
much sport, though in our hearts think we
envied the absurd creatures. We climbed
the adjacent rocks, those of us so inclined or
Fountain Creek go ripping down
the glen like q milkmaids song or sat on the
hotel veranda and absorbed the scenery be-
tween drinks OF lemonade; and In the even
ing, it being Sunday, listened to an excellent
by our Chaplain-fOr we took Chap
lain with us, too, not knowing what might
happen before we got back.
Next day, ly common consent, the Ute Pass
was visited; and while it is chiefly interest
ing on account of its being a "main travelled
road" to the newest gold -diggings, and be-
cause it cost $4,000 to make it passable for
q
scene in it that is well worth going up to
see. mean the Rainbow Fall 1t is not large
it is not grand IT is simply pretty-like some
Created for the sole purpose of looking sweet
and sitting for their photographs, rs some
philosopher has observed. 1t il
. little Is sheet Of bright water sRiiing over
upon hundreds of feet high on either side of
It, and Just above it bit of sparkling
IA 90 7 Los int,
dear thing if looked at it long and am
sure the sensation is shared, more or less, by
all who gaze there. though not every one is
Ike our April eyed and susceptive Princess.
roundabout carriage ride from Man.
itou back to the railroad took us through the
Garden of the Gods to Glen Eyrie; and from
there a half -mile walk led us up Queens
Canyon to the Devils Punch Bowl-full of
wonder, all of it, and at times strikingly
found to be lovely beyond all report; the
jaunt along its little pebbly creek, among its
flowers and strange bushes, in the cool breeze
the reading of poem. And we happily had
a guide who knew every foot of it, and could
tell us all its secrets. He was formerly of
Baxter Springs in its red hot days. Travel
where you may, you can not go amiss of these
Kansans. Wen find one of them
Night found us at Denver, and the next day
we went up Clear Creek Canyon to Idaho,
where the famous Hot Springs are, and the
u
The town looks like some lost thing, away up
there among the weird cliffs, though it has
taefe e some oms The railroad had
however, and 1t yet bore all the traits Of the
simon pure frontier mining and stage coach
rendezvous Its baths are the best, perhaps,
in the world, and to go there without trying
them is to deny yourself q supreme luxury.
People do go there some Kinds of people,