The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1878-06-20
CONFERENCE.-The
We are kindly permitted to publish
The following letter. and should he
pltAseA 10 receive more.

Is has beeu my purpose from day 70
day, siace / len Washington, e write
4 you Of some things that have specially
interested me on my journey bot they
have followed each other IN such rapid
succession. and each succeeding day S
observation seemed 50 much more
worthy Of note than that Of the day
F.. preceding, that have been led to post.
pone writing until ! have-this after.
noon reached the end Of my journey
aud with II the acEe Of its interest and
wonders. am writing IN . large
ump,aously furnished hotel, which is
situated 10 the center Of town Of over
three thousand inhabitants, aud $500
high Ga the Alps this altitude would
be above vegetation or timber and near
the line Of perpetual snow II is prac.
tically the summit Of the Rocky Noun
tains at this point A narrow guage
railway brings US from Golden, at the
base OF the mountains, twenty -four
miles distant, 10 this town; twisting
through a narrow and tortuous canon,
on wall, built up in the stream, now
on one side, aud now on the other, the
rocky sides Of the mountain rising on
the right aud on the left, almost per.
pendeularly from one to two aud three
thousand feet high. The grade Of the
road is from one hundred aud twenty
TO two hundred feet to the mile. |
thought, as ! climbed over the Allie
ghanies by the Chesapeake and Ohio
railroad and then descended west.
wardly for ninety miles the canon
through which the New River winds
and tumbesun til it forms the Kanaw.
ha that | was witnessing a wonderful
illustration Of the wildness of nature
and Of the engineering skill Of man.
The salt works and coal and iron mines
and mills, on the Kanawha and Ohio
rivers were not inspected, but they
they startled me by their amazing, al.
most bewldering extent Then came
tho vast area and wondrous growth Of
wheat, some already harvested, be.
tween Cincinnati and Dodge City in
Kansas; line Of over thousand
miles in length, with similar prospect
for corn on the same line.
The sudden change to vast plains, Of
equal fertility in soil, unoccupied ex-
ccpt by immense herds Of cattle and
sheep, that stretch between Western
Kansas and the base Of the Rocky
Mountains in Colorado, accompanied
by marked depression Of temperature
aud dryness Of the atmosphere, were
new to my observation and experience.
| had heard and read o. the compar-
ati'o betiunnUss VI .ufs cAtvndvu pam
except where it was irrigated and of its
exhuberance when watered These
statements are abundantly illustrated
aud verified before you reach Pueblo,
but from that point north through
Denver to Cheyenne, they are not only
turning the wilderness into garden,
I
but by spreading the mountain streams
over the surface, they are regularly in
creasing the rain tall / knew some.
thing Of these facts before but no
amount of reading or hearing can put
things before the mind as clearly and
accurately as personal observation. /
have climbed mountains in Switzerland
as high as the point am now on, but
did not ascend them in an ordinary
railroad car, nor did / find busy thru
wing town on the summit. Gold built
the town and brings the people. Here
are produced between two and three
millions of bullion each year. Plant a
dozen Equinox mountains in q group,
not more than two miles in diameter,
make the ascents as sharp as it is from
Skinner Hollow to the top, let the bot
tom Of each be the base OF the other,
with 20 space intervening, push the
entire mass up to more than twice its
present elevation. denude the whole Of
trees or vegetation, build shanties all
over the sides aud on the submits Of
these mountains perforate and honey
comb them with pits, tunnels and
openings, heap huge piles Of debrts all
around aud you will have something
resembling the view that is here pre-
scented. Gold costs in muscle and
sweat and toll all it il worth Ifall the
world could agree upon something as
the representative OF value, which costs
little or nothing, aud apportiou il pro
rata among the nations, vast amount
Of hard digging would be saved and
Benz. T. Boilers experiment might be
tried. As things are and will be in our
day, the value Of gold and silver, as a
general rule like everything else, will
be measured by the labor it costs to
| produce it. The weather is quite cool,
and few miles distant The mountains,
which are a few thousand feet high, are
still white with snow.
When suggested that the ore in
these mountains must ultimately be-
49,. 81 a...t.J - ~, ..,,.. 49,