Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1878-04-11
Colorado.

The Baltimore American publishes ahexceed-
ingly interesting letter written at Colorado
Springs, Col. We extract the following beau
tiful Indian legend of these famous Springs,
the Bitter and the Sweet"
The Indians always regarded these medicine
waters with generation, and when they were
discovered beads, wampum, cloth and other
votiye offerings lay strewn in the basin of the
Navajoe or hung from the bushes hard by
They also had legend respecting the origin
of the springs, which SAYS that in the time
when the tribes were all one nation and peace
and plenty rcigned among them, two warriors,
one Shoshone, the other Comanche, met at
the side of q small spring that trckled down
to the Fountaine. They had been hun ing
and the Comanche saw with disgust that the
Shoshone had killed fine buck, while all his
labors that day had been in vain. Added to
this. both were rivals for the hand of the same
maiden, the gentle Cheowin, and though the
Shoshone was peacefully disposed towards his
rival the latter only sought pretence for pro-
Foklng quarrel. The Shoshone drank
long draught from the spring, but the Com
anche drank from the stream. and when both
mad finished the angry warrior asked why his
rival dared drink above him, who belonged TO
the more powerful tribe. Receiving an an
swer to his question which only exasperat-
ed the more, and seeing his enemy turn on his
heel, unwilling to handy words, he drew an
arrow to the head and pierced the Shoshsns
through the heart. No sooner had he done
the deed than great vapor curled upward
from the stream, and he behed before him the
threatening figure ofthe Manitou who demand
Cd why he had committed so foul a murder.
and, moreover, reminded him that he had
neglected to offer liberation before drinking
Go dog, and be his slave in the Huntng
Grounds; with one blow of his mighty war
club the Great Spirit dashed out the brains
OF the Comanche, and where he fell sDrinp
OF bitter water dubbed up from the ground,
out from the spot stained by the Shoshone's
blood beautiful sweet spring has continued
ever since to refresh the weary traveller and
cure the sick. From that time to the present
the Shoshones and COmanches have never
known peace.
The road out of Manitou leads through the !
Ute Pass, and has been hewn out of the sol;S |
rock that shuts in the Fontaine. This iS - |
OF the grahdest passes in the Rockies m. al
Id granite walls rising thousand feet ali ~.
SeIa anu ciert oy unnumbered storms, and
hoiulng in the crevices great trees th,t co..
only to maintain their position by snffsro oen
6ach turn IN the road presents a new nictmre
feak AFTER peak, all snow-capped. dalzIa ~
eye, while far below the road bed the Fonto; inv
rnsnes along, clogged with ice and boulders
A. Al. iaS ~ we reach the Rainbow Tall and thongh
JACK frost has been hard at work n III 81
iorts 70 chain it, he has been unsuccessfnl -
magnificent stream rushes out from be.ooth
Inc ice and goes tumbling and foamiua and
dowu TO another frozen bed, beneath ice Will,
quickly hides 1T. The heavy SPRAY, as il fias
ABOUT iastenS glittering gems TO the overland
ing bushes and long, Aodding blades Of grass
mat seem to form path, lined with levels
so splenchdly do they flash in the noondsv
sun. ''eVlie-.