The Portland daily press., 1878-03-01
To the Portland Press

10 the Portland Press:
The Denver & Rio Grande Railway lies
along the eastern slope of the Rocky Noun
talns near the foot hills as the contour of the
land will permit. 1t is road Of three foot
gauge, is two hundred and twenty miles long,
and its general direction is north and south.
The carrying of freights for the mines that lie
in the mountain canons along the route far
nishes it with great deal Of business, and it
also connects Denver with the Atchisop, Tope-
ka & Santa Fe Railway crossing that road at
Pueblo. 1t is an economically managed and
profitable investment, and has earned enough
above expenses to make extensions southwark
from time to time. The latest of these, the
completion last summer of hundred miles of
road, has carried it over one of the Rocky
Mountain ranges and almost to the Rio Grande,
opening up the rich mining regions of the San
Juan country. 1t is growing road, started on
a sound basis, and as things look now is not
unlikely few years hence to fnd its terminus
in the city of Mexico.
In carrying the road over the mountains
there has been accomplished one of the most
remarkable feats Of railroad building on record.
The line follows the valley of the Veta creek,
D6uuS III q brcuouuUuS curve bO bu6 slQ6 OIL
Dump Mountain, promOntory running out
into the valley, and clinging to its sides winds
its wsy along the face of cliffs up to and through
the rent in the mountains which is the summit
Of the Veta Pass. The elevation of La Veta,
the station at the entrance of the valley, is
697O feet, and that of the pass 9339 feet; this
rise of 1869 feet is surmounted in eleven miles of
road, the course Of which the term suuous
would be inadequate to describe. On railway
circular given to passengers is a photograph
and map of the Veta Pass on which the
alignment looks like dropped shoe. string,
and the profile like an outline sketch of a pyra-
mid. 1t is an impossible looking map. but all
the same it is true one. Beyond the summit
the grade (now falling) is undiminishsd for
several miles, but presently changes and the
track goes BY easier dsscents down to Garland,
the present terminus In the Pass there are
fourteen and half consecutive miles of road IN
which the minimum grade is 211 feet to the
mile, and in places this is slightly increased.
That the scenery of the southern end of the
road is of the most impressive character goes
without saying, ard not long ago thought it
worth while to make trip to Garland to catch
o hJtoS FlcW u 0OutuSIu OolorduO duG I'd lake
the wonderful railroad ride through the Veta
Pass.
1t was on bright, cold winter day that l
left Colorado Springs, and a north wind was
blowing white squalls of snow along the noun
tain peaks. The plains were white with snow
and boys were skating on the little ponds and
bitches. 1t was very wintry aspect for this
country to wear, and there was an ominous
look In the mountains which suggested that the
trouble was not all over, in their region at
least. There was an uncomfortable probability
Of striking drifting storm 10 the Veta Pass,
and it was not reassuring TO see the Denver
train come down from the Divide with cow
catcher and car platforms piled up with snow
from plunging through drifts.
sANGRE DE CHRISTIE
was in letters of gold on the engine; a unique
name surely for a locomotive and smacking of
great piety or of great sacrilege accordingly as
it might happen so strike ones ideas of the
fitness of things. After getting on board the
train reference to the railway map showed
me that the inscription came naturally enough
from the roads having been built through that
part of the Rocky Mountains known as the
Sangre De Christie range. The name was a
trace of the Jesuit missionaries and it indicated
that the region of the old Spanish civilization
was at hand. A run of forty. five miles brought
us to
PUEBLO
the northernmost landmark of the Mexican
occupation of the country. Here was anciently
an Indian Mission, and it marked the farther
ripple of the high-tide of the Spanish Conquest
of Mexico which in its ebb left settled in the
valleys OF Southern Colorado scattered popu-
lation OF Greasers, mongrel race made up in
varying proportions of Spaniard Aztec and
Plains Indian. Now the Yankee civilization
has invaded the place and built it up and trans
formed it From the cars it looks like the
general run OF thriving western cities, with
blocks OF stores, aspiring public buildings, and
somebody said it has hotel called the Lindell
House, which fact effectually establishes its
fellowship with all the other ambitious little
cities west of the Mississippi that have come