Middletown transcript., 1878-09-07
Written for the NiddletOwn Transcript.
THE GREAT WEST
As Seen By an Casters shOrsnan.
M 10
COLORADO SPRINGS.

No 10.
COLORADO SPRINGS.
After a hasty dinner at a Pueblo
railroad eating house again boarded
one Of the cozy little cars on the Den
yer and Rio Grande, commonly called
in Colorado the "Baby railroad" and
was soon being whirled rapidly along
and through the foothills in the di-
rection of Pixies Peak. snow crested
and surrounded with masses of black
and OminOus looking thunder clouds.
This narrow-gauge railroad, on which
the reader has already made several
journeys with the writer through and
over the mountains of Colorado, has
its northern terminus at Denver. while
in the south it is crawling along, Sec
tion after section, towards the land of
Montezuma. 1t was one of the first
narrOw-gauge roads to be built in this
country the rails are three feet apart
and the cars carry about forty passen-
gers instead of sixty-four, as do those
on roads of the standard gauge. By
this road it is 45 miles from Pueblo to
Colorado Springs, through a country
that does not look inviting to the ag-
riculturist, though several colonies are
located along the route, and, by irri-
cation, are raising some wheat, oats
and vegetables, but their attention is
probably directed more to stock rails
ing. Cattle and horses are on the
track every few miles, and it is neces-
sary for the engineert to keep the whistle
blowing almost continually to 'shoo"
them of, and not unfrequently the
train has to be brought nearly to a
stop in order to avoid collision with
cattle, which, instead of leaving the
track at the sound of the whistle in
yariably start off between the rails
ahead Of the engine. Near the village
of Fountain, our train came in contact
with COW that would not leave the
road in time, and, though the engine
had almost stopped, the collision gave
the passengers a good shaking up and
turned the COW double somer-sault
over an embankment.
For rapid and solid growth Colorado
Springs is one of the most remarkable
towns in the country. It was laid out
IN 1871, upon the approach of the
railroad building southwark from
Denver, previous to which time there
was but single building in the local.
ity, a one-stOry log stage station COW
cred with mud and sods, still main
tanned as a curiosity, standing near
the railroad depot. In less than five
years from the time the place was laid
out it had population of more than
5000 people. Its wide and level ave-
nues are built up with large and ele-
CANT brick and stone business houses,
while the residences in every part of
the town are handsome and commo-
dious cottages surrounded invariably
by spacious and well kept grounds.
No people in the world have made
more rapid and solid progress in so
short time than those Of the town Of
Colorado Springs. They have erected
churches, banks, hotels and blocks of
stores that would not look out of place
on Baltimore street in Maryland's
metropolis; they have erected resi-
dences that will compare favorably
with the suburban homes surrounding
any Eastern city; they have erected,
Of limestone, at a cost of $4,000, a
public school building, which, for
beauty of architecture and adaptabilty
to the purpose for which it is intend
ed, has no rival between the Missouri
river and the Rocky Mountains. This
enterprising and progressive people
have, in the short space of FIVE years,
opened forty miles of irrigating
bitches, which bring the cool waters of
Fountain creek coursing along on
both sides of every important street in
the town, and they have set out twenty
five miles of cottonwood trees along
their streets, which now afford a gen.
Gus shade to every yard and door,
while number of public squares have
been laid out and also adorned with
shrubbery and trees The public
buildings of the town embrace num-
Der of handsome churches, a court
house, the public school, the State
deaf and dumb asylum, three hotels,
and four banks The town is built
on high plateau, having a gradual
and pleasing slope on the west to-
ward the railroad. Beyond this is the
mesa stretching away to the foot of
the mountains. distance Of five miles.
in the town and looking
west across the foothills and mesa to
the snow-capped peaks, the distance
through the clear andp atmosphere
seems hardly a mile, and I could
readily realize how the Englishman
was SO much deceived in the distance
as to attempt it for a morning walk.
Colorado Springs owes much of its
and rapid growth To the