The Portland daily press., 1878-03-01
FRIDAY MORNING. MARCH 1.

although an orchestra of three pieces played /
vociferously from time to time land out of time)
and the dancing girls'' were solicitous of part
ners. Our fellow passenger, the unsocial young |
man with the shawl, accompanied us in soli- i
tary sort OF way and mooned about speaking 1
to no one. His spectacles and "plug" hat were
very attractive TO the sirens, who found vast
amusement in urging him to dance, but their
Establishments were of no avail. The only
concession he made to the spirit of the place
was before leaving the hall to drink By h imself
at the bar 10 grave and fsh-lke way.
Clearly it was dull night in the social life
of Garland. Perhaps it was owing to the ex-
cessive GOODNESS Of the weather, which often
has torpyifsing effect. Sometimes the town
is very lively as is evide need by telegraphic
news item in Denver paper of date subse-
quent to my visit The item is "red hot'
enough to quote:
"GARLAND, Dec. 31.-A reign of lawlessness
and bloodshed prevails in our town. Four men
were shot this afternoon in a saloon. And at
S:45 this evening George M. Clay, lawyer re-
siding here entered the concert hall, held dis
pnte with the barkeeper whom he attempted to
cut with knife, and was Immediately shot
through the temple Clay is dying"
There was no disturbance of any kind while
was in town, but the place struck me at the
time as having magnificent possibilities in that
direction. We soon left the concert saloon and
went back to the hotel, and thence to bed and
tranquil slumbers,
Nearly all the passengers Of the day before
were going back over the road in the morning.
We were called to an early breakfast in which
mountain trout again figured prominently, and
were at the station before seven O'Clock, the
hour Of the trains starting. By daylight it
could be seen that Garland lies In little valley
surrounded by wooded hills. 1t is named from
Fort Garland which is seven miles away. On
the westward, an opening through the hill in
dictates the wagon road to the San Juan country
and the line of the future extension of the rail-
road which comes in from the eastward through
the Veta Pass. On the platform of building
near the station was large pile of silver bull
ion awaiting transportation. 1t lay there un-
guarded, but as each piece weighed fifty-six
pounds it was in less danger of getting mis-.
appropriated than one would imagine at first
thought. Nobody could carry away one of the
bars without an amount of exertion that would
be likely to attract attention. Moreover, 1t
would be out of the line of professional steal
ing to do so. There are plenty of men in
Colorado who would lift coined money whom
ever chance occurred, and it is stfi city legti-
mate to steal mine if it can be DONE but
doubt IL it would ever occur to anybody in this
country to steal silver bullion; it seems to en-
joy the exemption accorded in the East to bee
hives and tanyards.
Soon we were off for La Veta The road lay
I'd rrh Oh f,o4 l.. T. 4.
2l1 foot grade three and-a-half miles before
reaching the summit of the pass. At this latter
point is stone house used as station, and
back little among the pines log house, occu
pied by the section men. One of the occu-
pants, the cook, I should judge, came out and
talked with the passengers while the train stood
still. 1t seems there is fine hunting in this
region, which abounds in deer and mountain
lions and bears of all kinds. AS the train
moved down the eastern slope wild and mag.
nlticent mountain landscape came into view.
Between us and the mountains on the right
was the Veta Valley many hundred feet below
and on the deep snow at the bottom the course
of a stream could be traced. Across the valley
every moment brought changing view Of
mountains. The train wound in ard out on the
face of cliff, rounding projecting points on
thirty-degree curves, and the locomotive was
continually at sharp angle with the rear
car Finally the train went around the end OF
Dump Mountain, and then appeared along the
PERCEPTIONS side ahead straight track which
apparently ended on the brink of an abyss
The Superintendent, who was standing with
me on the rear platform, called my attention
to the bottom of the deep valley on the right
Five hundred feet below and almost directly be-
meath US was narrow track with tiny rails that
lay in the same direction with the track we
were on. That was the road over which we
were to travel Immediately. There seemed no
way to reach it except by sheer fall of hun
dreds of feet but as the train went forward a
track to run on kept revealing itself and the
distance to the bottom OF the valley gradually
diminished Just where Dump Mountain
joins Veta Mountain the track bends one hun
dred and ninety degrees in thirty-degree curve,
called the Mule-shoe, and rounding this we
found ourselves on the track in the bottom of
the valley. The heavy grade still continued
but the track was straghter and the train
quckened its speed. Passengers who had been
running along behind to keep warm, now got
on board, and tie train moved smoothly down
to La Veta.
The risk of a trip through this pass is per-
haps no greater than that of ordinary railroad
travel. The rails are of the finest steel and
the trains are run with great care. Care, loaded
and unloaded, have been let loose at the sum-
init and have run to La Veta without leaving
the track. One of these was recently timed in
its descent, and it was found that it had gone
fourteen miles in thiiteen minutes CP.