The Portland daily press., 1878-03-01


which some Mexican children were playing.
That was all. AT the junction OF the Atchison,
topeka q Santa Fe road where the train
stopped twenty minutes for dinner the station
Is the office of the Railroad House, hotel and
restaurant, the excellence of which would be
marked in any locality and is especially con.
spicuous in this out-of-the way region.
The route for miles on either side of Pueblo
lay near the bank of the Arkansas river, which
here is creek of medium sz. flowing in q
valley grown up with large cottonwood trees.
Finally the track left the valley and struck
southwesterly out into the open country A
cold north wind swept over the whitened
plains and the mountains ever 10 view lay far
to the westward. The stations were little col
lections Of unpainted pine shanties, that had
been 'red hot towns while the railroad was
building and before It passed them, but were
now IN state Of desertion and premature de-
crepitude. Their old age was not dignifed or
beautiful, but rather was rckety and debauchsd
looking, and they seemed to be a mushroom
growth that had sprung up In summer and
been killed BY the earliest frosts of winter
Walsenburg is one Of these dead towns, and
just before the train reached it tall, unkempt
Mexican with ragged blanket wrapped about
him like Great C@sar's mantle, stalksd forth
across the plain. A haggard face and wild
black eyes cleaned beneath the happing rim of
his sonabrero, and it seemed as if our ap-
proach had disturbed Ghoul 10 his haunt.
All the way along were Mexican settlements
each consisting of one or two adobe houses, one
sso,ied. fat-roofed and of great length, the
sides being pierced with several doors as if for
the convenience of different families. Outside
were conical ovens as high as ones head adobe
corrals and sometimes open sheds beneath
which in the summer tie women perform their
household avocations We were now going
directly toward the mountains which gradually
but rapidly closed in on the track ahead On
the left the Spanish Peaks rose loftily and
threw back brilliant lights from faces as daz-
zlingly white as the ore of the silver caves
within their bosoms. Among the mountains
10 froat, one was nearer than the rest and 1t
partially hid snowy range of peakes wonder
fully even in height that stood sharp-cut against
the western sky. Over these the sun was hang.
ing as the train stopped under the nearest
mountain at
La vETA
| in the entrance of the Veta Pass and at the be-
ginning Of the tremendous grade that leads nm
to the summit.
Here the passenger.car was detached from
the train and all the passengers went into the
smok1ng-car. which at this stage of the trip
easily accommodated us. The sun went out of
sight as the train entered the pass but daylight
endured for while, and so long as it lasted
there could be seen on either side smooth
valley with steep sides which finally rose into
mountains. A scattered growth of pines COW
cred the valley and mou ataln sides, and among
them gigantic cattle were feeding in widely
scattered groups of two and three. A singular
feature was the rocks high overhead along the
sides Of the pass; they were deeply worn, like
seaside ro,ks, by the action Of moving water or
blowing sand. The wind drawing into the pass
sifted fine snow along ths rails and then swept
1t away. An invisible sun made rosy the haze
of flying snow about the Spanish Peaks and
gave epaline tints to the more distant submits
Of the serrated range in the west. Many years
ago Spanish priests from Mexico came through
the Veta Pass to convert the Pueblo Indians to
the Holy Catholic Faith Their hearts burned
with devotion and their Imagination was ever
filled with visions of bleeding Savior In the
cold, transparent stiffness of these heights,
they saw everywhere a grand and colOress
world OF mountains, as calm and pure as the
brow OF the Madonna. But in the morning and
atsunset, tints of red shifted over the broken
whiteness and glowed in the silver cloud-veils
about the submits. And the priests saw q
miracle in this wondrous transform alton, and
the mountains thencsforth bore the name,
Sangre De Christie. Still in the last moments
of the dying day the divine spectacle repeats
| ifea1 IN tho irra
ist who gazes through a car window, no less
than it did to the pious missionaries of the old
en- time to whom it came as a direct revelation
from Heaven. 1t passed from our eyes in dark
ness that fell as the road left the bottom of the
valley and began to rise on the side Of veta
mountain, but for little time longer the Span
ish Peaks dimmed of their light stood outlined
against winter sky of blue and crimson.
There were about dozen passengers in the
car, all Of them men. There was young Bal
timorean just OUT of college, mining specula-
tor from Denver, named Barnes, the agent of q
Philadelphia wool-buying firm, and several
rough looking ffontiersmen who might be any,
thing. There was also young man in specta-
cles and silk hat who wore shawl and who
sat unsocably by himself while everybody
else moved about and talked. Mr.. McMurtre,
the civil engineer of the road, and Mr.. Borst,
the Superintendent were aboatd, and the form
er gentleman had bought at Walsenburg q
quart OF pinons which he libsrally bestowed on
everybody who cared to eat them. The pinon
is nut found in the cones Of species of pine
that grows in the mountains. The Mexican
women gather and roast them for food These
nuts are the size of a large pea, have thin
shell and are very rich and pleasant to the
taste.
The ride of that night was memorable but
almost indescribable. The engine pulled the
cars up toward the summit with slow ,labored
stroke, as if it had to fight its hardest to keep
the train moving 10 the right direction aud the
cars seemed about 10 upset as we rounded steep
curves on the face of the precipice. To look
out of the window on the one side was to see
mountains across wide hollow of greafIdepth
at the bottom of which the pine trees made in
distinct masses like black shubbery. Above
this valley the car seemed travelling on moth
ing On the other side was the sheer face of a
mountain extending up indefinitely. The situ-
alton was intensified by the freezing of water
tank so that the cars were left standing mid
way in the ascent an hour or more, while the
engine ran ahead for water. The Denver gen.
tleman had the best of US all at this juncture,
for having travelled this route before, he had
taken the precaution to bring his supper along
from Pueblo and now fessted with gusto while
the rest of US sat hungrily by and speculated on
the time of night we should get to Garland.
After the train rounded the summit and began
going down hill, strain was taken f,om the
minds of everybody and as soon as the grade
became easier, all hands went to sleep to be
awakened at o'clock p. m. by the shock of
stopping in Garland the terminus of the road
and railroad town in the cred hot stage, it
having been in existence bat about six months
The buildings on the street were all alght as
we walked to the hotel, and there was music
in the air from the swinging doors of three
dance houses. There are two hotels, but we
all followed the lead of the Denver gentleman,
who was acquainted in Garland, and went to
the Perry House. This establishment was not