Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-09-07

Rev. 5. Brown in the Troy Times.

Eight hundred persons went t,
the summit of Pixies Peak last year
and as many more will ascend thi
year. 1t is the one great feat tourist
in this region are ambitious to &C
complish. This grand mountain wa
discovered and named after the ad
venturous old explorer, Major Pike
in 1906. Lifting its snow covered
head over IA, 900 feet above sea-level
and 5000 feet above the high plain;
of Colorado at its base, it forms one
of the great landmarks of the state
Two narrow horseback paths lead
to the summit. The longer and
easier one is called the "GOvern-
ment trail, " though the government
did not make it, and has nothing to
do with it but to use it. 1t was
built by Mr.. Copfay, of Colorado
Springs. The telegraph line to the
summit runs along this trail. The
"new trail" by a sleeper climb
directly up from ManitOa Springs,
through Engleman's Canon, is
twelve miles long. From Colorado
Springs by either trail is is seven
teen miles to the summit. At first
our pathway wound upward along
the banks of a beautiful, clear
| mountain stream and among foot
hills which anywhere else would be
called mountains then again the
trail was nothing but a ZigZag path
up the almost precipitous mountain
side, where a single miSstep of our
horse would have sent us rolling
down into the awful ravine below.
Now we tOiled on under towering
cliffs thousand feet high, then we
crept nervously along the edge
of fearful chasms, Il thousand feet
deep. Now through dense forests
of pine, fir, spruce and cedar; then
among shrubs, plants and violet
flowers blooming along our path
way. Now we were in deep gorgeS
that almost shut out the sunlight;
then on some mount of vision from
which we could catch a glimpse of
the wild grandeur around and about
| us.
Five miles from the base we came
to "JOnes's Park" a beautiful
meadow 5000 feet above the level
of the sea, which the eccentric owner
has taken some pains to cultivate
and ornament. If you stop long
enough Jones will tell you strange
stories about his twenty-six years
of mOHntaineer life among the
Rockies. Toiling on and up, three
miles from the park, we came to a
gOOd-sized log-hOuse, which ans
wers the purpose of a hotel. 1t
stands on the borders of beautiful
little "Lake Morane," which gives
it its name of "Lake House," Here
we rest for the night, sleeping at an
altitude of 10000 feet above the sea.
In company with another, we
were early in the saddle next morn
ing, for it was five miles more to
the summit, and in that five miles
we must mount up A 900 feet higher.
It was long, weary, rugged climb;
We were "tired to death" several
times over, still we lived and pushed
on. At an elevation of $4,000 feet
we reached the climber line"-the
utmost limit of tree life. This line
among the Alps is an elevation of
5000 feet. (By the way, they say
out here, of man who is baldhead-
ed "that his head has got above
timber line.") Up, up, up, over the
rough and rocky, bleak and barren
sides of the great peak we climb.
The atmosphere grows Tarer and
respiration more difficult. Itseems
as if we would never reach the top.
Higher and higher, through the
light thin air we urge our trembling,
painting horses, but we would pant
worse than the horses if, out of sym
pathy to them, we should undertake
to walk. Some at this great eleVa-
tion suffer from dizziness, headache
or nOse-bleed. Others have Sensa-
tions similar to seasickness. AS we
were resting our horses for a mo-
ment, and looking out on theglOOmy
desOlatiOn around us, wondering if
any living thing could exist in such
a waste of bowling wilderness of |
rocks, we heard faint squeak or
bark, coming as we learned from |
the little comics. These little ami |
mails are about the size and shape of |
a prairie dog. They are found on |
these peaks of the Rocky Mountains, |
and never below the timber line. |
One wonders how they subsist |
where there is no vegetation, and if |
they are the same as the "cOnies" of
the scripture which "make their |
houses in the rocks"
When we were about hundred |
yards from the summit the great |
snOwdrifts across the trail compelled |
us to dismOunt. After tying our
horses to the stones we clambered |
up from rock to rock and boulder to
boulder toward the crown of the
peak. AT last we were at the |
United States Signal Service
station" square stone house with |
fiat roof, built for the purpose of |
meteorological observations, On
this lofty WatGh-tOwer FOld Prob
abilities" has stationed his sentinels,
whose duty it is to send to Wash
ingtOn telegraphic weather report
every evening at sunset; also to |
send a report by mail once a week.
After a few minutes conversation
with the lonely watcher dwelling
on the highest inhabited spot on
the globe, we went out into the
clear morning atmosphere to view |
our surroundings. We climbed |
over the rocks and around the snow
drifts, buttOning up our OVeFcOats |
to keep out the chilling breeze,
though down on the plains, under
the July sun, the thermometer stood |
away up among the "nineties." On
the very summit it Is a nearly level
surface of about sixty acres, but this
space is so completely covered with
great bowlders and fragments of |
great ragged granite rocks that not
an inch of soil can be seen.
But look around and beneath you
from this lofty spot if you want one
of the grandest panoramas this earth
affords. To the west, and far away,
are the vast mOutains of the "SnOWy |
Range" among the lofty speaks of |
which are Harvard" "Yale" and !
"LincOln," crowned with perpetual |
whiteness. Intervening between
the mountain monarch we are on
the snowy "rOckies" are many
lower peaks ranging from 10,0Os to
1900 feet high. To the north are |
"James'sn "Long's" and "Grey's"
peaks standing head and shoulders |
above their fellows. Turning to the |
east, Just down to the foot of the |
peak is ManitOu, with its springs,
and the Garden of the Gods, and |
beautiful Glen Eyrie. Colorado |
Springs, out on the plain, five miles
from the base of the mountain, is so |
far below us we cannot distinguish
+bo a,poIiiuo.c from, oaob Ofhnr