The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-07-17

rests there, bound by a mystic charm, to
guard the village in his shadow. Colorado
Springs Is safe so long as he lies with watch.
full head turned toward the plains. Should
danger appear on the far away horizon. he
will rise from his slothful slumber with a
mighty roar, as of the crashing OF forests
on his sides.
Faithful guardian, watch unrestingly
over the little town we love SO well.
Regarded in other than leonine aspect,
Cheyenne Mountain is one ofthe spots where
tourists most do congregate. Go there on
horseback, ii you can, with clatter Of
hoofs through TETON street, which will bring
plenty of idlers to the store doors, and on
in the bracing air, over barren fiat over
the narrow guage track; over the bridge
crossing Fountain creek, and then turn in for
moment at ''Rigg's Rancho Here you
must take drink from the famous spring,
clear as crystal and cold as ice !; the spring
which formerly supplied drinking water for
Colorado Springs at rs cents barrel, in the
benighted days before we had reservoir,
and peep atthe trout. They are Of allsizes,
in rectangular ponds, also of all sizes, which
are fringed with some delicate water plants,
like aquatic lycopodium moss, which sways
back and forth in the transparent water
And should you happen to throw in one of
the great yellow ard red grass hoppers, as
naughty boys haYe been known to do, what
a rushing among the water weeds; what a
quivering of fms and glancing of spotted
sides, till the poor insect is torn limb from
limb by the greedy, gaping mouths of the
fishes. Poor trout They have their turn as
well;s'th may-fiy is torn by the swallow; the
sparrow speared by the shrike.'' Could they
return from that far bourne where good
trout 20, they might tell us of their appear
aace at many of the banquets in Colorado
Springs.
Well, we are off again, over the smooth
road, tempting one toa steady gallop. The
glossy cotton woods, relieved by the duller
green of pines, are clustered along the road
on either hand. Numbers of cattle, saun-
tering by .ths fences, regard our cavalcade
with wide.eyed establishment. The Foun-
tain twists and turns in its hayward course,
With /. grecIe1 -ribboa-a4 tnder0rnWth on
either bank, and even runs across our pat h
two or three times. How pleasant the ford
is, the rush through cool ripping water
Even the horses enjoyed it, stepping daint-
lily, and scattering spray over their riders.
We reach the toll-gate, wide, with weather.
beaten bars. 'sFlfty cents team, sir 7:
twenty cents piece for horses" &c.
The dollhouse is log cabin, often used as a
refuge by excusionists caught in the show
ers which are always lowering around
Cheyenne Mountain. Beer and buttermilk
can be obtained, but there is scarcity of
other refreshments. The chatelaine is a
huge woman, shapeless as one OF her own
beer barrels, who never fails to inform visi-
tors that she came to Colorado for her health
-sswhen was thin as weasel, mum, and
pale as GHOST She is the finest specimen
of Colorado cure, with which am &C
qaainted.
After the gate is passed we turn into the
toll road. originally constructed as means
of communication between the Springs and
Canyon City, needed no longer, as the rail-
road has taken its place. 1t is broad, car
riage road, clinsing to the mountain-side,
and edged by precipices which .faint-hearted
people had best not contemplate till they
are bezo,u them. Its innumerable curves are
sharp as the bastions Of fort, and il one
has cool head, and sure-footed horse, let
him creep to tie edge and look down through
the indented ravines formed by the bastions,
to the depths where Cheyenne's beauties lie
hidden in the cool shadows. White spirod
scatters its snow. showers on the rocks !;
thickets Of "quaking asp'' rustic and culver
in their ceaseless play with the mountain
wind, and slender rills drip downward in a
pleasant trickle, mingled with the insects
hum.
The ascent is so gradual that you scarcely
realize the heights you are scaling, save by
the ever succeeding panorama OF beauty I'M
rolled below. At first the fields lie beneath
checked with irrigating bitches, and display
ing their varying tints from the chocolate
brown of fresh ploughed soil, to the green
of springing wheat. Still ascending, one
loses the near prettiness, and the glance
ranges afar over the misty ocean of thu
plains, traversed by slowly moving cloud
shadows like dark-hulled ships. On one
side ofthe way, is an upheaved bed OF albite
like the fragments of some colossal, marble
statue, white and pink veined, with blocks
half buried in the sandy slopes. Smoked
quartz, or ''smoked topaz" as they call it, is
found on Cheyenne. The largest crystal
ever saw was dug out near the mountain
top. 1t was a foot long and broad in pro
portion, but had, as usual, lost in transpa
rency what it had gained in bulk. In
specially inaccessible spot, is bed Of Anna
zon stones,'' or ortheclase American NAL
achite.I call it. 1t is vivid ''gas light green'
and crytalizes in oblique rhombic prisms.
and is most beautiful of Colorado miner
ais.
At last we reached the thinning camp" OF
the summit of the mountain, and make
halt.
The horses ara SO tired /; they have beer
creeping up the painful slope at a snails pac
for more than an hour. 1 often wonder
any but sure-footed Colorado horses could b.
inveigled into such climb The camp i
the general pcnicking ground few partie
care to press on further. Some day, this fin
wide road is to be continued by more cir
cultous route known only to the engineers
down Cheyenne and over the adjacen
mountains to Pixies Peak. What a trip tina
will be, to the Peak and Cheyenne in car
rage. This camp was the scene OF one
those fertile mining excitements, too com
mon in Colorado. What they expected, whetfl
er gold or silver or carbonates, know not
but they never foundit. Three cabins spran
up like mushrooms, felled trees and decay
ing stumps are scattered near, pits are ho
lowed out, and the whole spot has that DIES
olate look Of .forsakenness which is saddle
than the wilderness Of the .'iorest primeval.