The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-11-13
Letter from Colorado.

Letter from Colorado.
Pixies PEAK AND ITS SURROUNDINGS
NATURES CONSERvATORY-ITS GRAN
DEUR AND IT'S neutrality-suspicious.
THE PEAK.
Especial correspondence of the vIRGINIAN.]
''Northward scared
The stainless ramps OF huge Hamala's wall,
Ranged in white ranks against the blue untrod-
Infnite-wonderful-w whose uplands bast
And lifted universe OF crest and crag,
Shoulder and shelf, green slope and icy horn,
RIven ravlne and splintered precipice
Led climbing thought higher and higher, until
1t seemed to stand in heaven and speak with
GODS
We who live in the shadow of the ever
lasting hills, feel as none else can, the pow
erty of all words before the realities Of Ma
lures moulding hand. Therefore do not
feel presumpLuous in applying this fair pic
ture OF an elder range to the Rocky noun
tains. Pixies Peak alone might stand as
the symbol of all portrayed in the quota
ton. The peak used to be put down in the
biographies OF not-so-v very long-ago, as the
highest mountain OF the Rocky Ranges,
which it is not, by TIT way, for Prof. Hayden's
T6ceut survey HAS cstduliSutu luc ,Idct luaG
Sierra Blanca is entitled to the pre-emi-
nence.
Even nosv, eastern people seem more sat
home'' concerning Pike than any of the
other mountains, owing, conclude, to its
being the site of the U. S. Signal Station,
and also the former centre of the gold fever
of 1859. The traces of the ''auriferous ex-
element" are found in ragged pits which
yawn or the mountain sides. The gold was
there, and the miners found it, but there
was not a sufficient proportion OF ore to the
ton, and the search was abandoned. 1t is
an aggravation to think of gold in a state of
d,lution, as it were, drawn out through a
vast extent of earth and gravel. Could not
some benevolent mountain gnome consoli-
date it in his crucible, and some fine morning
send a huge nugget rolling down the peak
into Colorado Springs-pure and yellow and
shining as the bonanzas of which we read?
Pike is monarch Of our spur, however, he
may lower his crest before the peaks Of other
ranges; Cheyenne and Cameron's Cone hide
their diminished heads in their pine forests,
while he towers far above, solemn and bare,
in the blue ether. Intrusive Cameron's
Cone Sometimes should like to enlist the
services of the before mentioned gnome, and
have his summit sawn off to a dead level.
Actually, from the south of the town, Cam
eron s Gone looks higher than Pike s Peak.
In vain we murmur: SO, 600 feet difference
not above timber line-Pike's Peak H.
1886 feet above the level of the sea.'' There
the impertinent mountain stands, blotting
out to the highest ridge his eldest brother,
whose snowy robes are discernible as mar
row friuges beyond the green slopes of the
Cone, who copies him outline for outline,
and slope for slope.
To see Pixies Peak in his glory, one must
pass over the range into South Park, and
then look back to the eastern horizon where
he discloses himself in full majesty, dwarf
ing the insig nifcant peaks below. His head
and shoulders are crowned with spot;ess
snow and white and blue mingle under
meath, where the kingly mountain conde-
sends to join bis fellows. What is aspiring
Cameron's Cone now? The merest plmple
on the face OF the range!
We who stand face to face with his mai
esty, Pike S Peak, IN the ante>chamber of his
court, must confess that he is not always
regal. On summer days he is apparently
but monstrously elevated sand-hill with
few dots of snow very red, very bare,
very hot and the reverse of imposing. Later
in the afternoon he CLOVIS with beauty
borrowed from the sunset, SO misty, so ethe.
real, so heavenly, that we forgive him his
uncomeliness under the burning caresses of
the MONDAY sun. In winter his rough sides
are smoothed under his shroud Of snow a1d
at night illumined by frosty moonshine and
starlight with an unearthly radiance, which
| bushes and awes all who gaze upon his great
white throne.
| Yet again have seen him in the MORN
ing, when his head caught the earliest
rays of the sun, while the lower peaks and the
| sleeping town were yet Obscured by the
| shadows before dawn. All the light was
concentrated on this mount of transfgura-
ton, and most lovingly did it brighten eve
ry slope with pearly and yet crystal lustre,
till the whole summit was dazzllngly white,
even as the robes Of Him whose pure skirts
far exceeded the skill Of any fuller on earth.
And the clustered mountains below caught
not one ray, but were sombre, gloomy ,inky,
black, like the enamel setting of some pearl
Of great price.
In regard to the ascent Of Pixies Peak, it
is hard to find spies who shall bring back q
correct report OF the land. The experiences
of tourists are diverse, individual and con.
Trajectory. Mr.. Smith ''would not have
| missed it for thousand dollars The ascent
was SO easy and gradual, the horses so sure.
footed. the scenery SO grand, the air sc
Mr.. Jones ''could lot be bred to ascend
Pixies Peak again; the road was SO steep
that one was in constant danger of bro
ken neck; the burros were balky aud slow
the showers constant and drenching the
air freezing and added to this, the nausea
and bleeding at the ears and nose-all the
doctors advised people to stay away and
they were right, too.''
''Did you ever hear Of any one who died
from the trip?''
s'No: death has never occurred on
Pixies 2eak.''
''Well, if no one has been killed by the
excursion, We'll try itr'
So we went.
It was about two, p. u. when we set out,
ponies and people, with faces turned west.
ward. At sold Town. broken down
hamlet which drags out lingering existence
between Manitou and Colorado Springs we
branched off to the left and entered Bears
Creek Canyon. Bears-Creek Canyon SO far
bears out its name that veritable bear