The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-11-20
Letter from Colorado-No. 2.


ASCENT OF Pixies PEAK-THE SIGNAL
STATION AND THE MEN WHO INHABIT
i THERE-THE ROMANCE OF ERIN o'KEEF
AN oBLIGING CATECHISNI.
Special Correspondence of VIRGIN1AN.
/ The views are more ard more beautiful
near the summit. As we looked off at one
point we seemed to gaze upon boundless
purple ocean, whose waves dashed upon
rocky beach in crests Of white foam. But
the purple sea and whitened waves were
both Of cloud-land. AT a patch of snow we
dismounted and began snowballing in the
month of August. Looking down from the
snow drift, rocky buttresses formed long
aisles below us, and their projections were
duplicated in shadows which swept over the
| valleys. The depths Of this unroofed cathe
dral were dark-an unfathomed crater OF
desoiation. Beyond it the hills parted right
and left. and there lay Colorado Springs.
Suuart like chessboard dotted with bupchy
cotton woods-a few of the large buildings
on Cascade Avenue, and thread OF road
from the depot-these were all that the
cloutling atmosphere permitted us to see OF
the dear little town. Still beyond,t the faint,
far reaches of the plains were more than
ever oceall-like for they upbore snowy cloud
| sails.
| The stone for the Signal Service Station
was taken from the already squared masses
heaped on the mountain; and the reddish
building is scarcely visible, save by its su-
perior elevation. The walls are two and
half feet Thick; doors and windows narrow;
about it broods oppressive silence, only
broken by the creaking OF the weather-vanes.
We dismounted, and presumiIg that the
ponies would not care to run very far, left
them to their own DEVICES. Pedestrian ex-
ercise on Pixies Peak necessitates stepping
from one huge rock to another, inclined at
all sorts of irregular planes. How one longs
for but square yard Of mother earth where
on to plant the weary feet! We stepped to
the station door, inhospitably closed, and
read the pasquinades scrawled upon it. The
first was
mo, we are never lonesome Under this
some interrogation bad written "What,
never?, and a third hand had, Of course,
followed suit with: swell, hardly ever"
Next in order came, Eyes, we ali smoke"
'sWe wish to inform the Baptist minister in
Colorado Springs (who it an ultra-temper-
ance advocate) ''that We all drink" I'VE
understand the Pinafore j,kes.'' "Charlie
Ross is not up here" Cramps will please
90 round to the back door,"
| This looked unpromising, 40 we turned
away, and after much clambering up and
down the rocks we reached the grave OF
Erin O'Keef, which was provokingly near
us all the time. Not a siegle member OF
our party OF eight was nnpleasantly affected
by the altitude, save that we experienced
shortness of breath, which might have been
felt by anyone anywhere who was condemned
to promenade over such rocks
Erin O'Keef's grave is slab Of wood
painted white, which crowned a tumulus of
rocks. 1t bears the following inscription
Fair Cynthia with her starry train,
Shall miss then in thy silent rest
And watt one sweet one sperie Query, spheric;)
To Erin dear, among the blest.
Erected by
Sergeant John and Norah O'Keef
10 the memory of their infant daughter,
ERIN O'KEEF,
who was destroyed by mountain rats.
May 25th, A. d. 1857
A few clusters of an ''alpine flower
grow at the foot of the slab, and We gather
ed them as a souvenir of the unfortunate
Erin. They were lilac. and each fragile bell
was enshrouded in a silver grey calyx, wool
ly and soft as silk. a veritable overcoat
Erin O'Keef' is the phantasm Of the sole
joke which the imagination Of man has been
able to evoke, from that dreary solitude. 1t
is about two years since the following para
graph appeared IN q number of newsp apers,
and was read with thrill of excitement:
1.-The vast number of rats inhabiting the
rocky crevices and cavernous passages at the
summit of Pixies Peak, Colorado, have re-
Gently become formidable and dangerous
These animals are known to feed upon a
saccharne gum that percolates through the
pores of the rocks, apparently upheaved by
that volcanic action which at irregular inter-
walls of few days gives to the mountain
crest that vibratory motion which has been
detected by the instruments used in
the office of the United States Sig
nal Station. Since the establishment of
the Government Signal Station on the
summit Of the Peak, at an altitude of nearly
$4,000, these animals have acquired a vora-
Co. nd
the scent of which seems to impair; to them
a ferocity rivaling the starved Siberian wolf.
The most singular trait in the character of
these animals is that they are never seen in
the day time. When the moon pours down
her queenly light upon the summit, they
may be seen in countless numbers, hopping
around among the rocky boulders that crown
this barren waste, and during the warm
summer months they may be seen swim
ming and sporting in the waters of the lake
a short distance below the crest OF the Peak,
and of dark cloudy night their trail in tine
water exhibits a glowing, sparkling light,
giving to the waters of the lake Pickering,
silvery appearance. A few days since, Mr..
John O:Keef, one of the government op-
orators at the signal station, returned to his
post from Colorado Springs. taking with
him quarter of beef. 1t being late in the
afternoon, his colleague, Mr.. Hobbs, imme-
dately left with the pack animal for the
Springs. Soon after dark, while Mr.. O'Keef
was engaged in the office. forwarding night
dispatches to Washington, he was startled
by loud scream from Mrs. O'Keef, who had
retired for the night in an adjoining bed
room and who came rushing into the office,
screaming, .'The rats the rats p Mr..
OKeef, with great presence of mind, imme-
diately girdled his wife with scroll of zinc
plating, such as had been used in roofing the
station, which prevented the animals from
climbing upon her person, and although his
own person was almost literally covered
with them,h succeeded in encasing his legs
each in joint OF stove pipe, when he com-
menced fierce and desperate struggle for
his life with heavy war club preserved at
| tho station among other Indian relics can.