The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-06-19
THROUGH THE GRAND CANON.
f, A stupondous Undertaking.

Royal Gorge, on the Denver and the
Rio Grande Railroad of Colorado, took
place on the 7th nit. 1t was the crown
of the most stupendous achievement in
railway engineering. The Grand Canon
of the Arkansas is now known to be
eleven miles in length, being the narrow
winding way of that river through a
converse palisade of granite rock, rising
in many places to the height of $500
feets This rock-bound river pathway
became known to the Spanish missiona.
ries as early as the year 1642. From
that time it was not known that any ami
NAL life had ever passed through it sue
cessfully until the summer of 1870. We
condense from the accounts in the Den
yer Tribune:
The long passenger train that accom-
panied Us through this mountain gorge
was preceded by number of open plat
form cars, securely guarded by balus-
trade of railing, and provided with COM
Portable seats. Here the passengers as
sembled, and, being either seated or
standing, silently gazed upon the gran.
-deur of the scene, above, around and
beneath them. AS the train wound
slowly into the entrance of this noun
tain gorge the whistle gave its widest
scream, which echoed through the wind
ings of this causeway, mingling its dis
tant, softer murmurs with the roar OF the
passing swift Arkansas. Immediately
upon entering the canon chilly sensa-
tion seemed to creep over each passenger,
while q yellowish hue appeared to impart
its coloring to surrounding objects. The
waters of the Arkansas at once became
confined to width of forty feet; which
it retains for tie distance of four miles.
At the end of this reach the Royal
Gorge commences Its granite palisade on
either side, rising out Of the river with a.
convex formation and towering to the
height of $500 feet. he wholooks upon
this scene and then upon Niagara's
height of 160 feet, will be inclined to
regard his view of the latter as tempo
.rary, shower made stream, to turn the
water-wheel of the school boy. Every
where through the Royal Gorge the
palisades on either side have narrowed
the pathway of the river to arwidth of
from sixteen tothirty feet. Many places
may be seen where a supple acrobat
could leap the roaring waters of the
river at single bound. Along the con-
vex palisade that forms the northern
boundary of the gorge, and about ten
feet above the boiling waters, the engi-
neer for miles has carved pathway for
the iron horse, where solitude has reign
ed for countless ages undisturbed by the
sound Of human art.
Another account says: On reaching
the canon the engine was placed in the
rear, so as to give q better view to the
tourists. The approach to the canon is
gradual. The distant hills draw nearer,
and the Valley of the Arkansas becomes
narrower and narrower until the river is
shut in closely on both sides by high
mountains, slopipg gently away, and
covered with verdure. Then the slope
of the mountains become more perpen-
dicular, and the hills become higher,
until suddenly the river is completely
shut in by mountains with mighty tops.
The roar and rattle of the train grows
louder, and echoes up and down. The
train is fairly in the canon. 1t moves
slowly. The mountain walls are of
dizzy height, and so close together that,
looking ahead, they appear simply to
form crevice-a huge, awful, crooked
crevice-through which the miserable
little train was .timidly crawling. The
curves of the canon are superb. They
constitute the finishing touch to its gran
deur, and fill the mind with fuller
appreciation of this great miracle of ma
tHre. But the Royal Gorgel Imagine
two almost perfectly perpendicular walls
rising to o height Of $500 feet, and only
thirty feet apart, those walls presenting
jagged and irregular masses of rock that
on the railroad side hang over the train,
all. creviced and ready to fall in thou
sands of tons. The road-bed is cut out
of the solid rock, and masses Of this
hang over it, stretching out a hundred
feet. One cannot look to the top Of this
wall on account of these projecting,
irregular bluffs; but the height TO the
top, even as measured by the eye, dis
turbs the faculties and brings on vertigo.
The cooped-up Arkansas rushes madly
by, q narrow thread, made still more Sc
by the rocks thrown into it. There is
no. room to step from the train without
pitching into the river. Not word is
uttered. The engineer whistles occa-
sionally, and timid folks look for the
rocks to fall. 1t is really strain on
the mind to take it in, and this can only
be feebly done on single trip. Two
Thousand feet above you are the tops of
the mountain walls. You are imprisoned
in crack thirty feet wide, and are par
TALLY under one mountain wall. You
can see on the opposite side the grada-
tions of the .yerdure, rich below, i'm
poverished above. And the curves be-
come more awful as you look ahead or
back. For forty-fve minutes the tour
lists enjoyed this sight. The train
stopped at the construction bridge, near
the end of the gorge. Salutes were fred,
ten or fifteen minutes halt was made,
and the engine started the train for
Canon City. There was no sun in the
gorge, but it slanted down the opposite
mountain wall as the party returned
through the canon, increasing the sur
passing beauty of the scene. The canon
is eleven miles in length, and the gorge
mile and half. The tourists had seen
it all-seen the greatest natural wonder
of the West, and the first train of pas
sengers had passed through the gorge.
It will be impossible to build another
road through the gorge. Until this point
is reached the ether side of the river has
the advantage, being easier to build over.
But the only way to continue road be-
yond the opening of the gorge would be
to bridge the Arkansas and run over the
track Of the Sante Fe. This is the only
escape. In cutting the road-bed in the
gorge the workmen would be high up on
the mountain wall and blast down to the
level of the road. In this way masses of
rock hundred yards wide have been
split from the mountain. In that mar
row crevice it was difficult to dispose OF
this material. Some was used for the
road-bed, and the rest of necessity was
thrown into the Arkansas. This made
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