Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1881-01-15
4 Hallway in the Rocky Mountains.

\ writer. describing the Denver and
fio GranGo railway from Coneios west
werd toward the San Juan country. gives
these picturesque bits:
For miles the railway curved among
the hills, keeping sight OF the plains
and catching frequent Glimpses of the
| village. Its lnnmcrahle winnings
along the brows OF the hills seemed, III
lhor" wantonness, as lOJh to abandon so
beautiful a region. Almost impercepti-
bly,, the foothills changed into mount
aims and the valleys decpened INTO.
canons, and winding around the point
OF one of the mountains it found itself
overlooking the picturesque valley or
canon of Los PinoS creek. Eastward
was the rounded summit OF the great
mountain Of San Antonio; over the
nearest height could he sern the top OF
Sierra Blanca. canopied with perpetual
clouds III front were castellated crags,
art-like monuments and stupendous
precipices. Having allured the railway
into their awful Businesses, the mount
aims seemed determined to battle its
further progress. But il wa> II strong
hearted railway. and, although a little
SIddy 1000 feet above tho stream, it
cuts its way through the crags and
! among the monuments and bears on
ward for miles up the valley. A pro-
lectinS point, too high ion cut and too
abrupt for a Curve, WAS overcome by n
tunnel. The track layers are now busy
at work laying down the steel rail st
point a few rlilcs beyond this tunnel.
The grade is nearly completed for many
miles further From the present end of
the track, for the next four or five mics
along the grade, the scenery Is msur.
passed by any railroad scenery IN North
America. Engineers, who have tray-
ersed every mile of mountain railroad i'll
the Union, assert that 1t Is the finest
they have seen. Perched on the dizzy
mountain side, at an altitude Of $500
feet above the sea--grcater than that of
Neta pass 900 feet above the valley,
with battlemented crags. rising 800 or
600 feet above, the beholder is enrapt-
lued with the view. At one point the
canon naIrows into al awful gorge, APP
parentlv but few yards wide, and near
ly 900 feet III depth, between almost
perpendicular walls of granite. Here q
high point of granite has to be tunneled,
and in this tunnel the rock men are at
work drilling and blasting to complete
the passage, which is now open to pedes-
TRANS. The frequent explosions of the
blasts echo and re-echo among the
mountains until they die away i'll the
distance. Looking down the valley from
the tunnel, the scene is one never to he
forgotten. The lofty precipices, the dis
tant heights, the fantastic monuments,
the contrast of the rugged crags and the
graceful curves of the silvery stream be-
meath them, the dark green pines inter-
spersed with poplar groves, bright yell
low i'll their autumn foliage, that crown
thcneighboring summits-height, depth,
distance and color-combine to consti-
tute landscape that is destined to he
painted by thousands of artists, repro
duced again and again byphotographers,
and to adorn the walls OF innumerable
parlors and galleries Of art. Beyond the
| tunnel for mile or more the scene is
even more picturesque, though of less
extent. The traveller looks down into
the gorge and sees he stream plunging
i'll succession Of snow-white cascades
through narrow cuts between the per-
pendicular rocks.