The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-09-08
Over Veta Pass---Twelye Thousand Feet
Above the Sea.
From our Western Correspondent-l
DURANGO, Aug, 1881

DURANGO, Aug, 1881
To the Editor of the EsTxRPzIsx.
Seated in a reclining chair in one of
the elegant coaches of the Denver & Rio
Grande railroad, your correspondent t
In company with one-hundred and fifty
s-officers of the State and
different municipalities, left the splen-
did Union Depot at Denver to take part
in the celebration of the opening Of the
D. & r. G.. railroad to Durango, four
hundred and fifty miles distant in La
Plata Co., southwestern Colorado.
At Colorado Springs, Pueblo and other
stations, large numbers Joined the
ranks of the excursionists. Passing
Pueblo we sped in Southerly direction
until we reached the Sangre De Christie
range of mountains. Threading along
we pass up a winding valley rich in
varied scenery by very heavy grade,
which would have been deemed impass-
ible a few years ago. But skyward
creeps our train, two ponderous en-
gines putting and groaning as we wind
around Dump Mountain, steaming
over bridges spanning fearful and
ghastly chasms ground out ages ago in
the glacial period. The timid falter
and turn pale at sight of the awful
depths over and along which we glide
on the shining steel track. The engi-
neer stands with hand on the throttle
ready to set the air brakes at the first
unusual jar of the train. Adown the
gulches in the mountains dash, here and
there, silvery streams that find their
way into the river below. At length
we reach Inspiration Point. There, in
this cool and electrical atmosphere, we
saw the bright sun of morning kissing
the dew-drops from lofty mountain
crests still high above us, and nesting
below lay the valley in the hush of
breaking twilight, and far away in
New Mexico the crests of the Spanish
Peaks were baptized with a halo of glo-
rious sunlight. The memory of the
scene will be undying. Words cannot
describe Veta Pass, nor can the brush
VI IuC Ii5b III ducCIIDC IL W LuO UNIV oos
From this on the railway passes TIN ough
the San Luis Park, giving view on
the right of the Sierra Blanca noun
tains. We pass through Alamosa on
the west bank Of Rio Grsnde, and look
out on park or plain, extending many
miles in every direction. Antonio is
soon reached, a town noted for its GIN
mills, and as resort for roughs and bri-
gands, a place where men do not die,
but painfully often depart with their
"poots on" The lynching few days
since of O'Connor, a Justice of the
Peace who was in with all the murder
ers, is an encouraging symptom, an
avant courier of better civilization.
tonito we reach the deep. valley of the
Los Pinos. The track follows along
the brow of the hills in a snake-like
course, sometimes doubling back upon
itself with an astonishing grade of two
hundred and eighteen feet to the
curve and scores of monumental rocks
in all sorts of fantastic form lifting
their heads into ether.
Ere this railraod track was laid man
could not ride over these mountain
fortresses, or wild goat scale these diz-
Zy heights. The scene for ten miles
through the Toltic Gorge has no equal
in the old or new world. As we swept
OH around and through these noun
tain crests, the moon rode high in the
heavens with no cloud to cast a shadow
upon the brow of peaks, or crags. or
upon the shining waters of the Los Pin
os, FURNISHED like silver ribbon, l 500
feet below us adown in the tortuous
valley. Soon we reached an overhang-
ing crest of rock and the train darts into
tunnel cut 600 feet through solid
granite rock. Emerging, the train is
stopped upon bridge built into the
rocks and the passengers, with bated
breath and awestruck with the granduer
the scene, creep up the great rocks and
peer into che awful chasm below, the
cliffs of rocks on the opposite side ris-
ing heavenward 2,1O0 feet. A pistol
shot fired by a fellow Bohemian, echo
ed and re-echoed from side to side of
this awful gorge, and q rock rolled
over the precipice went threshing and
laundering from depth to depth until
the sound was lost in the silence of the
vast abyss, For miles as we swept on
the moon painted pictures the widest
and wierdest, on cliffs, chasms and
mountains. The scenery along the
Toltic Gorge eclipses that of Niagara,
and the engineering skill that in spite
of such obstacles has thrown a COM
mercial pathway over, through and
along this mountain gorge, at an eleva-
ton of II 900 feet, demands the high
est rank among the grandest accom-
plishments OF this conquering age.
Our journey westward carried us into
New Mexico as was apparent by the
Adobe homes of the 'sGreasers'' here
and there seen among the dense pine
forests that cover the valley of the Rio
Chama. Here are seen vast stretches of
land Covered with O wealth of grasses
| sufficient to feed millions of cattle,
while now but an occasional herd are
seen. This section is one of the most
| inviting to ranchmen and the opening
| of the Denver and Rio Grand will
| transform the whole region into a
most prosperous grazing region. AT
Amargo, in New Mexico, a new exper-
fence broke upon our startled vision,
cloud not larger than a mans hand lay
hugging the mountain at our right,
just as the train swept into the town,
composed Of a dozen shanties, with
cemetery where thirteen were planted
in three months, ten Of whom had gone
off with their shoots on" Muttering
| thunder and the roar of the wind
was heard in the near distance which
was followed by Iushsng waters COM
ing down the mountain side picking up
in its mad rage, ties, timbers, boxes and
every thing that came in its way, until
the track and plain as far as the eye
could reach was u vast sea of raging
waters. This is genuine water spout
of the mountains, and for fifty miles
wash-outs doomed no to spend three
days on the shortest kind of rations.
We all learned the value of hard tack,
and became expert in preparing and