The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-08-15

You IAN gel almost any climate you want
In Colorado. For instance, Denver has Q
,olimatso Of itA own, Rpletty warm = TOO,
and LeRdyille has its peculiar climate
Denver is about 5000 feet above sea level,
Sbila, Lesdyille 10 over 10 600 feet, The
ann shines hot in both places from
O'Clock in the morning at this Of year
until sun down, The weather can get hot
and c1ol quicker in Leadvilla than any
plnce | ever saw, There is however no
deafness in the heat, They tell me thst
sun strokes are unknown. 1t rains once
or twice nearly every day at this season.
After September the rain Is over Tor sb1nt
nine months, They get snow the balance
Of the time. Last winter the Thermometer
ranged from l0e to 4Oe below zero, The cold
while intense ia quite as beaTahle as the
real winter weather of the Ohio Valley,
because il ia dry cold. Cattle stand 1t in
the valleys OF Colorado out Of doors, be-
cause the SNOW does not melt on them,
but falls of for lack Of cohesive moisture.
" ork goes on all over the State during
winter, The temperature OF the mines
remains about the same summer and win
ter. The railToads 60 up aud down the
mountains the year through. They use
immense snow plows, and also pIoteci
their tracks from drills at exposed points
by snow fences. You would be a%stOnish'
ed to zee the power Of one Of these large
thirty Eve tom narrow gauge locomotives
They walk up The mountains like thiTg
OF life. They suffer more from drifts IN
the plateaus or pStks Of the mountains
than on the slopes, l noticed the increase
in snow fences after we got into South
Park going over to LeRdyille from Denver.
"see Naples and die" had almoSl
applied this quotation TO South Park, In
some IeBpecla 1t presents the most en-
chanting scene | have met 10 O0lOtRdo
Imsgine q lawn fifty mileH long and fifteen
TO twenty miles wide at m attitude OF 10,
600 feet, begirt on every side by snow
peaked mountains, You can see u oil ~
once, and YOU can see the railroad cOufs'
ling through II for forty miles. You can
see herds OF Csttls miles apart, and ranch
houses, and occasionally q group oil trees
The air is 80 thin end clear and 90 illumi
mated by the hot sun that you can sec
distinctly q wonderful distance. ! said TO
myself that the "HRppy Valley" OF RH?Ol
las never presented such an inspiring
scene az this. My advice to q travellers
il to 20 10 Leadville by the Sluth Park
road and return by tbs "Toyal gorge" Of
the Rio Grsnds route. There 10 but oDt
"Toyal gorge" even in this State Of grand
canons. II Is the gorge where the cart
cross the Arkansas river on q hanging
bridge 900 iCet below tho top OF lht
canon, the walls OF which are as pTeCipi
tnus 90 the side Of Q house. Hs'pert
Ferry fades into n%olhiDgpeEs c0mpafed
with 1t, / sat out on the end Of the sleeper
10 see II by. moolight. The moon casts y
very taper like ray into that gorge exCepl
when II Is entirely full and at an exaC.
zenith.
The Rio Grande route is longer by 100
miles from Denver 10 LeAdvilIe than thu
SOu'h Park road, but the fare Ia the SAINT
SIS. II calls ikelf "lhe scenic road Of
America" and II 10. From Lesdville r.
Pueblo 1t comes down the mountains 1853
miles by winding curves and all sorts u
horse shoe bends to Pueblo, and from
Pueblo 1t skirts the eastern baPe OF the
Rockies all the wNy to Denver, l20 miller.
The trains fairly fly along some portions Of
the route. They have the COsiest little
sleepers you ever sRw on this line, The
berths are however Just a little too narrow
for two persons.
You see that this letter Is dated at ROl.
linsville. Rollinsvllls is q spot In the
Rocky mountains unknown to fame, 8 900
feet above The sea, fourteen miles from
Central City, and is reached by 4 stSge
line from the latter place, BY the way,
Central City 10 the most peculiarly situated
city you ever saw, 1t is the western ter
minus Of the Colorado Central narrow
gauge road, distant iorty.two miles from
Denver. II 10 q terrsCed kind OF q place,
and the site Ia dug out Of the mountain
side. The cars get up to It by a series nj
lifts, or more properly speaking Y's.
You commence the zig gag at the
suburb OF Black Hawk, one and a half
miles below Central, and tack forward and
back alongth The mountain side for five miles,
until you reach a dizzy sort oil all attitude
above the suburb. This Lripgs you to
Central city, place Of three thousand 10.
habitants. Central Is the county seat Of
Gilpin county, III Of the richest miner.
al counties OF the State, end one
OF the first settled. II boasts some
excellent gold plaCers and good mine8
/ enjoyed the ride over here across
the range In an open spring wagon very
much. l passed ON the way the Black
Diamond mine, owned and worked by
two old hsrmiIs, one Of them named
Barnes, from Barnesville, Ohio, who live
in q cabin near the mine, and do their
own cooking, washing and mendinR They
sufier M body TO 90 into their mine, EN-
ploy nc laboTefa, work whom they please,
get out several hundred dollars worth OF
ore occasionally and with the proceeds
grub stake" themselves for an indefinite
period, aud thus they pass their lives.
RolltnSville Is q beautiful vale 10 the
mountains not unlike that at the foot Of
RobiusOn's hill In Brooks county, on the
road from Wellsbnrg to Bethany. And by
q happy coincidence there are several
Bethany people sojourniUg here at this
time, part Of the family OF Mr.. James A.
Campbell, one Of them Mrs. sallie Barrett,
vile II Mr.. Geo. Barrett, who represents
the interests OF q large New York mining
company here. Thsts Ia a creek almost
corresponding 10 Buffalo creek, we'll
stocked with trout, and here l have tBken
my first lessons In the mysteries OF trout
tishing under the auspices Of Rev. Geo.
Darsie, an oId.time Bethany student, now
oil Frankfort, KY, with encouraging sue.
Gees.
Speaking Of reverend gentlemen leads
me to remark upon the apparent state oil
religion In this country. There is some.
thing about the air or the mountains or
something else that works changs in the
Nntward forms and general Manifestations
Of piety In this far western region. For ID.
stance, Sunday in Colorado aud Sunday IL
the Panhandle Of West Virginia is a dii.
f9ient sort u dAy altogether. Not that The
people are worse 10 their morals, so
lar as l can discern, but that Tor SONS
cause the iotms aud restraints that oh
tain 10 the east do not obtain here. Re.
spectacle people fSh and shoot here on
Sunday. They carry on mining operations
on Sunday. 10 the towns you can buy
anything you want on Sunday. 10 Lead.
vile one.thitd to one hall oil the business
houseB are open on that day. The rail
roads advertise fishing excursions. The