Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1881-01-19
him. He seemed steady sort of chap,

/
account the passen gers did not take K
him. We tried now and then to estab
lish social relations with him, but w
succeeded in getting only surly respon
ses. He seemed to wish to be let alone
and finally he got his wish, for all of u.
ceased to pay him any attention. On.
thing about him pleased me, and thai
was that, when he was asked to take
some whisky by one of the passengers
he CURLY refused it.
All the early morning of the second
day we had climbed toward the summit
of the pass. It was long, slow anc
tedious ascent, and although of the most
difficult character, and in places of the
most dangerous kind, it is not worth de.
scribing in detail for the reason that
what soon after occurred obiterated il
from remembrance. We had no reason
for being dissatisfied with the driver.
At the bad places he had seemed to be
cool, and had taken us over without any
difficulty.
It was still early in the morning when
we reached the summit and began the
descent on the further side. It was bad
from the word $50" The pass was
scarcely pass in any true sense of the
term. It was simply a sort of hollow
which cut across the ridge, and which
was rugged shallow gulch Of the mean
est kind. It was about the same as il
We were crossing the very top of the gil
gantic range for we were in fact at an
elevation of many thousands of feet
above the level of the sea.
cI, ~f h. 1>o ~ la
the mountain. Above us on our left,
rose a vast rugged peak, enveloped in
snow, and which stood out in the clear
atmosphere above, clean cut, massive,
and glittering with respondent opal
escence. Below lis the mountains were
submerged in clord-formed ocean. It
extended to the further horizon, present
ing surface as level as floor, and
which seemed of a solidity that was i'm
penetrable.
AS we entered it, it gave way before
us, receding a little Oh every side, until
it seemed as if we were descending an
enormous well. Through the walls of
this clould-shaft we could see distorted
objects; pines assumed fantastic shapes,
the fragments OF fallen rocks became
hideous animals ready to spring on US
from out the void. The composition of
the ocean was something wonderful. It
was of two colors of hues-a feecy
white and blne. The two were not in
termingled except in masses; stratum
of the one by itself, and then this was
overlaid by the other. They were like
fasciB of blue and white, first one in one
color, and then one in the other; each
exhibiting suburb striation.
AS we descended, the character of the
road began to change. At first, as I
have said, the trail was along o simple
depression across the ridge. This de-
preston, after little, deepened rapidly,
and became tortuous, impossible "a
vine. For time the road followed the
hollow, but as the latter dropped away
it was impossible to follow it. At this
point the track began to hug the side of
the mountain on the left, and the route
then began to be one which was any
thing but a pleasant one.
Two miles from the place where we
commenced to descend the ravine on our
right had SO deepened that its bottom
was lost in the clouds below. We were
descending along a narrow trail which
had been blasted out Oh the side of the
and which was but just wide
enough for the wheels of the coach.
And now, III moment, the cloud masses
rolled up and away, as if they had been
something in the nature Of great cur
tain. In second, as it we're, there was
a Transformation more wonderful than
any which has come from the incanta-
tons OF an omnipotent sorcery.
We were between two vast masses, or
what seemed like two parallel mountain
ranges, separated by a fathomless and
narrow rift. Far down in the narrow
abyss which separated the parallel
ranges we were moving. I glanced up.
1t was like looking out from deep slit
in the earth. On both sides, to the
right and the left, the two walls rose to
the very zenith. l looked to the right
aud down, and although I am fair
era gsman, l withdrew my eyes with a
dizzy feeling of horror. It was on the
very edge of a precipice along which we
we moved. So close to its brink were
we, that, from the projecting seat which
occupied on the right side of the vehi-
Gle, it seemed as if the abyss opened d.
rectly beneath me. In the mOmentary
glance which l had I caught glimpses of
pine SO far below that they seemed to be
mere pot plants strewn along the sides
and bottom of the chasm.
On the road there was wash from
The side of the mountain to the left, and
with it had some fragments of rocks.
Now the wheels of the coach sank into
The soft wash, or again rolled over
piece of rock, with the consequence that
The coach pitched and rolled like
cookie shell on stormy waters! When
there was lurch toward the ravine, it
seemed as if the vehicle was about to
overturn into the abyss, and for brief
lime I would feel as if was suspended
oy nothing over infinite depths.
Not sound was heard save the
lueruloul creaking of the leather hinges
md springs of the coach, and the dull
grating OF the brakes on the wheels.
Even, the brakes, so fastened that the
1lnd wheels no longer revolved, were
not sufficient; held by grasp Of iron,
the two powerful wheel-horses were al
most on their launches, and were tug
3ing at the pole-straps, until they were
apparently about to be carried from
heir feet. glanced along the road in
OUR front with the hope that there
night be visible some termination of the
appalling situation.
At the moment when, as it were, at
empted to interrogate the future, I saw
hat we had entered on comparatively
straight line of road. It appeared to
hus continue far along in direct line
I'LL it was cut off, mile away, by vast
'pur that jutted out from the side of the
mountain. Here it seemed, as I looked
rom the top Of the coach, that the
road came to an end. We were de-
'cending at an angle of not less than 80
degrees, and at each step I anticipated
that the horses would be carried from
heir feet by the tremendous pressure
If the coach. The wheels at one moment
would sink into the soft wash, and the
next would strike boulder, se1ding the
coach now against the rocks of the wall
to the left, then over to the right, till
me abyss yawned directly beneath me
like the ravenous jaws of hell.
We had made perhaps quarter of
milo afpo<oI 1oforo ~, .r1>ax,