The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-09-29
Letter from Colorado.

TENNIAL STATE-CoLORADO SPRINGS-ITs
PARKS AND BUnDINGs-PRoHIBITlo ON AND
ITS EFFECTs-THE DENVER & RIO GRANDE
R.. r., &C. sc.
Especial correspondence of the VIRGINIAN.]
Prompted by inclination, and in accordance
with your request, | am going TO give you an
occasional letter from the Centennial State.
A man must reside in the West to understand
its throbbing life. Geography fails to keep
pace with the progress of the country, and
the census statistics are vaueless, as authority,
a few months after publication. ! write to-
day from one of the most remarkable towns |
upon the American continent. Ten years ago |
an incorporated company purchased portion |
OF the high plateau situated seventy-tive |
miles south of Denver, and lying at the inn |
mediate base of the Rocky Mountains
They proceeded to lay off streets and ave-
nues, and to divide the land into ornamental |
squares and building lots. The most tempting
offers were made to induce respectable class |
OF persons to locate within the corporate
limits, and were accepted with a readiness
which must have surpassed the most sanguine
expectations of the projectors OF the scheme.
10 the foresight and energy of the gentlemen
who undertook this work, Colorado Springs |
to-day bears gratifying testimony. 1t is now |
a city of five thousand inhabitants; adorned |
by costly public buildings and beautiful pri |
vate residences, and provided with all the
comforts and luXures known to the East. A
large stream of pure mountain water is brought |
from the snow clad summit of Pixies Peak,
and furnishes a never failing supply to the
clear brooks which flows through every |
thoroughfare. There are two OF these beauti |
full little streams in each street, and four in |
every avenue, and while adding much to the
health and comfort OF the populace they give |
an indescribable charm to the place. The shade |
frnD xx,l,s IL. ,>l,, L.
throughout the city ,.are kept healthy and Wig |
orous by this constant irrigation, and the grass
plots, which ornament the lawns of private
residences, are ever green and luXuriant. The
avenues are broad and perfectly level and con-
stitute the best drives l have ever seen.
Many of the private residences are monu-
ments of architectural skill and beauty, and
some ere erected at an immense cost. The
public school and the Opera House are the
most noticeable buildings, and would attract
attention anywhere There are several church
es, a Young Mems Christian Association, nu-
merous lodges of secret organizations, and an
elegant social club. Three large hotels at
tempt to accommodate the transient popula-
ton, and fourth is in course OF erection at
an outlay of one hundred and twenty-five
thousand dollars. Heidic coaches, similar to
those used in Washington, are shortly to be
placed upon the main avenues. The reservoir
which supplies the city with water is situated
at sufficient elevation to force q jet from a
common hose two hundred feet into the air,
thus insuring ample protection from fire. Gas
has recently been introduced, and is proving
profitable venture. The press is represented
by two excellent dailies, one published in the
morning. the other in the afternoon; and two
weeklies, one of which is distributed gratis,
the owner relying upon advertisements for his
profit. Temperance principles are enforced
here in novel and effective manner. The
company refuses to sell any land unless the
deed contains covenant by which the pur-
chaser agrees to forfeit his property if any alco
holic drink is sold upon the premises. 1t re-
quires the sworn certificate of physician to
obtain liquor from drug store. IhaVe never
been an advocate of total abstinence, but it
has certainly worked marvelously well in this
community. L haven't seen an intoxicated
man during my residence here, and there
hasn't been a commitment to Jail for dsor
derby conduct during the past five months.
The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, one
OF the richest and most powerful corporations
west of the Mississippi river, has located its
chief offices here, and employs constantly a
hundred and twenty clerks. | have been in
formed, upon reliable authority, that this COM
pany has twenty-three thousand men upon its
rolls, constituting an army considerably larger
than that of the United States. The progress
i've energy displayed in the construction of
this great thoroughfare evidences. in brilliant
manner, the combined power of wealth and
wisdom. 1t has conquered difficulties which
few years ago were deemed insurmountable,
and to-day traverses hundreds of miles of
previously inaccessible mountains 1t is
marvel of engineering skill, rivalling the ia
NOUS load over the Andes, or the Bremen
Pass of the Alps. A glance at the map will
show what l am attempting to explain, and
will illustrate the fact that a few short years
have Sufficed to omen IN the remote Businesses
OF the Rocky Mountains to the miner, the
tourist and the invalid, and disclose, for the
first time, their hidden wealth and beauty to
the appreciative gaze of the Anglo Saxon
race. The road starts in a straight line from
Denver, passing Colorado Springs southwark
to Pueblo, then it makes sudden detour to
the right, following the Arkansas river, and
passing through the wonderful Royal Gorge,
over TWO Thousand feet deep, where the sky
looks like narrow strip of blue ribbon over
your head follows the course of the river TO
Leadville and beyond.
In constructing the road through this grand
course OF the Arkansas, men, tools, mules and
carts were let down over the precpices by
ropes, and received their food, like certain
Biblical character of old, from above, and
there they remained until they cut their way
through the solid granite to the outer world.
In many places rockmen hung suspended in
mid air while they drilled holes for blasts that
were to open the way for civilization. In the
TOllic Gorge the train runs along the face of
cliff twenty one hundred feet in height, and
at the most critical point it is supported by
balcony of trestle work which projects from
the preclpice eleven hundred feet above the
stream which dashes with impotent fury into
the abyss below.
From Pueblo the road continues its south
ern course to Chuchora, still in Colorado,
whence it DIVORCES in a southwestery direc-
HQrpi ha of i'm
the Songre Del Cristo Range more than ten
thousand feet above the sea, the first road IN
the United States to attain such an elevation.
In crossing the mountain here, the road as
cends too hundred and segenteen feet per mile,
making the curves upon the shortest radius
known to engineering skill. AT Antonito,
near the boundary line of New Mexico, there
is another detour to the westward ON through
the San Juan country and mines to SilvertOn,
and perhaps further. tor it is almost impossi-
BILE to keep trace of its development. Then
from Antonito southwark to Santa Fe, and
ultimately to old Mexico. Thirteen miles from
Leadville the road crosses the summit of the
Range, at Fremont Pass, an altitude of II $40
feet, height only equaled by one other on
the globe | am not lauding past achieve
ment; the active process still goes on. Even
as l WRITE mountains are being scaled, abysses
spanned, and the red granite grappled with
hooks of steel and ere this reaches you, thirty
miles will have been added to the length of
the Rio Gfande Road. The energy and per-
severance displayed in this western country is
marvellous, and while | do not believe the
natural resources of this State comparable
to those of Virginia, still the enthusiasm dis
played by its inhabitants, and the earnest zeal
manifested to utilize advantages possessed,
more than compensate tor certain geological
deficiencies.
find great interest manifested throughout
the west in regard to the present political
campaign in Virginia. and many eyes are now
turned with more than curiosity upon the
Old Dominion. | may write you from other
States and Territories, as my stay in the west
will probably be of considerable duration.
A. G.. S.
Colorado Springs, Sept 18th, 81.
An Impartial Opinion.