The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1882-08-26
Our Colorado Letter.
Special Correspondence.

SuI SO1OI c1StO ASILSA'
Special Correspondence.
CoLoRADo SPRINGS, Aug. 10, 1882.
The tourist in search of either health
or pleasure may proftably spend many
days, or even weeks, in the vicinity of
Colorado Springs. To the health-seeker
the air here is probably more exhilaratiug
and bracing than that of the higher alti |
tudes, or OF any other place in the State, |
except, possibly, Idaho Springs, about
one hundred miles further north. And
then the various points of interest near
here, some of which 1 mentioned in my
last letter, furnish ample sources of
amusement to the explorer. Then, too,
from whatever point you view them it is
impossible to avoid an ever recurring
feeling of admiration for the grandeur OF
the two lofty mountains always before
you-the majestic appearance of Pixies
Peak towering above the line of noun
tains around it, and the beautiful Chey-
enue, whose massive contour is so strik-
ing as to make you overlook the fact that
its height is several hundred feet les,
than Pixies. There is unity of concep-
ton in it unsurpassed by any mountain l
have ever seen, and you feel that it is full
of living power. pixies Peak or bust"
is as much the cry now as it was in the
early days, and all who feel equal to the
task invariably climb its rugged ascent
and then lay by few days for repairs.
In 1910 Coronado was sent into this
region by those old fellow-Spaniards who
were consumed with that fierce hunger
for gold which induced them to scour the
before the Pilgrim Fathers landed upon
Plymouth Rock he was perilously tIa-
versing the San Luis Park and, perhaps,
seeing the Wet Mountain Valley lying, as
it does to-day, green and fertile between
the two ranges But he went away dis
appointed after all. Then in 1906, when
Mr. jefferson was President, and Aaron
Burr was engaged in his reasonable con-
spiracy to foui d new empire west OF
the Alleghanies, Lieutenant Zebulon
Pike, an adventurous and persevering
officer of the army, was ordered to pro
ceed westward and explore the region be-
tween the Missouri River and the frontier
of Mexico, which then included consid
erable territory now belonging to the
United States. He left St. Louis on the
oath cfJune and camped in the foot-hill'
near this point on the 25th of November
To-day the same journey may be mad,
in less than sixty hours. aud the travele
need not go into camp upon arrival her
either, but may be assigned Il comfortabl
room by hotel clerk with eyeglasses
Pike saw the great peak on the 18th @
; November-just as travellers by rail no'
= see it when at least $50 miles distant.
= appeared, he said, like small blu
Il cloud" and on the 18th he marched q
y the usual hour, pushed with the idea {
" arriving at the mountains that night;bu
% found when night came no visable de
u ference in their appearance from yestel
o day" And on the 25th he again "marche
% early with the expectation of ascendin
d the mountain, but was only able to cam
a at its base" This recalls the old stori,
81 we have so often heard about the decel
tive distances in this clear atmospher
>" 1t is absolutely true that mountains twei
d. ty miles distant appear to be near enoue
- for a morning walk before breakias
" Probably the reader has heard about Il
u Englishman who wouldn't jump u thre
foot irrigating ditch because he "couldr
VI tell, by Joye, you know, that the blast'
s' thing wasn't three-quarters of a mi
o. wide" But to return to Pike He call,
III his discovered peak Mexican Mountai
II and left others to give it his name. Up,
ng the very top it, where cold winds bic
e~ and snow squalls occur at nearly all st
be sons of the year, a Government sigI
~ station is now maintained. the officers
nt' charge living there portion of the tin
w. 1t was the "old, old story" which turn
the tide of emigration in this direclic
~ People probably never wanted gold me
u than after the panic of 1857, and the
=. port of its finding here the followi
year caused such a stampede across
plains as never has been equaled, exec
in early California days. Events moy
-. rapidly, and in the winter Of l860-'6l
-, Territorial Legislature. numbering so
., twenty-five devoted patriots, met at vi
was then Colorado City, located j
81. - about where Pike. followed by Fremt
,iu in 1913 had each pitched their ten
l., The remains of this old Capital are s
= ,f to be seen less than two miles from
-, town of Colorado Springs, or about M
way between here and Mauitou. I
city" consists of four or five rou
than shanties. but now sadly delapidat
The old state house is still standing
~ some sea-iaring hulk left high aud
ii, on a deserted beach. Tradition sta
bs that it contained three rooms; in one
II j. members met, in another they sic
lon while in the third was that always nee
! ~ nf sary adjunct of a legislative body
uu- bar, Iu the course OF the proceedin
at the first session, believe, a mot
was made to transfer the seat Of gove
md ment to Denver then sprig OF a toy