Delta chief., 1883-08-08
ALPINE BEAUTY.
Mountain and Forest as Seen by an
Admirer of Nature.

-NSO'
To the Editor of THE CHEF
Thinking little coming from this altitude
might interest you, have crawled over
sheet of paper. / had enjoyed the genial
sun and skies of Delta so long that my first
impressions of Pitkin were decidedly "cool."
However, l submit to the uncomfortably cool
as very interestestly odd by contrast at least,
not keeping too far away from the morning
and evening fire.
Not single mine shall waste my ink. Ev.
cry paper in the State is chuck full of mines.
1t is mines, mines mines! nothing but mines!
Everyone wants his claims thoroughly devel-
oped on paper. Don't imagine that there is
any insinuntion against the mineral resources
of this section by refusing to itemize them.
The mineral belt between Pitkin and Tin Cup
is unequalled by any other group of claims
this side of the main range. Let this suffice
We will talk of streams and flowers, of peaks
and skies, which will grow in attractveness
to the end Of the long coming centuries, when
the votaries of nature, of wealth, the prvil-
eyed will make pilgrimage to these shrincs
of beauty long after the buuble trinkets, gold
and silver, will here become exhausted, or
will have lost their value as the essential basis
Of currench, in the more stable governments
of the future. Excuse this jump of anticipa-
tion and retrospection by which comparison
would be made with the icumpum of primitive
time.
A land for poets and artist exclaims the
Alpine tourist. The Alps may attract, but
it does not create. The scramble for existence
among its rocky crags does not explain the
absence of geniuses among its native inhab-
itants, for that sort Of scramble with very
slim existence diversified by thick spells of
=. -.
much genius. Nature, like the prophet has
no reputation at home. Does the eye, like
the hand, become calloused by repeated con-
tact, losing its sensitiveness to delicate i'm
aressions Is it thus the cowboy dashes over
hill and plain, nought escaping his inquisitive
glance, yet unseen are all the changing atti
tudes of valley and mountain, of plain and
sky? The eye, like the ear only makes pos
sible a vibration. What we hear and see is
measured by the mind alone. The tourist
draws by contrast the inspiration of new
scenes.
! had been down among the low valleys of
the Reservation so long that have caught
little of my tenderfoot enthusiasm, that once
prompted me to rise before daylight and climb
miles to view scene at sunrise. Now, this
letter has no regular theme. and-an incident
rises to the surface of very poor memory.
1t was at Rosita the first mining camp that
ever visited, in the beautiful fall of rs.
About three miles from town high hill of
the Greenhorn mountains commanded view
of the Spanish Peaks to the south, the Sangre
de Crsto range in the west, thence sweeping
onward until the scenes terminates in Pixies
Peak to the north, measuring two hundred
miles of majestic mountain range, which
capped by the flame of rising sun, was II
spectacle of imposing sublimity. One morn
ing the Scotch Presbyterian clergyman of
Canon City was at the breakfast table on my
return, and l thoroughly unbosomed myself,
presenting the grand experiences Of my early
walk. Next morning the clergyman sailed
forth to climb the commanding eminence. /
met him on the return too late for breakfast.
lie was nen-communicatiyc. but drew from
him 4 tired and languid assent "a faint yes) to
my proposition, at is sublimeW He was u
student of theology had read Jean Paul.
The very next morning after reaching Pit
kin walked up the steep hill to the north,
and back upon its summit, where pasture and
meadow, forest and grove were concealing
yet revealing, were hiding yet enhancing the
genial scene, where nature, the Universal
Pan, had wovenin elaborate munifcence the
recesses of forest and the meanders of parks.
Her handiwGk appears irregular. 1t is the
irregularity of intricate laws which we may
fail to comprehend, yet instinctively enjoy.
Here the quakingasp, pine, spruce and fir,
sparkling like new stamped coin, were beau
tiful in the fresh creations of mountain life.
Life of such intense beauty is costly. 1t is
many snowy month. Still loftier heights
attract us-up till the hardy spruce shrinks
back before the nexorable law hostile to its
existence. There nature unmasks herself in
the simplicity of naked grandeur. Through
the telescope air the shadows draw their pen
ellis upon continents crest, and forms, atti-
tudes and peaks crowd down the crystal sky
in one vast procession of beauty. The fra
gle flowers survives beyond the limit of tim
Der line. A species of Alpine flower, called
Edteweis, has carpeted the summit of Gold
Hill at an altitude of near 1900 feet. The
flower is only an inch high, but very conspic-
uous, displaying all the colors of the spec.
trum with brilliancy. Many flowers belong
ing to lower attitudes abound. They grow to
n very modest height, hugging the mountain
side.
Beings of day. Born but yesterday
Tomorrow they expire with all the blossom and
perfume of one great year.
w. l.. NJ.