The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-07-15

river, which is here furi JUS food,
confined in narrow channel, not
twenty feet wide in places, fOams
and frets, madly flashing the rock s,
dashing from side to size and stone
to stone, falling over heights and
dancing in the air, for miles and
miles seething, bubbling, foaming
mad, but maste ED river. When
nature fashioned this canyon she
had no thought of railroads and only
the most courageous engineers
would have dared to. undertake over
coming the obstacles and oppoSi-
tons that were here presented. at
few points is there room between
the lodges for the river itself, aud q
place had to be created for the road.
Sometimes we oyerhang the water,
and again are running on d shelf
that has been heWn from the white
rock, the frOwning hills on either side
beinga few degrees from perpendic-
ular. The grade is heavy, and the
curves so sharp as to he almost alb
rupt. Wonder if they will ever get
to running trains OF cars around
right angled corners Everything
in the canyon seems recklessly fu-
rlous, from The Handicapped noun.
tains of rock, and the foam-and-
spray covered river, to the train it
self, which winds in and out of
hooks and gullies, rounds a pro-
truding foot, cuts Off iutting spur,
swings over the swift current be-
low, the two locomotives breathing
and screaming defiance TO Natures
threatening aspect about them. If
the fire, the other night, did not de-
stroy friend Savage's photographs
of the Black Canyon, one may OBJ
tain from them a better idea Of the
massiVeness and grandeur and glory
of the gorge, than from columns of
most graphic description.
One Of the most interesting
portions of the line is the
crossing of the Rocky Mountains
by Marshall Pass, less on account of
the scenery than of the engineering
skill displayed. l do not remember
how far 1t is from the base of the
mountain to the summit, but the
train travels thing like twenty
miles in reaching the top. The
ascent is achieved, not by means OF
those abominably tiresome acute
angles in railroad engineering
known as sWitch-backs, but by a
succession of curves and Greetings OF
hills and mountains. The famous
'horse-shoe" curve in the Alleg-
hanies, is but trick and toy as
compared with the twists and turns
here made. There are horse, shoes,
mule shoes" and even "cOlt-shoes'
innumerable, the passenger being
able at one place to see the track al
three points below him. In an hour
we are more than 10000 feet above
the level Of the sea, not quite to thG
stars but among and above the
clouds. The descent is less difficult
and abrupt, and at the foot of the
mountain we come into one of those
charming little valleys. fertile anC
fruitful, that are found scattered
through the west, and are so delight
full and inviting to the traveller
whether by rail or the siow-goint
oX-team.
After dinner at SRlida: the initia
point of the Leadville branch road
We move down the Arkansas River
the little valley gradually mar
rowing, The mountain ranges ap
preaching, until within an houl
the vale has departed, and thu
mountains have come face Il
face. almost hugging each
other, squeezing and pinching th'
mighty river with narrow, rOcl
bound channels mere crevice be-
tween the froWning, threatening anC
most vicious looking mountains OF
the continent. The river gals ani
chafes to be free, surging and rear
ing, and bowling its frothy protest
against the stern, unyielding walls
of It's prison, and in frenzy o
rage and fury, fleeing down tn,
gully as wildly anxious to eseap
the tolls into which it had been lee
and find time and room for breath
ing. The Black canyon Of the Gun
n1oOA 10 SIdl1Oy SIOOh1J 1AO III D4L
ding; the Crane canyon of the Al
kansas is majestic, brazen and de
| fiant. 1t toys with floods and is III
disturbed by torrents; in its pres
enee, man painfully feels hi
insigniticance and weakness!
And yet puny and humble
AS he is, man has cor
quered this toughest and most re
pulsiVe of waters reckless struC
lures. Mile after mile of sound be
; has been heWn from the solid rocl
the bald barren monsters of cart
being compelled TO yield foothol
to the iron horse the
rushes along. snorting and snuffin
and splitting fire and smoke into th
very jaws of the monarch Of rocl
, built mountains. The river coul
not widen its channel. but man ha
bored, chiseled and blasted for til
; room that he required. At on
place it was found announcement
cut a way through, and a bridge ws
! thrown lengthwise of the rive
suspended and supported by ma
sive iron beams fastened to tt
> mountains on either side of Il
gorge. Thus the cars and the riv'
; both have room between the wall
! but the one has to roll over Il
I - !, 10 70 L