Morning journal and courier., 1883-09-29
AROUND THE WORLD.

l A Ride on an Engine Through the l Grand Canon of the eArkansas-Sublime l Scenery-The Engineers Unhappy Lot 1 -Leadville-A Little Excitement-The
 Freedom of the Press-Mineral Rssour- css-The Famous Marshall Pass-AKrf- l culture in COlorado-The SplondOrs or l the Black CanOn-On to Provo.
 1 PRovo, Utah, Sept. 20
 1 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 l ''Is it against your orders to let anyone ride on the engine ?" ''It is, sir, strictly" !" 'fWell, then, may ride on the engine with your" The engineer surveyed me with 8 1 good deal of curiosity. "Just through the grand canon of the Arkansas you know 1"
 Well, such monumental audacity ought to
 be rewarded, am sure. All right, get on ?
 And so I enjoyed the coveted boon. An 1 observation coach is always attached to the l train when it reaches Canon City, at the en- | trance of the gorge, but the privilege of riding on the engine prized as an even more l valuable one. Mounting the pretty little marrow gauge iron-horse, I WAS soon tucked
 away in the very front of the freman's side l of the cab, and in moment more the rest less little locomotive plunged forward, and with @ whistle-neigh of delight, aimed for the canon. As looked back at the long train of well-flled cars, could not help say ing to myself, "Where do all the people come
 from?" Where indeed? Business could
 not have created one fourth of the traffic
 The train, like the trains on nearly all of
 these western roads, was loaded down with
 tourists. You have got to get west in order
 to discover how many travellers flor pleasure
 simply" there are in this country. Doubtless
 the train in question eontainsd represents
 tives from almost every State in the Union,
 and many of the foreign countries
 Two miles found us at the grand gate, and
 then commenced an experience the memory
 of which must finger as long as reason re-
 mains As we entered the steep narrow de-
 file the solid perpendicular walls seemed to
 rise before and behind us, as if to shut us in
 forever. The Arkansas beat over the rocks
 and dashed furiously down the canon. As we were performing the ascent the engine it was mede to endure, while it's pufing and
 snorting echoed and re-echoed along the val ley. Narrower and narrower grew the chan nel, while the train hugged the north wall mere and moro closely. Now we were in the Royal gorge portion. I could understand now why there had been such fight between the Santa Fe and Rio Grande folks for the possession of this ledge. Two railways can never pass through the canon, unless some second company be found which is willing to sink millions of dollars and spend many years in blasting new passage. Indeed, at some points there is scarcely room for the narrow gauge. I could, indeed, discover an artificial ledge on the opposite side of the canon at some points, which the Rio Grande company constructed when it seemed as though the Santa Fe folks were in the ascen- dency but I fancy that was a little piece of 'sbluff' work.
 The curves In the track are innumerable. l Looking out ahead it seemed sometimes i'm possible to believe that the engine would fol low the sharp curve but the track proved firm, and we were not plunged into the foam ing current, az seemed at times imminent There is something which dictates silence when you pass through this Royal gorge for the first time. doubt if the veriest savage could pass down the channel, and, as he looked up at the granite battlements that tower above 2,00O feet high, fail to be moved There are places and occasions where 8 man feels like taking of his hat and lowing his head. Such was the feeling that overwhelmed ne as held my breath in awe-struck silence. For eight miles this continued, and then for twenty or thirty more the giant walls became little less precipitous, but no less impress sive.
 In the midst of all this natural sublimity I learned one thing of a very commonplace character, and that is never to fret when the train goes slow or gets behind hand in this mountainous country. The train men go en- tirely by faith. Two trains might get within twenty feet of each other at some points, and 1 neither suspect the proximity of the other The whistles are sounded almost constantly on account of the innumerable curves but the puffing and struggling of the locomotive would tend to deaden the reverberations of warning whistle. The fireman stood before l the furnace door throwing in shovelfuI of ho nry1Id uoIk kH1 tender and open the door. Then there are l the constant dangers of broken rails, leaping l curves, &c., every one of which means 8 hor | rible plunge into the yawning chasm. To il- 1 lustrate the constant responsibility of those | mauning the locomotive, I will duplicate | little of the dialogue between the engineer i and the fireman, emitting all technical terms. l Tho freman's part of the dialogue was to l obey in silence the directions given him. | ''Coal her up well, John, this is big load to- | day. That's right. Now just draw that wa l ter of Eight minutes behind hand, but she | won't stand any more. There, there, ease | her up,-new track everything's against 1 us We're due at X. already and No. 10 is | on time to-day. More coal now; give her 1 all she can hold. Wasn't that green flag 1 Keep an eye on the track,-there was @ | boulder fell here last week. She'll bear | little more oil Johnny,-that's it. Easy, l easy now, the next curve brings the swing | ing bridge There she s,-an right now, fill her up again. Nov she's working we'll; 1 we'll make it. Ah, she's daisy, sir, con | tinaed the engineer proudly. tsAll this cer- | e1nony necessary in addition to the con | stant manipulation of wheels and levers
 which notieed you doing!" exclaimed 1
 'Oh, that's nothing, sir, at all Take it | some dark night,-some dark night in win | ter, sir, after a big freshet, sir, or in the | midst of $ binding snow storm, sir, then's the time when it tries man. ! I have only one criticism to pass on the
 Grand canon of the Arkaneas. There was
 one point whers our train had 8 chance to | straighten entirely out. I think there
 ought to have been just one more curve
 thrown in at that place. There was one | break in the canon, and here was 3 thri-
 ving field of several acres of cabbage that | would challenge in size the growth on any | eastern agricultural tract. It was the only | thing which broke the primevaf nature of | the region for miles and miles. At Salida,
 typical western village of mushroom growth, we took the LeadviIle branch, and i in something over three hours our train ! climbed the heavy grade which leads into ! the most notorious mining camp in Ameri ! ca, if not in the world. The time chosen ] for glimpse of Leadville could not have been more opportune.l For a year or so things have been going on in a very mat
 ter -of, fact way there, but the act of Alder l man Joy in smiting Cowen, the city editor | of the Leadviile Herald, had thrown the l camp into fever of excitement, renewing a laFO6 maaaura nf inc rooHIo1cnaea