Morris tribune., 1883-07-04
CORRESPONDENCE.
From the Rocky Mountains.


MR.. EDITOR:
The Rocky Mountains always
seemed as far away to me prospective
ly as geographically, but Father Time,
who carries the s2ythe, has, they say,
also, whirligig which turns affairs
surprisingly som times. | suppose,
then, it is to the whirigig that | owe
the fact that am now camped beside
the saguache (sawach) Range of those
famous mountains and am writing
you from the foot of Mt. Massive. Our
trip here was like most trips by rail i'll
Pullman cars. We left Chicago at
l2:45 p. m. Tuesday June 9Th, via c.
B. & @. r. r., crossed the Mississippi
at 8 o'clock in the evening--and that
river is always interesting ESPECIALLY
in the evening with lights dancing
along the shore and on its surface. AT
about the same time the next morn-
ing we crossed the muddy Missouri at
Portsmouth, and changed to the Bur-
lington and Missouri River Railway,
and took our course near the southern
boundary of Nebraska. We stopped
at noon at Lincoln, right in the midst
of the great prairies waiting for in
habitants. TIL re is Il great chance for
homes along that Road. That day,
Wednesday, was hot, dusty and tire
some ON the ears. A happy, social
baby relieved the tedium of the day
with it's cheerful ways as it passed
from one to another through the car.
May she always give as much cheer as
she did that day.
Thursday morning we woke up
amid the great plains of Colorado.
Scant heritage and vastness were the
peculiarities of them. All was light
sand yet there were some flowers new
to us that bloomed in that apparent
desert place. A few very small claim
shanties were seen, and several herds
of cattle. An Antelope was started
up by the train and it went bobbing
it's white tail away from us. Two in
dications of civilization we found even
then-tin fruit cans and-beer bottles.
Word passed along the car "The
mountains are in sight," I went to
the platform of the car and could see
nothing that | called mountains.
"Why those are the mountains,n
Surely, thought, what enchantment
distance can lend if it can make the
Rocky Mountains look so like the
ieecy clouds! To think that the rug
ged granite of the Earths foundations
can be turned up to mingle with the
clouds and be hardly distinguishable
from them! The fact of my having
lived always OH the prairies explains
my simplicity in regard to the noun
tains. One lady said she was disap-
pointed in them because they looked
just as they do in the pictures. The
artists had been too true to nature.
She lent us her glass and the rugged
ness was there surely, in the guliies,
the ridges and peaks sticking up
through our poetic vision. I was
prepared for grandeur in the noun
tains, and subllmity even, but never
once thought of the poetic vision and
cloud-like fancies which were before
us. The clear Colorado atmosphere
was imagination's handmade in the
affair. We were about seventy-five
miles from them when we first saw
them, but the clear air annihilates
distanse wonderfully and heightens
the poetry.
To those familiar with the noun
tains, probably much that write will
not be new yet it is new to me and SO
I can't help but write it. We soon
crept into Denver and the black smoke
of the smelters stified our fancy and
the cries of porters and hackmen
fetched us down from the mountains
IN hurry.
We could not get through with the
red tape ofou tickets in time to take
our train so were doomed to a day in
Denver. 1t is stirring, Chicago like
| city; and do not know what will ex-
press any more than that phrase.
There are large smelling works for
reducing ore to bullion, and some
large iron works for making mining
machinery. There are few large
and very fine stone buildings which
tower above the rest of the temporary
structures of the city. It shows in
many ways that it is a young city.
We saw the first irrigation works here.
Down many of the principal streets,
in the cutters, ran brisk stream of
water, and through some of the
gardens we saw bitches cut carrying
water. There were some faint indica-
tons of grass but no real lawn did we
see. The water is brought by canal
from the Platte River among the
mountains.
But when we awoke the next morn
ing there was little need of irrigation
for the clouds were emptying them
selves in the old fashioned Eastern
styleas if knocking their irrigation and
laughing at the remark made to us
that ut hardly ever rains in this
country"
! We took up our way to the station
and took our share of the drops too, fol-
there was no getting between them,
and found seat in the little cars OF
the "babyn road. The Denver and
Rio Grande Railway, which we now
take, is narrow guage, three feet, but
| is getting to be quite broad-guage
corporation in the way of grasping a
great extent of country. On this par
ticular morning we regretted the
abundant irrigation going on out Of
doors, for the cars go down beside the
mountains, in sight of Pixies Peak and