The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-08-30
DAYS IN WONDERLAND
Over the Alpine PaSS---Sunlight and
Shadow in the Rockies.
speoial corregpondenee Na.ional Tribune.

Special Correspondence National Tribune.
DENVER, August 3.
1t was an enthusiastic and merry party that
on that last day of the midsummer month OF
July left GunnisOn, the Pacific slope metrono-
lis, to return, at another point aeros5 the lofty
continental divide, upon whose snowy submits
they had the day before made snow-balls and
gathered exquisite flowers at an altitude of
1924 feet. but few hundred feet below tim
Der line. Filled with wonderful accounts of
the Gunnison country; cheered by fraternal
hospitality from comrades of the Rockies;
armed with specimens of bullion from the
Gunnison shelter, which had run Off a sOuve-
mir for every guest, marked ~ @. NJ & s
Co; glad, from a meeting with the Commander
ln-Chlefs party, which had just left the route
over which they were to travel and full of
eager expectations of Marshall Pass and the
descent on the Atlantic slope, through the
famed Grand Canon OF the Arkansas, there was
everything to awaken the liveliest sensibiIities
OF the human heart.
Coming up from Denver to Gunnison they
had followed the South Park arm OF the Union
Pacific, until striking the deep gulehes of the
sublime Saguache (Si-watch) Range, they pur-
sued Chalk Greek and its bold, uplifted masses
of cleaning rock, to its sources in the SHOWS
of Alpine Pass. Thence, leaving the frowning
Autero soaring up to the height Of 1925 feet,
and following Quartz Creek, through the broad
Valley Of Enehantment, they found the -four
ishing little city of Gunnison, near the point
where Ohio Creek empties into Taylor River,
and Taylor River unites with the Tomatchi to
form the Gunnison. At this point the main
line of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway is
reached, whose wonderful development. from
337 miles in 1880 to $50 miles in 1888, is one
of the phenomenons of mountain engineering,
as we'll as an evidence of the energy and pluck
that Is putting the Great West on the double
quick In the line of progress.
THE DENVER AND RIO GRANDE
The main line of the Denver and Rio Grande
now extends as far west as Ogden, where it con-
meets with the Central Pacific, and forms, with
the lines running between the Missouri River
and Denver and Pueblo, a new route across the
continent, and one which, because Of its rap
idly developing country and the marvellous
scenery it penetrates, is sure to control large
share of through traffic. It is the most COM
plete and the safest narrow-gauge railroad in
operation, well ballasted and equipped, and
carefully operated Contiguous to its lines and
in many cases penetrated by its branches, are
the iron mines of Villa Grove; the anthracite
coal at Crested Butte, and the bituminous at
Pleasant Valley; the silver districts of Be-
nanza, Monarch, White Pine, TOmiehi, Pitllin,
Cochitopa, the Elk Mountains, Lake City,
OuTay, San Miguel, Bingham and Alta: the
copper workings of the Sierra La Sal; the fer
tile valleys of the Uncompahgre, Grand and
Price Rivers, and of Utah and the Great Salt
Lake; and the fine stock lands along the White
River in Northern Colorado and Utah.
In its course it passes through the new eoun-
ties OF Montrose, Delta, and Mesa, whose 1000
600 acres of untaken agricultural lands, arabic
and well-watered, and adapted to the raising OF
fruit, grain, and vegetables, are attracting set
tiers looking for homes in the far West.
branch of the road runs to Leadville, with a
population of 1900 or 10000, and mineral
output last year of S19, 100000: while branches
make equally accessible the silver mines and
majestic scenery of Robinson, Kokomo, Breek.
enridge, Holy Cross, Gold Park and Red Cliff
with good roads reaching 70 Ashcroft and As
pen. Red Cliff is the county seat of the new
and promising county of Garfield. The rich
mineral regions of Alpine and Silver Cliff ART
also reached by it's connections, and the iron
mines at Calumet, whose ore is used at Pueblo
IN the manufacture of Bessemer steel and Mer-
chant iron. From Canon City it transport;
most of the bituminous coal used in the State
for domestic purposes, and from the works al
I'll Mors much of the coal and coke used in the
factories and smelters. The fertile ranches o.
the San Luis Valley; the plazitas and old civil
cation of New Mexico; the sheep ranches oil
Sierra Amarillo; the old haun5s OF the ancient
Cliff jewellers in the canOns of MancOs, McElmO
ana Hoyenweep, with their remarkable ruins
the Colorado and Manit0u Springs, and many
othert of similar curative powers; the Garden
of the Gods, the Cheyenne Castles, the Toltec
Gorge. and the Black and Price River Canons,
supreme in their dark grandeur these are but
suggestions of the innumerable and illimitable
resources and attractions of the territory
spanned by this enterprising railroad system.
Traversing, as it does, the fovliest valleys and
sublimest mountain passes, the Denver and
Rio Grande has been well-named "The Scenic
Routes of America"
ASCENT TO MARSHALL PASS.