Omaha daily bee., 1883-04-03
The Utah Extension Closes the
Last Gap Separating COlO-
RADIO from MOrmOndOm.
The Country Through Which
1t Passes and the Difficult
ties of Construction.
The First Passenger Train to
Leave Pusblo With q Load
of Mormon Emlgrants.
The Depot for Salt Lake City.

Denver Tribune, March 81.
The completion of the Utah exten.
sion marks an epoch In the history of
the west. There are few railroad
achievements that have greater prac.
tical results than this will necessarily
have. 1t opens up to settlement and
cultivation the western part of Colo
RADIO, which is apparently to be the
food furnisher for a large part of the
mountain country. The same advan-
tages of proximity which have induced
the location of manufactures along
the eastern slope of the Rockies will
cause agriculture to to be pushed to Its
utmost limits wherever available land
can be found, and the rich valleys of
western Colorado are capable of as.
tonishing production, as has already
been demonstrated. The advantages
Of the country have caused several
railroad companies to look on 1t with
covetous eyes, but the Denver & Rio
Grande, with Its customary enter.
prise, has
MADE 1T ITS OWN.
About eighteen months ago this
road purchased the Utah g. Pleasant
Valley road, a small road of only 1O8
miles, and of which only 83 miles were
available for the Purposes of through
line. 1t runs from Salt Lake City in
. southeasterly direction to Pleasant
Valley, near which are located valua.
ble GOAL mines. The work of construc.
tion from Gunnison City to Pleasant
Valley, which has received the name
of the Utah extension, has occupied
about niae months. Toe distance
from Gunnison City to Salt Lake Is
446 miles, but as 83 miles of the
Pleasant Valley road were used, there
remained 363 miles for construction.
This has been accomplished In the
face of great difficulties. All the
troubles of construction through an
unsettled country were met, as mat.
ter of course. The heaviest work
was in
GOING THROUGH THE BLACK CANON
on the Gunnison river, west of Gun.
nison City.
This rock bound chasm Is wilder,
more picturesque and grauder than
even the Grand canon. The cliffs are
fully as high, but their sides are
broked into narrow shelves where
shrubs, trees and clinging vines have
found foothold. In many places
miniature cataraots leap from DIZZY
heights into the sea.green waters Of
the river, or, broken BY projecting
Lodges, reach the bottom OF the canon
In siivsry spray. Here solitary pin.
acle scars upward like delioately
formed cathedral tower; and
again the enclosing walls hug
the road for miles In unSroken
masses. The contour OF the
PALISADES ON THE HUDSON
Ia almost reproduced here. Half way
through the canyon, the Gunnison
turns into q still deeper gorge to the
right, and the road continues by the
side Of Clmarron creek, which leads
to where the cliffs are more rugged
still, and whose sides are filed with
olinging vines and stunted pines and
cedar. The region becomes darker
and gloomier, while the creek flows
over It's rocky bed aud among granite
boulders with rumble that fills the
gorge with deafeniug echoes.
The natural diffopltles In the way of
construction were lighter thereafter.
The Cedar divide is crossed by series
of steep grades and thence the line
descends to Moutross, in the Uncom.
pahgre valley, the ricnest part If the
old Ute reservation. The Ouray1sx.
tension will be built from this point.
Following the Ulcompahgre, after
leaving Montrcse, the road traverses q
valley filled with rich farm land to
Delta. Here the Gunnison river Is
again encountered, and the road fol-
lows 1t, through Its yellow lined canon,
to Grand junction, the extreme west
ern city of the state, built at the head
of Grand valley. A wide neck Of land
runs westward from 1t between two
long lines of Cliff, and watered by the
river Grand, Is capable Of producing
EVERY VARIETY OF FRUIT AND CEREAL.
The valley Is a. level as floor, the
climate Is exceptionally fine, and the
view of the distant mountain ranges Is
one of the finest which any part of the
state affords.
After Grand Junction the railroad
enters upon q veritsble desert. Low,
treeless, dry and neglected wastes ex-
tend before one for nearly LOO miles.
The traveller Is on an inland sea,
where the winds have formed billowa
of sand, and the earth is csked by the
heat of summer. Under the effects
of irrigation much Of 1t will probably
be reclaimed. Finally Green river,
q broad, sluggish stream, Is reached
and crossed. The maximum grade
from Grand junction to here ia o 81
feet to the mile. farming now to the
northwest, the road approaches the
Waestch mountains. Soon Price rivel
Is crossed, tributary, of the Green
and later Castle valley is entered
where there Is more, vegetation. A
Its extreme end, and reached afte
long twistings and turnings among tn
foothills of the range, stands Clstl
Gate, leading into the very
HEART OF THE wAsArCH
mountains, and formed by two I'm
mense towers of red sandstone whicl
have a sheer descent of nearly 30
feet, and are severed off shoots frou
the cliffs behind them. They are 8
close to each other as to barely allo,
the passage of the road and the stream
Once though the narrow way, an