The National tribune., 1883-09-20
DAYS IN WONDERLAND
The Garden of the Gods and the
Mountain Elevator.
Special Correspondence National Tribune.

DENVER, Col, August, 1883.
It was more or less showery all the time we
were in the mountains-showers like diamond
dust falling so softly in the clear, bright air
that one scarce knew it rained at ALL except for
the lovely and varying effect of sky and summit.
1t rained all of the night following our arrival
at Manitou, and the next morning we looked
| about, at the beginning of that midsummer
day, to find everything clothed in the fresh
tints of early spring, with the moisture of
spring meadows in the heart of the valley and
buttercups along the little stream that flows in
| front of the Manitou House. Standing ON the
| piazza we looked away to the towering sum-
mits of the Pixies Peak group, half veiled in
MIST like dark-browed prophets unfolding
| some awful mystery. The red sandstone roads
were moist and smooth and showed the prints
| of the carriages departing, one by one, for the
| Garden of the Gods, three miles distant, the
Mecca to which all eyes were turning. We
were anxious to be off to the more open plain
| and for an inspection of spot which has be-
come very famous since the survey OF ten
years years ago, when DR.. Peel and others of the
/ Hayden party returned to Washington with
| such fabulous accounts of the celebrated Colo
| rado Parks and Thomas Moran made his fame
/ as wide as the continent with his wonderful
| views.
| Mr. Moran returned with many studies in
water colors of the bright blue of the sky and
| the water, the reds and yellows and gamboge
and umber and sienna of the rocks, before
| which we all stood in open-eyed astonishment.
| 1t is interesting to turn to Washington letter,
written for Western paper by your CORE
| spondent, under date of December, 1873, upon
| this very subject. To have gone over the
| grounds then described as in the fastnesses of
| the Rockies, over through railroad and within
| ten years, and to have seen with my own eyes
! that exquisite cooring of earth and sky, is in
deed the naturalization of a wonderful dream.
| Noting the survey and Professor Hayden'S ac-
| count of the same, illustrated by stereoseOpic
/ views, the letter says:
| Through powerful glass there may be seen the
| freshest bird's-eye glimpses of the snow-seamed
| Holy Cross Pixies Peak, the Garden of the Gods,
| with its gateway of bare massive gigantic blocks
| of stone; the cloud -encircIed peaks and yawninp
| eanons of the mighty West. Though the photo
graph is more satisfactory as to perspective, yet the
the water-coior sketches The most vivid colors
used TO produce the natural effects-the bluest
blue the reddeSt red. One choice bit of water
color by Moran may be seen, the most exquisite of
its kind. But to eyes unfamiliar with such intense
landscape eolOrs, it looks like bit of fairy-and.
And while you stand admiring the artists clever
ness, the lovely sapphire well and its sunny
artist himself at your side tells you the coorne is
| true to nature 1t is said the bright unmixed coli
ors of these vast ridges and eanons have most
| peculiar effect upon the beholder.
| 1t was at this time that Professor HAYDEN,
| speaking of Moran's painting of the Grand
| Canon of the Yellowstone, to be seen at the
| National Capitol and for which the Govern
ment paid $4,000, said that it was true to life,
/ except that the artist was obliged to tone down
| the colors in Difference to popular criticism.
Il dare not paint the eanons as they are" said
| Mr.. Moran, las the critics, accustomed to the
more sober scenes with which their eyes are
familiar, will not believe that such vivid green's
and blues and browns exist anywhere but in
the artists fancy"
SKY EFFECTS IN THE ROCKIES.
! As We recall the clear blue of the Colorado
| sky beautiful panoramic scenes come trooping
before the delighted vision. We are turning
an acute angle as we mount to Marshall Pass,
| and over in the east there is a somber, cloudy
| mass against the loveliest blue. Another turn
| in the spiral shows US rift in the sky, and
| over the awful blackness below and into the
| sullen cloud thanks above, myrads of lightnings
| lkrl their glittering shafts. The effect is be-
| wildering and leaves picture stamped in liv
| ing light upon the memory of the beholder,
| who, ere he can accustom himself TO the strange
| phenomenon, is whirled around another spur
| to the snowy heights above.
| Now we are in the South Park, and the mar
velous SUBMITS of the Saugaehe Range loom
| up to view. The storm clouds are trailing in
| fearful hosts over the soaring SUBMITS beyond
| the wide green ampitheater, beyond the SWELL
| ing plateaus and buttes Suddenly the mists
| light up, and arched against the black-blue
| slopes double rainbow unfurls its parti-eo1-
| ored ensgn-violet, indigo blue, green, yellow,
| orange and red-emblem of all the nationalities
| of all the world that in our vast and boundless
| West find welcome and home.
| 1t was as We approached Manitou that our
| longing eyes were satisfied with an opulent
| mountain sunset. We were skirting the great
| plain between the Saugre de Christie and Front
| Range Mountains. The evening was calm and
summery after the icy regions above All of a
| sudden a fieck of red shone above the noun
| tain top, and involuntarily there arose to the
| lips the words of the great American poet:
Can it be the san descending9
Or the red swan, floating, flying,
| Wounded by the magic arrow,
Staining all the waves with crimson,
| With the crimson OF its life-blood,
Filling all the air with splendor,
| With the splendor OF his plumage?
| No it is the bead of wampum
On the robes of the Great Spirit,
As he passes through the twilight;
Walks in silence through the heavens.
| The color spreads and deepens to brightest
orange, so rich and ruddy and intense, it seems
as if all the wealth of gold in all the rock
ribbed hills was mirrored and reflected in
| the sky-an apotheosis of the Pixies Peak
| dreamer who found here his Ultima Thule and
| a burial without coffin.
THE MOUNTAIN ELEVATOR.
| It is, perhaps, not the most symmetrical and
| nicturasnua Sight in the world To see n long,