The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-02-07

brook winds here and there
and everywhere. curbed by bridges or fall
len logs Its moisture keeps the dark
canyon verdant, its sides fringed with ferns,
and it's rocks cushioned with moss. The
road is broad and smooth now, not as in
early days when nine crossings of the
brook led to the falls. 1t is edged by
spruce and pine and aspen, and wild hops
and creepers veil it's turnings. AT the
seven falls, nine hundred feet high, the
canyon widens into an amphitlTeatre of
massive rocks amid the gray shadows. In
the centre is a pellucid pool encircled by a
strip of white sand, and, from the height
of the canyon-wall, the cascades dash, leap
ing and gushing with silver spray, into
this basin, over q craggy mass OF titanic
cliff. Cheyenne Canyon is now in the
hands of private individuals, who have eX-
pended large sums in smoothing away the
inconvenience, and multiplying the COM
forts Of mountain exploration.
NORTH CHEYENNE.
North Cheyenne is broader than Chey-
eme Canyon proper tsrocky walls further
severed, are not apparently SO stupendouS.
and may be easily scaled in places. Its
stream is broader and more sunny. and the
feeling of awe melts away with which one
has glanced up at the lofty buttresses of
South Cheyenne. and felt the mystic lone
illness of it's shadows. North Cheyenne.
too, has its pillars. towers, affairs and pyra-
mids of crimsoned rock and it's flying but
tresses, but they alternate with grassed
slopes. If you perSevere, you will come
at length to the falls which it imprisons
in it's dark cloisters, broken and foaming
as they dash over boulders and crags.-
Beyond the falls, North Cheyenne widens
out of the limits of a strictly orthodox
canyon and falls in with its neighbor OF
Bear Greek.
CRYSTAL PARK-N1Y GARDEN.
All around Colorado Springs and Mani
tOu. there are lovely unnamed retreats,
mountain gens and hooks in the bluffs,
each with its peculiar beauty. and waiting
for the name and the appreciation which
is coming. Crystal Park is a sky-perched
basin, just south of Cameron Cone. From
it's green plateau are visible 1.-THE king
doms of the world and the glory of them, y
till the eye loses itself in seeing. A few
campers resort there now, and brave tour
lists not deferred by asteep horseback ride,
but, some day, its cool slopes, elevated
above the toll and MOL OF the world, will
be crowded with seekers for beauty and
pure air.
MY Garden = is another secluded nook
selected and christened by III. H.
whose home is at Colorado Springs. 1t is
reached by the Cheyenne road for one and
half miles from Colorado Springs; then
turn southwark, past Broad Moose farm
through hollow. and through a gate, and,
on fine-fringed plateau, is My Gar
den." Brook threads keep it green, and
here is to be found the succession of Col
orado flowers, from March daisies to late
peoples.
BLAIR ATHOL.
Where the plains and mountains meet,
is an uplifted reef of rock, skirting the
base of the Rockies for some hundred
miles. 1t has received the uninteresting
name Of the Hog-Back." In a cleft OF
the g Hog Back, = one mile north of Glen
Eyrie. lies Blair Athol Mr.. Blair. its
owner, give it this long Scottish name
though Scottish glens, in their pale
heather dress, are dull indeed, by gorgeous
Blair Athol. It's fowery glades and ever.
green clusters are forgotten in it's rocks
from cream to orange. from rose to car
mine, they vary, looking, down the vistas
like pillars, which uphold the sky's cano
Ply. There is no water in Blair Athol, but
its action is everywhere in the curiously
twisted columns, in the great slabs which
bar the portals Of some rocky tomb.
GLEN EYRIE.
To visit Glen Eyrie, the home of Gen
| WI. Palmer, of the ID. & r. Y, yol
| should take the Mesa road leading away
from Colorado Springs to the mountains
| You will ride for five miles over the eleva
ted plain, always westward, till you reacl
greyish knobs, reflex pillows cast up il
the wake of rolling mountains. Here thu
road edges a precipice. but Colorado horses
are sure footed, and he who views for Thu
first time the indeScrible grandeur of TIT
mountain view unfolded beyond, know
not whether he is in OF out of the body
| The foothills are of the shade of llchens
| they seem to cling to the higher rocks ant
hills beyond. Canyon and peak, precipc
and pinnacle, are trown in relief in TIN
crystalline atmosphere.
THE GLEN EYRE GROUNDS.
Thirty thousand dollars have been spen
within year upon the Glen Eyrie man
sion, exclusive Of the improvement in tn
demesue. AT its gate is a Queen Ann
lodge OF Manitou stone, finished within il
white pine. The house proper is stated
house whose chimneys vie in height wit
the Cathedral rocks, where the eagle
build their nests. 1t is painted in-darl
olive, trimmed with black and red every
Willy Ulio COilVtlllOlltl NkuCtL Auno Bet
Hstrade appears. The windows are earl
English. finished with two squares 0
stained glass. There is a grand hall o
the first floor, a central point for groupin
trophies of the chase. All the first foo
rooms (inclnding the conservatory While
surround the hall. may be thrown into on
on occasion. The house is handsomel
appointed and furnished-artistic hang
ings. glass in pale shades Of green, layer
der and orange, tiled NANTES. inlaid WOO
floors, eboniZed and red wood trimmings
shining brasses.- are artistically 1ntrt
duced in the Int srior. 1t is snrmounte
by u cupola fraiu whiclet magnificent vieN
is obtained. On tie grounds are rusti
seats. where 's;ti I'VE growth has laid til
curves. u sn II AXE. rustic buildings
fountains AID ti,rr bridges. The ston
carriage hri &c j. capped lY q snow
cement Of powdered stone. having tn