The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-02-26

| ~" YIN S4oy dAtt Udll IL III UeSluco'
And the babies lift up there voices and
wall.
Beyond the Royal Gorge the walls of the
canyon OF the Arkansas widen, admit more
sunshine, and are clothed with verdure.
Gradually the cliffs recede, and the rail-
way passes through the narrow valley of
the upper Arkansas. On either hand, at
diverse functions, tributary lines branch
out TO the new camps and towns. Shortly
beyond Poncha Springs, lying Graded in
the wooded hills, the grades become
sleeper, and we realize that we are about
to cross the Marshall Pass, 10,S58 feet
above the sea, the grandest steep which
bold railway has ever yet scaled. One
scarcely knows whether to award the
need OF praise to the sublime scenery of
the lonely height, or to the sublime daring
and engineering skill which have made
I through a mountain fastness a pathway
for the nations. Eternal yigilanceis here
the price of safety. Gladly would the
wastes reclaim the roadway which has
been Wrested from them. A large force
OF men is employed continually along the
line repairing and keeping guard. Their
camp fires dot the forest, and as the train
dashes along you come suddenly upon
groops OF them, picturesque in their blue
or red blouseS and hard at work with pick
and spade. There isarush to the rear plat
form in spite of the warning uttered by
ofhumane disposition, well, if
youmust sit out there. you must. But hope
everyone of you knows how to hold on
tight. One man I seen leggo onct and
: well, there warn't enough of him left
to make it an object to kerry his remains
home" Despite this awful warning, the
| slght-seers throng the platform, clustered
on campstools, braced against hand-rails,
blocking the steps. The fond mammas
and the babies also hasten to the rear.
One tender little juvenile of about eigh-
teen months standing in thus mundane
sphere, who has been christened Duke y
would fam join us on the narrow platform,
in the perilous passage over the Continen-
tai diVide-for such it is. For about sixty
econds he gaZes stolidly on the scene,-
notified legs tottering on the dizzy verge
stiff white frock and fringed sash swayed
IN the mountain breezes-then he routs,
incontinent, every camp-stool in his pas
sage back to the toilet room, where he
amuses himself. in accordance with ducal
pleasure, by planting milky way along the
of ict1 c Gil l.
and pumping the ice water in lavish, use
less flow, till stopped by an irate porter.
Then back to the platform, and again back
through the car, back and forth as the
train flies like winged serpent round the
sleeps, Fand the tourists crouch, with
bated breath, frightened for themselves
and for Duke But he survives,
preserved for some great future in
which his iudomitable perseverance and
contempt of danger will play their part.
In skirting the lower slopes of the dividing
| shed which parts the Atlantic from the
| Pacific, the mountains frame fair. sunny
| landscapes of hills and rocks and pines.
AS the grades grow sleeper, for. they vary
from 200 to $50 feet to the mile, the noun
talns grow gloomier, grandef, colder.
Tumbled hills lie beneath, frowning prec-
ipices above, the two toiling engines are
opposite the last car on the other side of
the curve. Looking down you see far be-
low the loop of track which you just
crossed over looking up, on the scarped
cliff above your head, is the line of road
next to be passed. Ascending, still as
cending in the early sunset, the Sangre de
Crlsto range bounds the eastern horizon.
below dark green with shaggy pines, above
where timber-line has drawn its viewless
boundary-a wall of snow-capped pyramids,
glistening against the ''blanched blue of
the horizon in it's sanity clearness. y The
nearer, lower peaks are each clothed in
| blasted forest, whose skeleton trunks
CLEAN CHASTITY among such ragged storm
shocked pines as have yet been spared III
this fastness of the wind and the lightning.
Between these peaks lie the far sky lakes
of beryl green, muffied in banks of snowy
cloud. The track CLEANS ruby-silver in
the sur s last fire. Voiceless desolation
broods in the height where Nature parts
with her mighty hand the east from the
west.
Part of the way is passed under 'snow-
sheds, supported by aisles of cedar pillars.
They lean against the mountains side to
break and receive the fall of snow which
would otherwise bury the track. Even in
| August, white patches fill the hollows. At
the Atlantic summit, the train pauses
painting with its climb Two children,
bright and rosy, (happy too-though living
year in and year out in this dreary solitude,
alone with their father, the station master
of ''Siding No. ~ run up to the cars.
Mountain flowers" Marshall Pass
flowers, y they cry in their fresh voices.
We toss out silver coin and back flies the
bouquet. Pale yellow painter BRUSH
soft grasses big golden dandelions-dwarf
golden rod, and bell Of delicatest- azure,
borrowed straight from the near sky,
fecked with yellow and lined with jet
such is the flora of the Continental Divide.
Then we are flying over the steep grades
and zig-zags in the twilight, steaming down
the mountain sides on the Pacific slope.
At Sargent supper is served at we'll
kept eating house. and thence the track is
parallel with Tomichi creek. We are en-
tering the "Gunnison country, +" that vast
mineral belt, which was SO overpraised in
the days of it's boom, and is now with
equal injustice, moderated. There are
plenty of ores in Gunnison, and rich ores
too, but not of sufficiently high grade to
pay for development, shipment to the dis
tant furnaces, and smelling by the present
imperfect methods. For some successful
way of treating low-grade ores, the miners
of the west are crying out-and who is to
solve the problem NJ. Y. D.
Ponds Extract. There is no swelling
, it will not abate; no pain it will not cure.
. This is the testimony of those who have
used it many years. Try it!
If feeling old-renew your youthful
vigor by using Ayers Sasaparilla. 1t will
vitalize the blood, recruit the wasting
oparriaS and huiId IN the SVStom