The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-08-23
, pEEILOUS JOURNEY.
The Ascent to Marshall Pass---S iiip
That Brings Something More
Than Pleasure.

Kansas City Times
The best trainmen the railroad world
knows alone are employed on this
division of the Denver and Rio Grande.
Every one of them is perfect master OF
his business, a king in his own right.
No coward or incapable is ever entrusted
with the care of these trains. Cool
heads and steady nerves and educated
brains are needed and are not wanting
here. The team of iron horses, tandem
OF course, are manufactured eSpecEahF
for mountain climbing. Every bolt ana
bar is rigidly inspected before every trip
by the very best of experts IN such mat
ters. Flagmen are stationed at every
curve and at every one of tie twenty
three snow sheds. Flags by dav and
lamns by night signal the entire route Of
twenty miles. And amid all this whlrl
OF swinging lamps and fluttering flags
and signals known only to the initiated
YOU feel that steady nerves and educated
brains are directing everything. and
while every nerve Of yOur body is strung
M to a most delightful tension and the
whole glory OF the universe seems to be
unfolding at your feet, as range after
range of mountain scenery looms up
around vou As You rise into the higher
plane Of world-life. with mountain sum
mits as the companions Of your ;h0u"ht.
the soul-ravisbiug delight th"t thrills
you makes you loose sight entirely of az
sense of danger. Sometimes. when the
train suddenly sweeps cit of long.
darl- snow she'd one starts back instinct
ivelv as he finds himself hanging right
over the edge of n precipice 200 feet in
dizzy depth but he is soon reassured
when he remembers that the gods OF
iron and steam are in the lead, held in
check by the hand of man, the magnih-
cent. All fear is soon laid aside, al
though lie knows that should bolt snap,
or a bar break. or the nerve oI train
man falter, and the train once get away
from it's master, all the gods of all the
ages could not bring one of us back into
the world again. But SO perfect is the
mastery of these men over these trains,
so perfectly does the air brake respond
to the tenderest touch of the engineer.
that the train moves over the steep in
cline as smoothly and as quietly as the
tired child slips away into the land of
dreams
Between Poncha and Mount Ouray
there is multitude of mountains, rising
higher and higher, ''Pe!ion piled on
Ossa" All these we must climb before
we can pay our respects to the monarch
Il a
have slishtei a single one of these
ciants We go around each one in turn.
Standing at Mears' station, could we
look through the intervening mountains,
we could see on the Atlantic side nine
teen different terraces cut in the noun
tain sides on the Pacific side there are
thirteen. and in one place you can see
five different terraces at once, one above
the other: and you look down to see the
lowest track. mere line, scarcely dis
cernable. Up these different terraces
this wonderful railroad system extends :;
climbing mountain after mountain.
swinging from one to the other over
chasms which you would think that
nothing but a balloon could cross. on
very air and just rs you catch yo'rr
breath, pretty hard to do ten thousand
feet above the sea-and catch hold of
something and begin TO wonder how 1t
feels to be killed, bang you go against
the side of another mountain, the earth
appears again and you feel as though the
pleague thing had just lit. And all this
NJ I, hnr
and approaching Ouray, getting ever
nearer and nearer to the great colossus.
the majestic mountain appearing ami
disappearing as we round some inter
vening eminenCe. At every return.
however, it grows more and more dis
tinct. until at length we swing around
the extreme western edge of the great
semi-circle that forms the base of the
mountain, then sudden turn to the
left and we skirt the edge OF the romantic
lake that lies within the area Of this
grand semi circle, one of the highest
sheet of water on the globe thence we
make three-quarter revolution ground
him and soon Ourays shining cOr0net
stands between us and our starting point
at Poncha. Thence after passing through
number of snow sheds, suggestive oi
the tremendous storms which sometimes
sweep these dessolate heights, the road
at last twines its two white arms around
old Ouravs neck. and with shrek like
q steed from BeelZebub's stables. the
iron horse rushes into the station on the
very summit. and Marshall Pass i
reached, and we stand where we can sa,
with Tom Benton, There IL Europe