Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-08-01

is to be dashed to pieces on the flinty face
of the great granite wall.
At Idaho Springs, one of the finest little
resorts the Rockies afford and guarded jeal-
ously by them, the Canon widens and al
most seems To end. The waters of the
mineral springs are perhaps ldaho's chief
attractions. They are both hot and cold,
iron and soda, and like tile fennel in Long
fellows Goblet" new strength and life
they give"
Here standing in stony dignity among |
the humble cottages of the town, rising. |
cold gray and strangly incongruous,
with its four and twenty easements, Civ |
ing answer TO the sun, the castle" CON
fronts you. 1t was built by Ex-Governor
Bryan, of Illinois, and to his daughters has
been accredited the reproduction of this bit
of Old-wOrld romance, in the heart Of the
Rockies. 1t is an ideal little castle with
tower and battlementS, copied from some
portion Of Windsor In miniature and built
i'm native stone. 1t improves on acquaint-
ance. which we cultivated not under the
guidance of q belted knight or cOurtly
squire, but with a most practical hotel clerk.
One of the party quoted from "Marmion
and almost fancied we should find with
Us some dreaming beauty of princess.
waiting for the mot impossible he' who
was to wake her with kiss
from the ''sleep rs long as
death" In this case, however, he would
probably be a Colorado cowboy in pictur
esque sombrero, hurrying to the release Of
his Rocky mountain sweetheart, and some
of them are as handsome as any Prince
Charming Of song or story.
| The interior OF eighteen apartments, all
opening into each other, would cause the
heart Of an aesthetic TO leap with joy. The
queer little windows are set III deep re-
cesses. Miss Bryan's painted
tiles and panels, the unpected little hooks
and alcoves which surprise one at every
turn are so full of possibilities, Like every
well-regulated castle il has a secret cham
ber to which access is gained through
dark, narrow passage which seemingly.
leads to nowhere. When gained
the apartment is the airiest,
sunnieSt one that the castle
affords and commands an unrivaled view Of
the stern and silent mountains, mOcking at
time with their grandeur. The castle is
for sale. For $4,000 the place is yours
all yours. Mild pleasantries in regard to
not purchasing it today were indulged in
by our party, who felt that they could never
live up to it. The delicate facetiae fell
upon stony ground. The hotel clerk never
smiled. Ii is train time. We leave
"Norhanic castIed steep
And Tweeds fair river broad and deep"
and make the rapid ascent TO Georgetown,
the beautiful city of 1900 people. set down
in convenient gulch at the ideal altitude
of eight thousand feet. The train
skirts the mountains, which lose
their crests in snow. and in the purple,
hazy distance the glistening dome Of
Gray's plays peak-a-poo with the climbing
train.
Fall River is met with along our
course, pure and clear and almost hidden
at times by its fringe of willows. When
Helen Hunt Jackson saw these willow
trees stirred in their tender grayish green
boughs by the sweet message of the coming
spring, they suggested 10 her poetic mind
the coloring for her cottage at Colorado
Springs. The fascinating tint is peculiarly
the willows, however. and suggests-noth-
ing, when mixed in any paint cot but that
of nature.
1t is soon after leaving Georgetown that
We cross the famous 'loop," marvellous
feat of engineering, and one OF the four
in existence. There is one on the
Southern Pacific, one in Switzerland and
another in the Andes. But this one with
Its wealth of trackage, and its high iron
bridge. three hundred feet in length, cross
ing the track upon which our train is NOV
ing almost at right angles, but in the form
of crescent, is the most complex of the
four. The track. at first straight and
orthodox, soon veers to the right crosses
the creek, and starts down the valley, yet
ever on the upgrade. For quarter of a
mile this continues, and then we are rising,
slowly, steadily creeping up. We look
down upon the track over which We have
lot, bal
our train with its twelve coaches rests on
the three hundred feet of crescent tressel
above. A man with Photographic outfit
away down on terra firnG aims at us with
the camera. The engineer waves TO the oc-
cupants of the rear coach, who wave again
and l have an unpleasant sensation as of
being "hair hing and breeze shaken" The
rear platform loses the charms it has hither-
to possessed and | seek the seclu-
sion of the coach believing thrt
have looked my last upon the reckless New
Yorker who is airily perched on the plat
form railing. The wild, fearless spirit of
the interfering west possesses him. | bid
him good bye" adding that we expect to
leave him on 1.-The Loop"
at won't be the first time | have been
tied" is the witty rejoInder of the lawless
benedict. To my surprise, like our flag, he
is ''still there" when | again emerge TO
witness the remarkable climb to
the big Fill" Being seventy
six feet high and on too sharp curve TO
admit of bridge. Here the loop almost
repeats itself To Silver Plume, but four
and half miles beyond, the bit of railroad
ing cost two hundred thousand dollars, and
10 GraymOnt, a distance of eight miles, al
most half million of money.
Silver Plume dispells none of my fond
illusions in regard to mining camp. The
grey, uncompromiSing mountains dotted
above timber line with mines in active OPP
Grafton, and the solitary cabins of the min
ers, cling 10 the abrupt heights like the
swallow nests TO the caves of an old barn.
| The town itself is laid out with charming
disregard for architectural beauty and the
frame hotel has sign labelling it as the
''LoOp House" but for which loop hole"
would be infinitely more appropriate. We
are at All altitude OF eight thousand
five hundred feet and the level of Denver
only sixty miles away. Jackets are donned
over our flannel mountain suits, and we
| FORGET how the thermometer registers on
the plains.
There is spIece of danger going down
which we missed in the cautious ascent. |
contemplate going forward to expostulate
with the engineer over the reckless manner
in which we are steamng along. The
wheels Of our ear are surely in the air. The
track seems thrown out in futile attempt
to lasSo the mountains, and we have ample
opportunity of shaking hands with the EN-
| gineer.
We reach Denver. stretched out in the
moonlight, with what Boston girl calls
''parallelogramic infringements on indiyid-
nal eccentrcifies The water is sparklng