The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1886-07-14

vfswinE the wonder. Of the Moun.
eainss ~

vkewfnE tlsc Wonders of the Moun-
tainss
suppose narrow guage road can go
anywhere. 1t trails along the slope Of
shelving hills like o wild vine; slidea
through gopherhole tunnels MS d thread
slides through the eye of q needle; utilizes
water courses, and turns ridiculously sharp
corners in a style calculated to remind one
of the days when he played snap the
whip" and happened to be the snapper
himself. This is especially the case If one
Is sitting on the rear platform of the last
car. We shotone canyon by'daylight, and
marveled at the glazed surface of the red
rock with never so much as fluff over it.
On the one hand we nearly scraped the
the abrupt perpendicular wall that lowered
hundreds of feet above us ON the other
swift, muddy torrent sprang at our stone
bedded sleepers as if to snatch them away,
while 1t flooded the canyon to the opposite
wall That nowhere seemed more than a few
yards distant. The stream was swollen,
and went bowling down the deep ravine
full of sound and fury, which In this case,
however, signified good deal. Once We
stopped and took an observation, for the
track was under water; then we waded
cautiously to the main land, across the
sunken section, and thanked our stars that
we were not boycotted by the elements at
that inhospitable point. Once we paused
for few minutes to contemplate the total
wreck Of o palace car that had recently
struck projecting bowider--and spattor-
| I'd.
The camps along tho track are just such
as may be looked for in the waste places Of
the earth-temporary shelter for wayfarers
whose homes are under their hats. The
thil stream of civilization that trickles off
into the wilderness, following the iron
track, makes puddles now and again; some
of these dwindle away soon enough, OF
perhaps not quite soon enough some of
them increase and become permanent and
beautiful. Night found us in the Black
canyon of the Gunnison could any time
be more appropriated Clouds rolled over
US in dense masses; at intervals the moon
flashed upon us like dark lantern. Gould
anything be more picturesqueP We knew
that much of the darkness, the blackness Of
darkness, was adamantine rocks; some Of
it in inky food-a veritable river of dealt
--wailing close beneath us, but quite nyisi.
BILE most of the time. And the night itself
profound mystery, through which we
| burned an endless tunnel like a firebrand
hurled into space. Now and again the
heavens opened and then we saw the moon
soaring among the monumental pcaks but
the heights were so cloudlike and the cloud
masses SO solid we could not for the life of
us be certain of the nature of either. There
were canyons like huge quarries and cam
yons like rocky mazes, where we seemed to
have rushed headlong into cal de sac, and
were in danger of dashing our brains ont
against the mighty walls that doomed before
US. There was many q winding stream
which We took at single bound, and oc-
casionaily an oasis, green and howery; but
oh, 80 few habitations and so few spots that
ono would really care 10 inhabit
Marshall pass does very well for once; II
is an experience and noyelty--what else Is
there in life to make it livable save new
experience or the hope of one2 Such a
getting up precedes the rest at the summit /!
We stopped for breath while the locomotive
pulled and painted as If 1t would burst its
brass bound lungs; then we began to climb
again, and to wheeze, fret and fume, and Il
seemed as if we actually went down on
hands and knees and crept bit when the
grade became sleeper than common. Only
think of it a momentum incline of 22C
feet to the mile in some places, and the
track climbing over itself at frequent inter-
walls. Far below us we saw the terraces we
had passed long before far above us lay
the great land we were SO slowly and pain.
fully approaching. At last we reached the
summit, IL, $40 feet above sea level--a God
torsaken district bristling with dead trees,
and with hardly air enough TO 90 around.
We stopped in long she'd built to keep
of the sky, Isuppose. Gellants prospectoe
for flowers and grass blades and received
the profuse thanks of the fair in exchange
for them. Then we glided down into the
snow lands that Law bevond--plidnd with n
dal,c;o,o samoa ~ ra,;as Co. n fo,jou, ,,o,,or