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

An Interesting Letter Prom Miss Florence
NJ. Baines, Giving n Graphic Description
of n Thrilling Railroad Trip over the
Rockies.
DENVER, July a7.-Believe me, Mr.. Edi-
tor and myriad Of GLOBE-REPUBLIc read
ers. had firmly resolved soon after my ad-
vent on the ''crest Of the continent" that
my ardent desire to inform disinterested
public in regard to my movements should
healthfully expend itself. have explored
mountain Businesses to my hearts content;
gone on moonlight excursions to the ''Sil-
yer Cascade" picnicked up the Ute Pass
and wended my way cautiously through
subterranean caverns, lamp in hand, at
tended by a stolid guide who delivered his
stereotyped information in a seductive mon
otone.
Through all this unwaveringly adhered
to my first resolution and never once took
my pen in hand" But it remained for q
trip through the Clear Creek Canon, Colo
radios first love-" one OF the most charm
ing excursions have ever taken, To awaken
my old reportial ardOr.
Our party left Denver the grand cr,trcpoi
for tourists, one morning last week. Left
the city sweiteriag under July sun and
were soon out upon the wide extended
plains. carpeted with wild flowers. blossom
ing las Maud's lover swGre his dust would)
''in purple and red" Then there are the
white Mexican pOppies, so eXquisitely fair
and frail, and the golden-tinted Colorado
sunf1ower, which is so popular in the
cnrsage of Denver belle, as blooming on
its native plains.
Our route lies past the ArgO smelters and
the little city of Golden, overshadowsd by
towering buttes and we are soon entering
the colossal rent whose stony p0r-
tails rear hundreds of feet above
ending in crude and rugged crags against
the honny sky. Below roars the stream
which beats itself into milky foam against
Opposing boulders and sends its angry white
spray up 10 the very car wheels. Our party
now retire 10 the rear platform to take in
tie stupendOus charms OF Clear Creek canon.
never realized until l came TO Colorado
how vastly superior TO Pullman sleeper or
reclining chair car the rear platform really
is, or the unlimited capacity it affords.
Today We enjoy the cOmpanship Of gen
tleman from the Buckeye state, represeu-
tatiye from the Queen City and the Com
mercidl Gazette. He is en route for Yel-I
lowstone park, where nature has been
so eXtrayagant in geysers. A bright
and charming young girl from the San
Juan country, brim full Of western enter
prise from the crown of her proud little
head to the sole of her dainty foot is an
agreeable accession to the party. Rico, one
of the rudest little mining camps in the
state. is indebted to her for its newspaper,
and there she toiled through one long and
dreary winter. cut off from communication
with the outside world by an almost in
terminabls snow blockade. Another mem
Der of our coterie is Mrs. NJ. S. Fuller, who
spent year or so in Springfield, and is
now stenographer for the Union Pacific
road in Denver Two New York
ers afflicted with anglomania, a
Denver gentleman and all are men
toned. How grandly beautiful
the canon is, with the road-bed of the Col
orado Central, blasted out of the solid rock.
The pines and bushes have climbed to the
very submits OF many crags, and then
looms up the sterile rock TO the enormous
height, with perhaps one pine tree, like
lone sentinel stationed at the top. The
gentleman from Cincinnati discusses the
geological formations with the resident of
Denver, but the brilliant hued rock reminds
me of nothing so much as CASTLE soap-a
simile which | am conscious is at once
p0etical and exact.
sudden bend in the canon, and we are
at Forks of the Creek, where everybody
alights and eats pie. Such pie! Never
since the halcyOn days of my childhood
and the Thanksgiving pies Of my grand
mother has anything in the way
of pastry been one-half so satisfactory to
my palate. Whether it is the mate good
ness of the pie plant" and berries, or the
cool crisp air, the pungent odor of the pines
and our mountain appetites which east a
glamour over the pie, do not stop to ques-
ton. 1t is all my fancy painted it, with
fiaky white crust and generous inside, made
am sure by some good old New England
cook, now immured in one OF those lone lit
tie cabins along Clear creek, and living in
arcadian simplicity. Leaving the station
around which fond memories of pie will
ever fondly cluster, We dart along under
great projecting rocks, hugging first one
side of the canon and then the jutting
ledge which defines ii on the other.
Our train twists and g.. curves
through the intricacies of the giant
chasm, encircling In perfect semi-circle