Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-07-01
OVER THE ROCKIES.
The Wonders Seen in Crossing the Crest of the
Continent
San Francisco Chronicle

-
century-C California could boast of a lit
erary weekly capable Of holding its own
with any in the land. This was before
San Francisco had begun to lose her uni
que and delightful individuality i now
gone forever Among the contributions /
to this once famous weekly were Mark |
Twain. Bert Harte, Prentice Milford. |
JOAQUIN Miller, Dan de guile, Orpheus c. i
Kerr c. IT. Webb, "John Paul." Ada |
Glare, Ada Isaacs Menkin, Ina Coolbrith, |
and hosts of others. Fitz Hugh Ludlow
wrote for it a series of brilliont descrip
tive letters recounting his adventures dur
ing recent overland journey; they were
afterward incorporated in volume-long
out of print-entitled, ''The Heart of the
continent" In one of these letter Lud-
low wrote as follows of the probable fu-
ture of Montana:
''When Colorado becomes populous
state the springs of the Fontaine-qui-
Bouille will constitute its Spa. In air and
scenery no more glorious summer resi-
dence could be imagined. The CoiOra-
dian of the future astonishing the echoes
of the Rocky foothills by a railroad from
Denver to the springs, and running down
on Saturday to stop over Sunday with his
family. will have little cause to envy Us
and down the piazza of the Spa Hotel,
mingling with his full-favored Havana
with that lovely air quite unbreathed be-
fore, which is floating down upon him
from the snow peaks of the range"
His prophecy has become true in every
particular. But what would we have
thought had he threaded the tortuous path
now marked by glistening railroad tracks?
What would we have said of the Grand
Canyon of the Arkansas, the Black Can
yon of the Gunnison, Castle Canyon and
Marshall pass over the crest of the con-
tinent?
l suppose narrOw-gauge road can 60
anywhere. 1t trails along the slope of
shelving hills like a wild vine; slides
through gopher-hole tunnels as a thread
slides through the eye of a needle; util
ICES water-cOurses, and turns ridiculous
ly sharp corners in a style calculated to
remind one of the days when he played
''snay-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 shot one canyon by
daylight and marveled at the glazed sur
face of the red rock with never SO
much as a fluff over it. On the one
hand we nearly scraped 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 it flooded the canyon to
the opposite wall that nowhere seemed
more than few yards distant. The
stream was swollen, and went bowling
down the deep ravine full of sound and
fury, which in this case, however, signif-
ed a good deal.
Once we stepped and took an observa-
ton, 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 a few minutes to
contemplate the total wreck of a pal
| ace sleeping car that had recently struck
a projecting bowlder and Immediately
spattered.
The camps along the 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 thin stream of civiliza-
ton that trickles off into the wilderness,
following the iron track, makes puddles
now and again; some of these dWindle
soon enough; some of them increase and
become permanent and beautiful. Night
found us in the Black canyon of the Gun
nisOn; could any time be more appropri-
ate? Clouds rolled over US in dense
masses; at intervals the moon flashed
upon US like a dark lantern. Could any
thing be more picturesque: We knew
that much of the darkness, the blackness
of darkness, was adamantine rocks;
some of 1T an inky flood - a
veritable river of death - wailiug
close beneath US, but quite invisible most
of the time; the night itself a mystery,
through which we burned an endless tul-
nel-like a firebrand hurled into space
Now and then the heavens opened and
we saw the moon soaring among the mon
umental peaks; 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 can
yOns like huge quarries and canyons like
rocky maZes, where we seemed to have
rushed headlohg into cul de sac, and
were in danger of dashing our brains
against the mighty walls that doomed be-
fore Us. There was many a winding
stream which we took at single bound
and occasionally an oasis, green and flow
cry DuU. OIls 81 10" ndDlGdGlOuS anu So
few spots that one would really care to in
habit.
Marshall pass does very well for once;
it is experience aud a novelty-what else
is thek e in life to make it livable save a
new experience or the hope of one? Such
a getting up hill as proceeds the rest at
summit! We stopped for breath while
the locomotive pulled and painted as if
it would burst its brass bound lungs;
then we began to climb again, and to
wheeze, fret and fume, and it
seemed as if we actually went down on
hands and knees and krept bit when the
grade became sleeper than common.
Only thinking of it for a moment an in
cline of 22O feet to the mile in some
places, and the track climbing over itself
at frequent intervals. Far below Us we
saw the terraces we had passed long be-
fore; far before Us lay the great land we
| were so slowly and painfully approach
ing. At last we reached the summit, TO-
$50 feet above the sea level-a God
forsaken district bristlIng with dead trees,
| and with hardly air enough to 90 around.