Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-08-23
A Trip West.

a Trip west.
Arriving at Montrose, whence you
journey southwark by branch line of
the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, if
you look westward from the town, your
vision will range across the beautiful
valley of the Uncompahgre River stud
ded with green fields and thriving
farms, and beyond, over the pinon and
cedar-clad mesas, which stretch far
away to the horizon, and W hose luxur-
liant grasses nourish. and pine forests
and deep ravines shelter. thousands of
well-fed sheep and cattle. Then turn-
ing toward the south you will behold,
some thirty-five miles away. the lofty
peaks Of the Sierra San Juan, the high
est of which. Mounts Abram and Snef-
fies; and Uncompahgre, and Stray
Horse and Potosi peaks, rear their
hoary crests some IA. 900 feet and more
above the level of the ocean; and at
their feet, and In the shadow of their
giant forms, lies the little town we are
journeying toward--Ouray.
And as you steam along the valley,
when about five miles distant from
Montrose, you pass the home where
lived and died Ouray, the great chiet
of the Uncompahgre Ute Indians, whose
tepees as late as 'S1 were pitched along
the river. Two miles further where
you see floating the stars and stripes,
is the Cantonment, where are quarter
ed some 400 U. S. troops, and onward
over the great Uncompahgre irrigating
ditch, or artificial river, which has re-
claimed thousands upon thousands of
acres,,of hitherto unproductive soil. past
the adobe ruins of the old Indian agen-
cy, and then passing through canon,
you glide along between sandstone
cliffs, through fourishing ranches, then
winding among sage brush and cactus
covered slopes, and pinon and cedar
clad foothills, until within ten miles of
your destination, where you emerge in
to the lovely valley known as the I'm
compahgre Park.
And now as we approach the head
waters Of the river the scene changes
pinon and cedar give place to aspen,
sage and cactus and bare rock, to grass
es, fruits and flowers. The streams get
clear as crystal as they plunge madly
oyer the rocks, and you enter what used
to be to the Indians a land flowing
with milk and honey.
Here were his streams of pure cold
water, bea utiful aspen groves, the best
of grass in the greatest abundance, and
profusion of wild fruits and berries,
while the whole country is a perfect
flower garden. In this park, about
nine miles from Ouray, are some very
large hot springs, the temperature of
which nearly reaches boiling point and
are impregnated with iron, salt and
lime, and the alkalies.
The park is bordered on the west by
straight line of cliffs of sandstone
capped with volcanic rock, gradually
increasing in height towards the south,
and on the east by slopes more or less
steep, from the Uncompahgre peak
group and its spurs.
Within two miles of Ouray this park
narrows into a magnificent gorge
bounded on each side by sandstones of
the car boniferous age, and sloping back
ward from the edge, dense forests of
pine and quaking aspen timber, the
whole crowned by jagged peaks and
truncated masses Of trachyte, the sum-
mits of which are ten to fifteen thous-
and feet above tide water. From this
gorge you emerge into the beautiful
amphitheatre in which.,stands the now
justly celebrated little town of Ouray,
and no matter at what season you visit
her, whether the whistle of the hum
ming birds wing he heard, as he darts
through the flower scented air of sum-
mer, or whether the snow banners are
blowing from her peaks, Ouray and
her scenery is ever grand, ever indie
scribably beautiful.
The town numbers about 1000 in
habitants, and lies in an amphltheatre,
the mountains entirely surrounding it,
with the exception of the narrow gorge
by which you enter to heights of from
three to six thousand feet above 1t, and
being thus walled in, it is sheltered
from the storms, and as winter resi-
dence at such an altitude, e, 800 feet
above sea leveD. its equal is not to be
found in Colorado.
After laying over in Ouray two days
viewing the scenery, concluded to go
up in the mountains, so we parted COM
pany with two of the boys, T. G.. and
j. B. They concluded to lay over
awhile and let work come to them; but
as told them, if they never looked for
it they would never get it. So on Friday,
June 9th, at P. NJ, we started to climb
to the divide, over 1000 feet higher
than we were, which would make US
about IA 600 feet above the sea level.
We got started and did very well for
the first half mile-it seemed the farth-
er we went the sleeper it got. About
every 800 yards we would have to stop
and rest. We met q man on the road
and ask him how far it was over to the
basin. He told US it was only about
six miles. We were congratulating
ourselves on the time we were making
and it put us in better spirits to go Oh.