The Great Falls leader. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1888-1900, 1889-11-13
Salt Lake Correspondence.
interesting Description of Sights and
Scenes along the way.
HOW Brigham Young Came to Utah
and Made his State.
The Boast he Made and how II
Turned out.

A4AAh Slff, OCan, Correspondence
Oh Inc LEADER, Nov. 7, 1es9.-Whether
IN spring, summer, fall or winter, it is
the voluntary verdict of every person who
mas passed oyer the Montana Central R'y
that there is no other one hundred miles
OF railroad travel in the United States
presenting scenery so varied, beautiful
ana sublime. That along the Denver
q R'o Grande through the Grand canon
OF the Colorado consists chiefly in the
lofty and precipitous character of its
rocky gorges; and yet it is called the
"Scenic Route of America
Before the building of the Union and
Central Pacific roads the Alleghanies of
pennsylvania were considered as rough
and rugged country as could be sue
cessfully utilized by the iron horse. The
construction of those first great trans
continental lines was the advent of a new
era In railroading in this country.
The Wasatch tunnel at the head of
Echo; the steep descent down the precip-
ltlous and narrow defles of Echo canon
(where the Mormons fortified themselves
to resist to the death the advance of the
-. forces under Gen. Albert Sidney
Johnston); the cutting CT practicable
route through the almost inpenetrable
narrows, gateways and serpentine wind
lngs OF natures mighty throes IN Weber
canon; the almost incalculable masses OF
solid rock, heavy trestle work, deep cuts
and fills-alone q more stupendous un-
dertaking than all the famed military
engineering achievements of Caesar from
the gates of Rome, through Cis-Alpine
Gaul and Britain, which Rave been the
admiration of all modern military men;
and the almost superhuman work of
blasting road bed from the perpendic
ular face of the mountainous rocks at
Cape Horn, on the Central Pacific; all
these, in rapid succession almost paralyz-
ing the nation with amazement and Civ
ing assurance to the world that Yankee
energy and resources were absolutely in
exhaustible.
More recently we have to record the
Herculean feats of the Colorado Midland,
which, making an eastern terminus at
Colorado Springs, strikes directly west,
intersecting Manitou Springs, the re-
nowned summer resort, then pushing di-
ractlv wast1uor1 thro,,rh $ho r,,oo+ ;pour
mountable rocky barriers known to the
ranges of Colorado.
The surveyors of the Denver and Rio
Grande railway, seeking route from
Denver to Leadville, pronounced it i'm
possible to construct a railroad directly
west from Colorado Springs. They there
fore continued their survey southwark
along the eastern shore Of the main
range to Pueblo, where the Arkansas riv-
er finds its way through the lofty sum-
mits Of the Pixies Peak clusters. The
projectors of the Midland, however, moth
ing daunted, pushed their surveys thro
the selfsame impenetrable region and to-
day they have the shortest and best line
to Leadville-the first six miles of which
is succession of tunnels, there being
eight in number, piercing the solid
mountains of rock.
The awe-inspiring grandeur of piles
stupendous stands out in bold relief
along these lines and, on portions of the
Midland, are pleasant parks and valleys
like desert oases, snugly nesting amid
the snow-clad peaks. There are also
mountain streams, occasionally crossed
that impart much-needed freshness tc
the cold, barren and forbidding rocks
that from their towering nights frown
down upon us.
With all these however, to separately
and singly awaken our thoughts to ma
ture's sublimity, we have on our own
MONTANA CENTRAL, like the lovely mas
terpiece of the Grecian artist, combined
as in one array of associated beauty, the
attractions and glory Of them all Be
sides the precipitiously- grand, the grass
crowned slope, the stream-fed park and
valley, and all the gay scenery that make
the painted landscape glorious, here is
the broad and beautiful Missouri, fol
sixty miles, like an ever-present fountain
of living waters, flowing along side OF
like placid, silver sheen, within sight
Of the track, till the eye of the enchanted
traveller, almost bewildered with the mag
nificent panorama unfolding before him
is suddenly transported with the view Of
broad valley or basin, inc 'osed within
Gordon of plateaus, the Missouri coursing
majestically midway and, forming semi
circular curve around the far-famed city
of Great Falls, disappears behind the
bluffs, below which foam the rapids lead
inc successfully to the Black Eagle, Col
ter. Rainbow, Horseshoe and the Great
falls-the latter being a leap by the
mighty river of one hundred feet.
Rnt 7 sat down to write about the "Clty
of the Saints" where the Jews are al
Gentiles and every saint is sinner, In the
avas of the law. Salt Lake City was
founded by Brigham Young and IA
Mormon pioneers, who entered the val
lev of the Great Salt Lake on the 24tl
day of ] uly, 1847. On that day. standing
on the ground where the great Mormon nor
temple now rears its granite spires &o'
feet skyward-which is thought TO oe
ahont as near as many of the "salnts
70 +hat ssLlest ahOde"-3rlG.