The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1889-08-03
From Colorado.

L mother by SAN BRADFORD, now travelling Il
the West, will be interesting, We are sure
r to many Of his friends in this city:
We went up on the trail to Pixies Peak oil
- horseback. The party consisted Of eigb
t gentlemen and guide. We started from
the hotel at 7 a. m, and arrived at the sum
nit at / pm. 1t was very cold up there
and We went into the signal station to &c
warm and the men there made US q cup o
coffee to drink with our lunch, and l neve
tasted anything better in my life. Afe
lunch we went out to take in the sights, anC
such a layout as we saw can better be imag
ined than described. Looking away to tn,
ives, you can see the snowy range stretching
away for miles and miles. with the summit
covered with snow and sparkling in the sun
light Turning around and looking to the
esst ward you have the foothills before you
Mountains that looked large and grand on
our ascent, now appear to be about tho size
Of mole hills. At the foot Of the peak is
Manitou just beyond is tho Garden Of the
Gods, and beyond this again is Colorado
Springs. Lookingto the northeast you can
see the smoke Of Denver. To the south
ward Pueblo and the Spanish peaks go
miles distanD are plainly visible. The as
cent is commenced by passing through En-
glemau's Canyon, and grand one it is. 1t
extends to the half way house. The first
part is q broad drive, extending to the toll
house, and here we cross the Ruxton creek
and take our way up the left side of the
canon on path scarcely wide enough for
the single horse. The guide goes ahead and
we follow. Here we wind around the sharp
curves in the trail around immense bould-
ers of granite, where, if the horse should
make misstep, or slip, neither horse nor
rider would know what hurt them, for they
would fall hundreds Of feet on to the granite
rocks below. After passing along the Long
Bridge and the Giants Causeway, we again
cross the creek and proceed up the right
side Of the canyon. Here we pass Rosemma
haha. Here we begin winding back and
forth across the creek, and in few minutes
arrive at the Halfway House. 1t is q great
big log house situated in the end of the
canyon. Here We stopped for short rest,
and we sat on the rustic seats and drank
spring water for about half an hour.
Then we started up to get out Of the can.
yon, and crossed the Cascade falls, and
through the portals Of He'll Gate, which
consits Of two immense pillars Of rock on
either hand. Here the trail leads through
a heavy growth Of underbrush, and all the
time keeps going upward. and finally the
growth begins to get thinner, and the trees
are stunted, and in short time we arrive at
timber line, which is II 900 feet above sea
level. Here we found and immense snow
drift. and we all dismounted in order to
rest the horses and engage in snow ball
fight. Just think Of snowballing on June
18th Upward and onward we again take
our way, now crossing immense tracts Of
broken granite ranging in size from the size
Of mans fist to that Of house. The
trail leads through the center of this, and
away it stretches above you to the snow line,
and below you to the timber line.
Here the snow drifts become more fire.
quent and we are glad to get into our over
coats. When within about q mile Of the
summit the guide stops on the edge Of an
immense snow field, and tells us to dismount
and cross this on foot and to keep the horse
as far behind as possible. for the snow here
is between thirty and forty feet deep, and
the crust may not be strong enough to sup
port horse and rider. So we walked across,
and every little while horse would push
one Of his feet through and he would make
the snow fly in his struggle to get it out and
save himself from going in. This continued
for about q quarter Of mile and it made
several Of the party breathe very short, on
account of the exercise and the altitude
which had now reached $4,000 feet, but
your humble servant was not affected that
way particle. From here to the summit
it is much the same over snow and rocks
until we ARRIVE at p. m. at the signal ser
vice house.
Leaving the summit we came down the
same way without an accident, except to a
young fellow from Port Townsend. Wash.
He attempted to ride across the snow field
where we all walked, and his mule went
through and he was thrown about twenty |
feet over his head, and it drove his own
head into the snow up to his shoulders We
got him out, and after getting the snow off
he was all right, and we went on our way
rejoicing, and arrived all o. X. | have
some flowers that picked just below the
snow line, $4,000 feet above sea level, which
will send home later as they are IN my
grip. While was picking them it was
showing so hard that we could not see any
distance hardly, but it only lasted about an
hour. We got back to the hotel at 1850,
having been on the road down five hours.