The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-09-15
IN THE ARTISTS CAR.
A PleaSurable Trip Over the D. &
r. G. Railway.
THE GREAT WONDER ROUTE"
Marshall Pass to Be Abandoned in Favor of a
Better ROute-LeadvilIe and GlenWoOd
Springs-NOtes of Interest.

cial correspondence of THE HERALD. i
As / made a promise to send you few
notes of our journeying in the artists car,
among the mountains and valleys of Colo
RADIO, 1 seize this present opportunity, while
we are at one of the present terminal
points of the road, to redeem the same.
There would be little of interest in giving
a description OF the main Travelled part of
the route The Castle gate, the Black
canon Of the Gunnison, the Marshall pass,
etc, are too well known by the travelling
part of our community to need special re
ference; although there are very few peo-
pie, indeed, believe, who have the oppor
tunity to see these same places under such
favorable circumstances as we have been
enabled to from our special car
THE BABY GAR
the boys along the line call it-stopping
where and when we please and passing
through all the scenery in the day time.
You can hardly imagine the ease we enjoy
on board our car-our comforts, while be-
ingwheeled along through canon depths and
over mountain submits Now that we
have the car arranged all ship-shape, the
ladies prepare meals with all the ease and
elaboration that they could in their own
kitchens, so while the passengers in the
coaches-we pity them nOw-are rushing
pell-mell to swallow their haSty meals, we
take our comfort, form our circle around
our small table and eat our steak, (by the
way Colorado steak Is good, sip our tea or
coffee, and feel an utter Indifference to the
erst-while startling cry of the autocratic
conductor, "all aboardp' which is very
,f,l1
after the years of patient serVitude we
have been compelled to yield.
As L said before, l will not trouble
you with the sights along the line
of the Denver & Rio Grande proper,
but, thinking that it will be new to UtOn-
ians at least, render you a brief running ac-
count of the trip from Salida, on the Ar
kansas river, to Glenwood springs, the
present terminus of the Eagle creek
route, or
THE "wONDER ROUTE
as friend C. r. Savage suggested that it
ought to be called. Our car was hitched to
the train that leaves Salida at 6 p. m, and
at sunset we were being dragged at a high
rate of speed for such a steep grade, up the
wild and rocky gorge known as Browns
canon. This, the beginning of the route
that is TO practically render almost useless
the present route over the Marshall pass
shows plainly the vast amount of labor and
capital necessary to conquer these rugged
heights for the iron steed (pardOn the plati-
tude), but as we proceed further to the
northwest we are led to see the wisdom of
opening up this new road, whichis not only
to do away with the awful climb up Mar
shall pass, with its everlasting turning
and twisting, but will also give the tourist
an opportunity to see even more grand and
inspiring glimpses of gigantic mountains
and gorges than even that place and the
Black canon of the GunnisOn afford.
After leaving Browns canon our atten-
ton was held captive by the solemn gran
deur of the Collegiate range of mountains
that lay on our left. OF these monster piles
of rock Mounts Harvard, Princeton and
Yale are the highest SUBMITS In a pass
between the crests of the two first named
is situated the alpine tunnel,n on the
Denver a. South Park and Pacific branch
of the Union Pacific. This tunnel is, be-
lieve, the highest one on the North Ameri-
can continent.
Leadville we reached at 10 pm. of the
same day. Leadville is, as you are aware,
no longer town to merit the appellatiOn of
TERROR OF THE ROCKIES"
as it once did, but is now as quiet and law
abiding a city as any in Colorado. 1t is
another Park City on a big scale. In wan
dering through its streets l dropped into
the Catholic Church, the interior of which
is quite impressive. l also did Harrison
Avenue, the principal thOrOughfare of the
place. Huge shelters blacken the sky
with their volumes of smoke, and this, tie
principal feeder of Colorado's wealth,
shows no decline from its former import
ance.
Do you know that the ride from Lead
vile to Glenwood Springs is one Of the
most remarkable in the worlds We at
least who have done few other such rides,
give it the palm, as road that will show 10
the sightseeing world the grandeur OF
Rocky Mountain canon scenery. and the
strange sights presented by big mines in
active operation. The scene presented to
the traveller, as he PUSHES past the Rec
Cliffs is such one as cannot be seen from
any other railroad track that | have
ever passed over. The buildings perched
on dizzy heights; the chutes down which
the ore is conveyed to the canon below; the
black tunnel-like openings cut into the face
of vast, perpendicular walls of rock, make
up scene such as strikes establishment
into the mind of the down easter, or the
city bred man from over the seas.
The scene at Red Bluffs realizes the most
inns g.native of conceptions of a western
mining view. Really had never before
seen a mining camp that quite filled up the
mental outline that had once drawn of the
hard, perilous and picturesque life of the
miner in the west The place is inc0n-
ceivably wild and could hardly be over
drawn by the most fervid writer of the
once popular ten cent novel. But here |
had
BETTER HALT A MOMENT,
I find that have got ahead of my subject.
Before reaching the Red cliff we went over
the Tennessee pass, an elevation of some
thing above ten thousand feet From this
summit there is seen vast panoramic
view, embracing some OF the most import
ant features in Colorado landscape. Peaks
and pine-clad ridges are on every hand and
the more stern and rugged features of the
scene are relieved by glimpseS OF fields and
villages in the lower valley.
When we reach the Eagle creek we are
nearing the entrance to the canon of the
Grand river, and here let me re-state that
there is not another ride like 1t on any of
the western roads, unless, indeed it be that
through the canon of the Rio de Las Ami
mas, ard even that is doubtful. This canon
combines the best features of Echo and
Weber, but is much grander; the tremend
GUS walls literally overhang the track in
many places, and, as we rushed along
by the rivers side. now at the
foot of a sheer precipice and anon
through dark tunnel cut into the great
rocky ribs of the mountains, l am ashamed
TO say that we used up all the adiectives of
wonder and establishment in the English
language.
Limestone, sandstone, pordhyry, and
bastard marble make up the formation OF
this remarkable pass, but there, that IS
er.Ju,,. f, l am verging on linked sweetness
lone drawn out" The springs remain to
be mentioned and these are undoubtedly
destined to become one of the most flourish
ing resorts in Colorado.
The town of Glenwood stands on the left
hand side of the Grand river, looking
down. and the principal hot springs are on