Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1890-12-10

is very frequent thing in summer for
people TO lay awake nearly all night on &C.
count of the heat. This never happens in
Colorado. People can sleep here when
they can nowhere else.
Denver has long been noted for having
the finest opera house in the country, viz:
The Tabor Grand Opera House, built by
Senator Tabor, but the new Broadway the
ater, just completed, is even finer than the
Tabor, and is a building of which the citi-
zens are very proud. II has a seating ca
pacity of fifteen hundred and is luxuri-
ously fitted up. The new postofice is pro-
crossing finely, but while il is a splendid
building, the business men all declare it to
be too small for the city.
Denver has several city parks and pleas
ure resorts on the outskirts of the city,
but as yet they have not been much de-
veloped. Taken altogether Denver is a
very fine city, and for any one seeking
health or place to go into business it is q
very good place. There are some things
about the city that are not what they
should be. The sidewalks are very poor,
but they are being rapidly fixed up and
leveled; and as there are no paved streets
in the city, in the winter the mud gets to
be pretty deep. To any one going out
Il
would say that the grandest scenery in all
the United States Just begins at Denver,
and he who goes as far west as that and
then goes back makes a great mistake.
Excursion parties leave Denver every day
during the summer and fall to visit the
places of note not far from Denver These
trips are very enjoyable, and one can see a
great deal of this beautiful western scene
~ at small expense. For instance, you
can take the Denver and Rio Grande rail-
road and go to Colorado Springs, the great
health resort, and it is only a very short
distance from there to Colorado City, or to
Manitou, where the great soda and iron
springs are located.
In going from Denver to Colorado
Springs rode most of the time on the
rear platform of the last car, and a young
fellow who had lived in the west many
years pointed out the objects of interest to
me as We rode along. i never had SO
much pleasure on railroad or steamboat
trip in my life, and the only way to ap-
preciate this scenery is to see it. No one
ever lived that could tell you about it. All
these descriptions and articles written on
the scenery of the Rocky Mountains are
pretty good, but "the half was never
told" and couldn't be. Castle Rock is a
big rock that looks as if some giant had
set it out on the plain and there it STAYED.
Then comes Casa Blanca, q massive white
rock one thousand feet long and two hun
dred feet high, that looks like huge cas-
tie. But the pretty place is Palmer lake.
1t is on the summit of the great divide and
is fine little lake. 1t is so equally poised
that its waters flow through outlets north
ward into the Platte and southwark into
the Arkansaw river.
After Palmer lake may be seen wonder
full formations of brilliant red sandstone
which look very much like castles, towers,
ETC. One place, called Phoebe's arch, is a
big piece of pinkish red rock, through
which there is perfect natural archway.
Just as you approach Colorado Springs
you can see the gateway to the Garden of
the Gods and Pixies Peak, with an altitude
of II, lat feet; and who hasn't heard of
Pixies Peak with its snow covered top. If
any reader ever happens to be out this way
and wishes to make the ascent on the little
burros, don't let people tell You that you
can go up and back in a half day, for ii
cannot be done. Tourists with little time
are very often induced to undertake the
ascent under the idea conveyed to them by
guides that this feat can be accomplished.
But they always change their minds.
There is railroad up to the top now that
is eight miles long, bat they have stopped
running till next year. 1t takes two hours
to make the trip up to the top on this
road Travellers need have no fear about
riding on this road, for il is a better one
than that running up Mount Washington,
which is used by hundreds of people every
year.
Colorado Springs is the great health re
| sort of this country. A stranger alwayi
| notices the great number of invalid
strolling about, doing nothing notices
| particularly some people with fat, ros,
| cheeks, but who coughed now and then
/ spoke to one of them and said, ITO heal
You cough one would think you had th'
consumption" 'I have, he replied, s'bui
/ am getting over it." He was young
| man of twenty-five years of age and wa
| apparently in the best of health, but his
| cough gave him away. While there AT,
| some of the finest hotels in the west il
Colorado Springs, thsre are nearly fiv'
hundred private boarding houses wher'
one may obtain board at very REASONABLE,
rates, and when / said nearly five hundred
| it was no exaggeration, for nearly ever,
house in the place has a sign out statinl
4 that board and room can be obtained there
| 1 mention this for the benefit of any on
| who might visit this fine place, and yet no
| want to spend toomuch money. Colorad,
II II n NNNl VI NCAA AAAOue@AlAA
| tants and has an altitude of over six thou
sand feet. 1t has two daily papers, fin
/ schools and all the modern improvement
of an eastern city. But there is one thin
/ about this place that recommends it yer,
much. There is no liquor or beer sold il
Colorado Springs by the glass, not even ol
the sly, and the only way to get any whis
/ ky or other intoxicating liquors is to buy
| quart at the druggists. The reason of thi
/ queer state of affairs is this: When th
| city was laid out and surveyed there wa
inserted in every deed of transfer claus
prohibiting, upon pain of forfeiture, th
sale or manufacture of alcoholic liquors o
the premises transferred. This clause ha
been contested several times, but it didn'
do any good, for the clause was always d.
cided to be legal.
Manitou Springs, or Manitou, as it
generally called, is about five miles froI
Colorado Springs. A party was made u
at that place to take drive to see Manito
and the surrounding country. The bes
way is to have driver who knows th
country, for then you get your money
worth, for he will show you many thing
| stranger would never notice, and il onl
costs fifty cents more. We started an
drove over to Colorado City, the old cap
tai of Colorado, and the toughest place
the state. 1t has the regulation concel
hall and gambling houses of the sma
towns of the west, and was once a yer
hard place, but its moral tone is slowl
improving. Its chief industry is the pr,
duction of beer. The drive from tn
| place to Manitou is beautiful The roa
passes through clusters of cottonwood an
willows, which grow on the banks of
very pretty brook, and through the tre
can be seen the huge pinnacles of red sto1
of the Garden of the Gods. Just as yc
enter Manitou on both sides of the ros
is little brook. Every person seeing
for the first time thinks that the broc
is running up hill, and more than OF
tourist goes away with the idea that
] has seen water running up hill. And
: looks as if it really did run up hill.
is an optical illusion due to the mou
tains. As rode along it seemed as if
J was riding up hill, but the driver sa
| we were riding down hill. 1t is for th
reason that the livery stable keepers
the neighborhood always want to send
driver with eastern tourists, for VIII.
they are riding up hill they think tn,
are going down hill, and they think Il
horses ought to hurry a little bit, al
/ the consequence is that they tire out t
horses verp quickly.
: The springs at Manitou are some
} the finest in this country. They are 6
in number, varying in temperature fro
t forty-three to fifty-six degrees Fahrenhe
r and are strongly charged with carbon
. acid. These springs have from time il
memorial enjoyed q reputation as healil
, waters among the Indians, who, VIII
( driven from the glen by the inroads of ci
f ilization, left behind them wigwams
t which they used to bring their sick,
3 lieving, as they did, that the great spi
: breathed into the waters the health of Ii
f They bathed and drank of them, think
t thereby to find cure for every i'll. We
l -.