The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-11-21

early frosts have tinged vegetation with all
the colors of the rainbow, the first SHOWS
adOrn the mountain tops, Indian summer
fingers I'm the valleys, and the whole scene
Is one of variegated grandeur. Park and
had talked for months about the trip, final
ly decided to start about the middle of Sep
TENDER. So ON Monday the 18TH we mean
dered down 18th street to the city passenger
Office of the Denver Il Rio Grande Ry., the
scenic route of Colorado, where the genial
Col. Mcfarland gave us unlimited informa-
ton about the beauties of the trip, while he
despoiled us of $50, the price of two first
class limited tickets. Our train was sched-
uled to leave Denver at 8 o'clock i'm the
morning: we were OH hand and secured a
desirable seat in the drawing room car,
ready to do the country. The train was the
regular Salt Lake City and California
Express and was made up OF two baggage
and eight passenger coaches, all narrow
gauge, pulled by broad gauge engine as
far as Pueblo. The first mile or two was
through the extensive yards of the Rio
Grande road, crowded with cars, which gave
one faint idea of the railroad and business
interests of the, Queen City of the West
We soon find ourselves passing through
Burnham, Littleton and Petersburg, suburbs
of Denver, where can be seen scores of new
buildings under construction. Off at the
right, beyond Petersburg, can be seen Mill
tary Park and Fort Logan, where several
companies of Uncle Sans troops are quar-
tered. The fort is named in honor of Gen.
John A. Logan. of Illinois. The first point
of interest, according to the railway adver-
Using literature, is Castle Rock; 1t proves to
be o huge boulder at the left of and probab-
ly so feet above the track. 1t resembles
deserted fort from either of three sides, the
rocks having the appearance OF wall laid
by masons. In time its sides will be COW
cred with advertising matter, as wizard
OIL" the pioneer, Is already painted in
glowing colors at the base of the huge pile.
Soon after the brakeman yelps "Palmer
Lake, 10 minutes for lunch" AS we are
supposed to live on scenery for the next few
days we pass the lunch and take to the de-
pot platform to see-what? A lake (?)
about the size of the pond back of Gutes
hill, with two depots, boat house, boats and
band stand as the attractions. The Santa
Fe and Rio Grande, by the free use of
printers ink and excursion rates, have been
able to haul large Sunday crowds of people,
in carload lots, to this spot to bask in the
midday'sun, on the sand-banks of this So
called lake, and they call it ''resorting."
Our next stop is Colorado Springs, the Sar-
atoga of the West. where we change cars for
Manitou and pixies Peak or bust" AT the
station most of the passengers board the
train for Manitou, the mecca of all tourists
and hotel keepers. We put up at The
Mausims, a large frame hotel building, sit
uated i'm the midst of a grove of trees, with
q clear cold stream rushing by at one side
and large lawn at either side. Here we
met Mr.. and Mrs. Oliver Williams. Ollie
at the time was talking $4,000 ''partici-
pating" policy to the landlord s'pose to
offset his Sl2 per day board bill. Allow me
to say, Ollie's motto seems to be Few die
and none escape" wonder If that quota
ton hits any of the OwOssO citizens. After
dinner we four visited the soda, the sulpher
and the iron springs the bottling works,
where hundreds of dozens of "Manitou
Water" are shipped every day to all parts of
the West. The cOg-wheel railroad to the
summit of Pixies Peak is nearing compile
ton and will prove great drawing card to
the town and a bonanza to the Rock Island
the supposed owners. We also
visited the relic stores, which are veritable
museums, with everything in the shape of
novelties to tempt the tourists TO purchase
as souvenirs OF the locality. / forgot to
state the town is on spur of the Rio
Grande, five miles from Colorado Springs,
situated at the foot of Pixies Peak, the
most famous landmark in America, 1,400
feet above sea level. The village contains
about 1000 souls, the streets are winding,
lawns are well kept, homes or cottages are
many of them of the Swiss pattern, and the
place is really quite picturesque. Here one
finds themselves in the very heart
Of the magnificent scenery of the
garden of the Gods, Glen Eyre, Blair
Athol, and hundreds of points OF interest.
One pleasant feature is most of the attrac-
tons are in easy walking distance and the
drives are broad and smooth, which afford
IN excellent opportunity TO see the sur
country. There are no less than
4 dozen first class hotels where person can
obtain pleasant quarters by day or month,
rates to suit the pocket. The next morning
we four engaged three-seated park phae-
,on and driver and made the circuit, visiting
he Garden OF the Gods and other localities,
bringing up for lunch at The Antlers, a
famous hotel of Colorado Springs. The
,ity has population of IL, 900, made up of
lung hunters" retired millionaires and
boarding house keepers. 1t is said the eli |
mate is so very healthy that after the town
had been established some time the author
tiles borrowed corpse to start cemetery. |
The city is handsomely laid out with wide !
and clean streets, well kept lawns, and the |
homes are modern and very many of them |
are large and expensive. 1t is a ''dry" town,
no liquor allowed to be sold within the cor |
pOrate limits. Twenty-three millionaires |
are said to make their homes here. But we |
mnst move on. We left Mr.. and Mrs. w. |
1t the hotel and took the afternoon train for |
Pueblo, the second city in size i'm the state. |
AS our train was late we had no time for a |
irive about town, can only say the city is |
,ne of 10000, a ohustling manufacturing |
own, destined to make its mark in the |
West. Here we will leave you. In our |
lext grab bag will try and interest you in |
description of the Grand Canon, Marshall |
Pass and the Black Canon.
Yours very truly.
ToNTINE.