The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-06-28
IN CAMP,
AT THE FORKS OF THE PECOS
AND MORA RIVERS.
New MEXICO June 20, 1S9:

New MEXICO June 20, 1892.
To the Editor of the Eagle.
l have not departed this life, but /
have left the world with all its cares.
and am now living "dolce far niente"
life as l never dreamed of before. Fri
day, June 3. we left Albuquerque and
came to little way station on the Santa
Fe railroad, Glorieta, about seventy
five or eighty miles this side of Albu-
querque. There we hired a wagon to
haul our traps and democrat" to
carry us, and started for this camp,
twenty-three miles away.
For six miles we came over very or
binary road, then we turned into the
canon, and new world lay before u.s..
The road followed the Pecos river all the
way, and with every mile the views be-
came grander until words could not ex-
press its beauty. The Pecos river is the
most beautiful stream l ever saw-very
rapid, clear as crystal, full of round
boulderS that form almost continuous
series of cascades" rolling and tumb-
bling along with roar like mill race.
Sometimes our way ran directly by
the edge of the river. then a few mo-
ments later We would be two or three
hundred feet bove it, perhaps on the
edge of sheer straight up and down
precipice, while from the other edge of
the river rose great tall mountains COW
cred with heavy somber of pine trees.
What peculiar looking place is a
Mexican town. We came through two
little settlements dignifed by the name
of town-but with no postoffice-one
called A1acho, the other Pecos town.
and made of adobe, ana with one little
church surlnounted by wooden cross.
Mexican houses are ''study in brown"
In Albuquerque the one remarkable fea-
ture to. me was. that every window in
them was filed with beautiful. thrifty
house plants, but out in the mountains
here, they seem to have no bright spot
in their houses or lives. Women, child
rem, men, cats, chickens, dogs, goats,
sheep, horses and cattle, all live under
one roof. and if there is creature on
earth who "takes no thought for the
morrow" it is the Mexican, for as they
are content to live like pigs, and care
little what they wear, most of the
problem of life is solved for them.
As we penetrated further into the
canon, the scenery grew wilder and
more beautiful, until about o'clock in
the evening we came by the Royal gorge
and my pen could not adequately de-
scribe this wild grand sight. The sun
had long since fallen behind the western
mountains, and the heavy shadows made
dim mysterious light that added
peculiar beauty TO everything Noun
tains whose tops were hundreds of feet
above US lay on our left hand. some of
them crowned with immense boulders.
and it required no very vivid magma
ton TO transform them into ruined
castles, or grim frowning fortress; on
our right lay the Pecos and from its
banks rose more mountains, each sep
crate peak looking more beautiful and
picturesque than the preceding one. But
the one particular spot that gives the
place its name. was the Climax. Rocks
as impregnable as Gibraltar, lowered
hundreds OF feet over US. with here and
there great tall pine trees nearly one
hundred feet high, giving in places
seemingly night out of the solid rock,
while the artistic brush OF nature had
marked il with a hundred indescribabie
tints. 1t IS 4 great rebuke 10 human
vanity to stand on topof high noun
tain and look down. or 10 stand at tie
foot of one AMI look up, and compare
oneself to them. How small and iusig-
nificent one becomes, how much alike
the high and low, tie rich ana poor, lie
great and small become by comparison .
at night we camped, for the deepest
fords were yet TO be crossed. but an
early start next morning brought Is to
our cabIn--wLere we are ''at home TO
all our friends until Sept. 1st. i sum
Iner home Il Is I'VE took IL ready furn-
ished) aud whatever its lack OF external
beauty, or internal comfort, 1t 5 aioned
for. by calling it picturesque, aud
camping out. Beds made OF small
trees and rough boards, one chair foE
company and pine boxes Tor home fo.ks,
window curtains OF an old tent, TIN
cans. etc, for dishes supplemented by :
few "hand-painied CHINA ones,} prove
to be good enough for comfort, health
and happiness, and the location Is unex-
ceIisd. The Pecos runs about 70 yards
from the hou on one side, the Mora
the same on the other, and il curves ard
comes within Is or 20 feet Of our froEt