Daily Texarkana Democrat., 1893-07-29

this purpose ABOUT o'clock' lahlhg
a bus we quickly passed the Ute iron
spring and alighted at the Manitou
& Pixies Peak Cog railroad, passenger
depot. Tickets to summit and return,
$5 each. Guess we will not often
''ramble" thereon at these rates. A
short description of this road may not
prove uninteresting. The track is
standard guage, with wide and SUBJ
stantial roadbcd and heavy steel
rails, the traction devolving upon two
heavy serrated rails in the center up
on which operate six cog wheels un-
derneath the locomotive. 1t is built
upon the Abt system, lin use in
Switzerland) and the peculiar me-
chanical construction of both track
and locomotive render it absolutely
safe. The length of track is eight and
three-fourths miles, or to be exact,
48,15S feet in which there is total
ascent of 1900 feet or an average of
S46 feet to the mile. The steepest
grades are rise of one foot to four,
and there is very little of the track on
less than twelve and half per cent
grade. The bridges are entirely of
iron and masonry and the track in
the steepest places is solidly anchored
every two hundred feet. The passen-
ger equipment consists of five loco
motives and eight passenger coaches.
The former are unique in appearance
and weigh twenty-five tons each.
They push the cars on the ascent and
precede them on the descent, thus
giving the engineer absolute control
of the train, should any breakage oc-
cur in the couplings. The coaches
are elegant, largely of glass to facili-
tate observation along the route.
Each has capacity for fifty persons,
and the seats are SO arranged that pas
sengers have at all times q level setting.
A constant jostle makes the ride a
rather unpleasant one, but this, one
hardly notices, on account of the ever
changing scenery presenting itself to
the eye-canyons, gorges, precipices,
huge rocks, seemingly ready to fall
upon one, together with distant peaks,
etc, keep all OH the qui vive, lest some
of the grandeur and beauty be missed.
On arrival at the summit the first
thing of all is to take in the magnif-
cent view 1t affords. From that
ethereal summit thousands now gaze
in awful sublimity-the brain dazed
by the vastness of vision, and the eye
can there convey to the soul sug-
gestion of the infinite. Colorado
Springs, fifteen miles away, can be
seen in its entirety, while little but
grand Manitou, lies right at the base
of the mountains; when the atmos-
phere is clear, Denver, 80 miles dis
tant, can easily be seen. Atmospher-
ic conditions not being very favorable,
we could not see Colorado's capital.
There is but little snow on the peak
this year, the heavy wind storms hav-
ing blown most of it away; however,
we found plenty to eat and so was
herewith content Nothing but
rocks, rocks, small and large, to be
seen (under foot.) A stone building,
used as curio establishment, tole-
graph office and government observa-
tory, is the only building. We sent a
short message to the DEMooRAT from
the highest telegraph office in the
world. Atmosphere is very rare at
this high altitude, l4,147 feet above
the sea, which makes every one feel
little "light-headed," and but little
exercise can be taken. One old lady
in our party could scarcely breathe,
and after walking but little, gave up
and had to be carried into the house.
Overcoats and wraps had TO be worn
by all, and then many took cold from
the chilly atmosphere. No one can
ever forget visit to Pixies peak.
Manitou is beautiful little city, in
appearance somewhat like Hot
Springs-hotels, mountains, springs,
etc. II has only about 2000 popula-
ton, but has every accompaniment
and advantage of a large city--water
works, electric lights, etc, etc. Seem
cry and surroundings are by far the
grandest and most beautiful in the
Union, we think--and we have visit
ed every part of the country.
But must close for this time. Will
visit numerous places and points of
interest, such as the "Garden of the
Gods" "Grand Caverns," Rainbow
Falls, Cascade Canyon, Cheyenne
Canyons, Monument Park, etc. In a
later letter will tell Of visit thereto.
We write this very hurriedly, but let
II go for what II may be worth.
j. w. GARDNER.
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