The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-08-30
REPUBLICAN COUNTY TICKET.
ALITTLE JOURNEY.


we went and what we did and how
we enjoyed it that it would seem as
IL few notes and comments might
not be without interest, although
there is really very little TO say.
We got caught in the big washOuts
on the Santa Fe going out, and were
thirty hours later in reaching Denver
than we ought TO have been. After
voting for a generous appropriation to
promote irrigation in Western Kan
sas il seemed something like irony to
be held up for a whole day in this
sa me Western Kansas by floods that
swept away nearly twenty miles of
railway track.
After reaching Denver we went to
Lyons, about IS miles northwest by
rail and from there were taken by
stage thirty miles west into the noun
tains TO a delightful little valley call
ed Willow Park. A cabin, fOr which
previous arrangement bad been made
was awaiting us and we went im-
mediately to keeping house, having
brought supplies with US from lola.
I'm the low country park is place
where there are trees. In the noun
tains park is a place where there
are no trees. 1t is the name common
ly applied to the little grassy valleys
that are found here and there among
the mountains. Our particular park
is about two and half miles long by
three quarters of mile wide. Its ele-
walton is about 5000 feet and it is sur
rounded by high mountains, while
just beyond it is the Snowy Range,
all that section of which is dominated
by Longs Peak which lifts its lOrdly
head Il ,271 feet. The park is travers-
ed by beautiful stream of water, the
Big. Thompson, which is well stocked
W it'll brook trout. Fishing is the chief
diversion of visitors in the Park and
we followed it faithfully enough to
keep our table supplied all the time
with speckled beauties. During the
month we caught something over
three hundred ard ate them all,
One summer when Fred Funston and
Schuyler Brewster and five other
boys were there they caught over 5000
and ate every blessed one of them. 1t
is wonder the boys did not all come
home with fins AMI a tail.
Aside from fishing the time is spent
in climbing the mountains and taking
excursions to various points of special
scenic interest or beauty. The sur
pri sing thing about that country is
the amount of hard work one can do
without fatigue. Que day, for exam
pie, Miss Grace Brewster and Miss
Effie Scott took a walk of twenty
m lies that involved the ascent of a
high, rugged and difficult mountain.
Later Miss Scott and Miss Ruth Ew-
ing joined party that attempted the
ascent of Longs Peak, a feat that re-
quires day of most desperate climb
ing. They were driven back before
reaching the summit by furious
snow storm, but they suffered 40 i'll
effects from the exertion and exposure
and were able To walk the seven
miles back to the cabin the next day.
There is something in the fine air of
that altitude that fills one with life
and vigor and ambition.
There is always a rainy season in
Colorado extending usually from July
to October. But this year, as readers
of this paper may have already in
ferred, it rained much more than
usual. The irrigation bitches were
not used at all, and the holes in the
roofs became very conspicuous. And
strange to say the rains all come from
the plains. The winds that blow
from the west, over the mountains,
never bring rain, but the east winds
invariably do.
The Park is owned by Mr.. Spra-
que who homesteaded it about twenty
years ago and has been farming it
ever since. He raises wheat. which he
cuts green for feed, and timothy and
oats. OF late years be has made most
of his living though of of the tourists
who have come in and boarded with
HIM or bought his milk, butter and
b read. Ten cents a quart is his price
for milk, twenty five cents for butter,
twenty cents for eggs, and so Oh. But
then his season is short and he cannot
be blamed for making as much hay
as possible during The brief sunshine.
During the time we were there there
were probably forty or more visitors,
all told, most of them from Kansas.
A among others were President Taylor
and his family, Of the State Normal
School, Profs. Olin formerly of IOla)
and Carruth and their families, of the
State University. and a number of
other Lawrence people. Those who
do not care 10 board at the ranch may
rent cabins as We did at a reasonable
price, or they may bring tents and
camp without paying any ground