The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1898-07-28
THE EDrroRIaI. EXCURSION
concluded from last week.

From Regina we travelled all night and all
day Sunday, getting breakfast at Medicine
Hat. dinner at Calgary and supper at Banff,
Sunday afternoon we began to see dim OUT
/ lines of the mountains $50 miles away and
only those who have never seen mountains
before can appreciate the eagerness with
which we scanned the horizon for a glimpse
of the famous Rockies. In the meantime
we had left the level prairies and beyond the
Calgary the landscape becomes more and
more broken, the hills rising in successive
terraces, with tops as level as floor. At
one point we saw a flock of sheep winding
down the hillside in an unbroien stream
nearly a mile long. And when late in the
afternoon we rose suddenly up to where the
snowclad peaks of the Rockies were plainly
visible above and beyond the ranges of hills
EXPLANATIONS of delight aud wonder were
heard on all Sides And then how slowly we
seemed to approach them though Steaming
along at the rate of 30 miles per hour. For
several miles the track skirts the Bow river
and at the entrance to the mountains the
train halted long enough to give us an oppor-
tunity to view the magnificent kananaskis
falls of the Bow river From this point on
| the mountains rise abruptly on each side OF
| the track in great masses streaked and cap
ped with snow and ice, and the railroad
winds and twists around and between these
mountains, continually mounting higher and
higher. and with each step presenting new
and grander view of its huge environs. The
| excursion partly reached Bantf, twenty miles
| from the Gap where we entered the noun
| tains at IL o'clock Sunday evening and pro-
ceded to the hotel for supper. From the
station we could clearly see the lights OF the
hotel twinkling through the trees apparently
about a quarter of a mile away but it proved
to be as long mile and a half as we ever
walked, atfordng o very practical example
of our inability to judge distances in the
mountains. Banff is a fayorite summer
resort. 1900 feet above the sea level. 1t is
famous chiefly for its hot sulphur spring, but
possesses many other charming features in the
way of mountain scenery. drives. etc. On our
return trip we took breakfast here remaining
four hours to enable the editors to try Che
baths and visit some points of interest the
writer picked twenty distinct varieties OF
wild flowers in the course of q mile walk from
the government sulphur springs basin to the
station. Our train laid over at Banffs till
o'clock next morning in order to have the
whole day in the mountains, and what Gay
it was! For forty miles beyond Bantf, and
for some distance before reaching that sta sion
the railroad skirts the banks of a rushing or
rent following it's SinuouS curves now on this
side now on that, crossing and recrO i5iny the
beautiful stream many times, and often run
ming along on an embankment only wide
enough for the track, whose foundation is
protected against the turbulent waters
by a ritf-raff of rocks and logs. And then,
those wonderful Rocky mountains Of which
every turn in the track presents a new view.
The pass becomes narrower till the huge
masses of Scared rock, tipped with masses of
snow and ice, seem to rise at our very feet,
though our excellent guide book prepared by
the Canadian Pacific Railway, tells us that
they are still two miles away. At first we
rush from one side of the car to the other as
some new and unexpected view draws forth
EXPLANATIONS of wonder and delight from
members of the party, but we cannot possibly
see both sides of the track at once, and try to
content ourselves with the everchanging view
from one window. At Stephen we reach
the highest point in the mountains on this
line of railroad, where small rushing
mountain torrent separates just beside the
track into two streams, one flowing to
I1uuSoH Day anu Gllo ObtloF 1lbO the
ocean. This is the Great Divide, and it's
altitude 1896 feet. From here the line de-
sends rapidly. l. $50 feet in the next ten miles,
but not so abruptly as the Kicking Horse
river which is soon 1,0n0 feet below US and one
needs only to remember that it drops over
2.0O0 feet within less than ten miles TO realize
what a magnificent succession OF RAPIDS and
cataracts its course presents, while the beau
tiful prospect is made yet more enhancing by
the hundreds of small streams which come
plunging down the mountain sides to join the
stream Away up on the mountains these
little streams look like streakS Of snow, but
as they approach nearer the snowy WhiieneSS
is seen to be the spray of the madIy dashing
water. We breakfaSted at Field u favOrite
stopping place for tourists, situated at the
base of Mount Stephen. From the hotel
veranda it seems but a step to the base of the
mountain and you would almost swear that a
patch of snow near its top is not over a mile
distant but we were told by one who made
the ascent the day before that it took three
hours of rapid travel to reach the hotel from
that same bank of snow which is not less than
ten miles away on a bee line. One gets q slight
conception of the peculiar effect OF the Iaoun-
tain atmosphere by standing on the platform
of the rear car of a swiftly moving train In.
stead of receding the mountains appear to
follow close on your heels and frequently "a
lofty peak which has been hidden from view,
by lower but nearer one seems to lift itself
up into the sky as the receding train bfingssit
in sight. The effect is truly awe inspiring.
few miles beyond Fields the Il ielStilss Horse
canyon, most appropriately named, where
for several miles the river and the railroad
dispute the passage. Here the mountain sides
become vertical, rising straight up thousands
of feet, and within an easy stones throw from
wall to wall. Down The vast ehasm go the
railway and river together, the Former eros
sidg from side to side to lelges cut ouGof the
solid rock, and twisting and turning in every
direction. and every minute or two plunging
through projecting angles OF rock which
seem to- close tliew way. 1t is worth the whole
trip to so through this terrible gorge. Then
the train suddenly energies into day lght and
we are in the valley between t5e r 3t< ies and
The Selleirk. Travelling fifty miles We have
descended over 2,7C0 feet and now begin
to climb the Selfxirks along tire bank Of the
Columbia river which is left after few miles
and we skirt the bank of the Beaver, rising
at therate of 116 feet to the mile sill the
stream is left a thousand feet below, winding
along in the valleylike a silver thread through
a densely wooded valley. while opposite is a
line of tree clad hills, with occasional snow
covered heads above the timber Inc, ana we