The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1898-06-17
the road bringing into view fresh Wis


nipeg. We pass to the east of Banff,
where are located the famous hot
springs. Just beyond Cascade we
come in sight of Cathedral Mt. "a sheer
precipice of 5000 feet, and so called
because of it's resemblance to a great
cathedral. Twas early morning
when we approached it. In.the east,
Aurora, goddess Of the morning. gave
the first signs of approaching day.
The deep violet blue Of the sky was
unmarried by any cloud save a mass of
fleecy vapor that, hanging low, hid
the mountain from view. Suddenly
the mist floated lazily aside, and as
the first rays of the sun cleaned across
the mountain every spire and pinnacle
was bathed in golden glory. Twas a
glorious sight and, as I looked, my
mind ran back eighteen hundred years
and 1 thought of the morn of the
Resurrection when the veil before
the temple was rent in twain. Be-
yond Laggan we saw the first of the
great glaciers, 1900 feet above US and
twelve miles away. At Stephen we
reached the summit of the Rockies.
Here is the Great Divide, and here
sparkling stream Of water separates,
one branch flowing into the Pacific,
the other to Hudson's Bay. From the
divide the scenery is sublime, almost
terrible. On the right, thousand
feet below, the river glistens like a
silver ribbon. Another great shining
glacier, 800 feet in thickness, is visible
on Mt. Stephen. At Palliser the can
MON walls rise to heights of thousands
of feet and within stones throw OF
each other. Down this awful chasm
60 the railroad and the river, each
disputing the passage with the other.
The towering cliffs, which in places
shut out the MONDAY sun, and the
roar of train and river as re-echoed by
the gradite walk, make the passage
of this terrible gorge a never to be
forgotten experience. The train
emerges from the gorge at Golden,
and the broad Columbia bursts upon
our view. Here the supremely beauti-
full Selkirk Mts. appear, extending in
an apparently unbroken line to the
northeast, When bathed in the after
noon sunlight their radiant glory sug-
gests Asgard, the celestial city of
Scandinavian story. The Rockies are
nearly gone from our vision, only the
loftiest peaks now being visible. After
leaving Donald, where we set our
watches back an hour to conform to
| Pacific time, we cross the Columbia
river on an immense ferry boat. Pres
emily we cross the Beaver river and
the railroad, notched in the mountain
side, rises 116 feet to the mile. At
Stony Creek we cross a yaWning
chasm on spidery steel bridge, 300
feet below which the stream dashes
in splendid cascades. Soon we pass
around the base of Mt. Mcdonald,
| towering a mile and quarter
above u.s. 1t is so bare and stupendous
and yet so near that one is overawed by
sense of immensely and granduer. 1t
is the very climax of mountain scenery.
Rogers Pass, named after it's dis
coverer, Major A. B. Rogers, lies be-
tween two lines Of huge, snow clad
peaks. That on the north forms a
mighty ampitheatre, under whose
parapet, seven or eight thousand feet
above the valley, half dozen glaciers
may be seen at once. and so near that
their shining green assures are dis
tinctly visible. Arriving at Selkirk
Summit, far below and for miles away
we can trace the railroad, seeking the
bottom of the valley by series of ex-
traordinarY curves, doubling on it,
self again and again. Directly ahead
of us is the great glacier Of the Sell
kinks, a vast plateau of glistening ice,
said to be as large as all those OF
Switzerland combined. Picture to
yourselves, if you please, mighty ex-
panse Of shimmering, emerald-hued
ice, with the pale rays Of the moon
light glittering on it's frozen bosom,
yielding in places to the shadows as
if hushed to silence. All about is
piled the white, eternal snow. In the
background the moonlit spires OF Mt.
Donald, soaring upwards as if in a
vain attempt to reach the
heavens. All this but con-
vegs a faint idea of the beauty
Of the glacier by moonlight. Verify,
God has set his seal upon the noun
tains. Continuing on we pass Rose
Peak with its silver mines and ap-
proach Albert Canon. Here we run
along The brink Of remarkably deep
assures in the solid rock, rising
straight up hundreds of feet on either
side. The most striking Of these can
ons is the ALBERT" where the river
is seen 800 feet below the railway, and
com pressed into boiling flume
twenty feet wide. At Revelstoke we