The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-05-15
40 Exciting Trip FROM fountain Top to the
paeifit Ocean Over the SteePest Rail
road in the World.

shadows and of dazzling white where IL
strikes fun in their faces. TIE only green
IS the htt.e strip along the Rimae- Further
On We notice a tnifs fux of green cropping
out or tie gray. it is as though the Sel-
Vet was sprink.ed with dust Of ground
emeralds- Here there is a little cactus
and there small bunch OF weeds As We
rise higher the mountains grow sreener
until at level OF Mount Washington We
find them covered with thin coat or
vegetation. As We near the attitude CT
Leadville there is p.enty of grass. and AT
one point We count forty different kinds
or nowsrs at stopping OF our engine.
Taers are butsercups without number.
silver gray moses and flowers of ali COZ
crs. the names OF which | do not know.
AS | remark upon the vegetation. saying
that II Is still very scanty. Mr.. Sherman
tells me thar the fact that there is any
green at all TO be seen Is due to the rainy
season. and that AT other times OF the
year this whole western side OF the Andes
is bleak, dry and almost absolutely sterile.
me foot hills, which, in fact, are noun
tains in themselves. looked as though
they were Of dirt and gravel.
Further up you come into a region OF
rocks. where only bits, of soil are 10 be
seen here and there. In such places every
inch or ground is cultivated. The NOUN
tains are terraeed clear 10 the tops, and
green built up with rocks, and so gradu-
ated that a man can stanc on one OF the
lower steps or Lodges and plant the seed
or weed the crops of the next ledge with
out STOPPING over. Some OF the fields are
not as big as a bedspread, and some on
the opposite side Of the mountain 30 not
look as big pocket handkerchief.
Some patches of corn seem almost mac
cessiole and remind me of the farmers of
West Virginia who are said TO have to
plant their crops with rife. as the HIS
are so steep that they are unable TO stand
long enough on the sides TO drop the corn
In the rows. We see Indians planting and
working in the fields and pass numerous
little villages of one-story houses made OF
sundried bricks, and rooted with t1atch or
sheets of corrugated iron. In most cases
the iron plates are not nailed 10 the nuts.
They are merely laid on the rafters and
kept there by covering them with stones
Many OF the houses are not larger than
dog kennels and quite as sauald as an
American pigsty, and their inha bitants,
who gather around US AT the stations are
OF the Peon variety, dark-faced Indian
men, women and children. / frightened
some of the children very much by posing
them for my camera. They had evidently
never heard of photographs and one little
fellow howled like a Cherokee Indian
when pointed the instrument at him.
The Cathedrais of the Andes.
l have been over every scenic route in
the United States. / have Travelled over
the railroads OF Mexico, and have visited
those parts OF Europe which the world
calls grand. l have climbed the Himala-
vas and have watched the sun set on the
mountains of North China. but nowhere
have / seen anything IKE the scenery of
the Andes. / will not sly that II is more
beautiful or more impressive than the
Alps. the Rockies or the Himalayas. bu,
II surpasses them In some respects. and
its wonders are its own. Here the noun
tains rise almost abruptly upward. You
ride for miles between walls OF rock
which kiss the sky thousands of feet
above you. SOME OF the rocks take the
shapes of gigantic cathedrais. very tenn
Piles OF the gods, their spires hidden In the
clouds. Others look like vast Notifications
walls OF rock TO shut the nations OF the
west away from the riches of this great
continent There are no pretty bits of
scenery such as you see In other noun
tains. Here all is on the grandest and
most terrible scale.
In our ride we climb along the sides OF
these walls. Now we pierce them by a
tunnel high up in the air. and higher still
see another tunnel which We shall reach
later on. We cross gorges In going from
one tunnel into another over an iron net
work of bridge which looks awftslly
pierce wall of rock where a river has
been turned aside that II may. not inter-
fere with the road, and by a winding tun-
mel dash out into what is called THE In
ferniio' or he'll. IL is a slender iron
bridge two miles above the sea, high
M between walls of rock. and out of the
wall we have left great torrent of foam
ing water plLnges. Before us, at the other
end of the bridge there is another wall Of
rock In which there is a black hole pierced
by the track. and a. We look upward bee
tween these walls we SEE as through L
narrow slit the blue sky OF heaven above
this Andean hell. There are j number OF
these hanging bridges or the route. We
stopped at the veruguas bridge. which
spans a chasm $50 feet long hanging to
tunnels 800 feet above tho Nerugnas river.
This bridge was swept away some time
age and for months both passengers and
freight were carried across on cable,
the little car hanging 10 the rope stretch
ed from wall 20 wall across the ffigntfui
chasm At times We saw tunnels above
and below us. The track goes up its steep
est places In zgzag route, SO that at
one time we counted I'VE tracks running
almost parallel below us. Almost the
whole line was blasted out OF the noun
tain rocks On many places along the
line the hills are so steep that men had
10 be lowered In ropes over the edges Of
the precipices 10 drili holes for the powder
which blasted away the hedges for the
track Falling rocks killed some. land
slides swallowed UP others and many died
o! fever.
On the Hand Car.
You can imagine something OF the SEN
sation of going down such road on q
hand car. The reality is wilder and more
exciting than anything You can conceive.
The hand car on which I rode was Of the
rudsst order. 1t was merely platform
five feet long and little wider than the
track, upon four ordinary car wheels. On
tne front part OF the platform strip of
wood two inches thick and about that
wide wss nailed. and at tine back was a
seat much ike that on farm wagon.
The seat had railing two inches high
and il was just wide enough for three
The conductor. a brOwn-faced Indian. sat
in the middle, with his hand on a brake
.xtazaaire. Iin.,.r. raErs.Is 1.nsate