La Junta tribune. (La Junta, Bent County, Colo.) 1881-1939, 1898-10-15
DENVER'S GALA WEEK
FESTIVAL OF MOUNTAIN AND
PLAIN.
The Weather Was Good. the Crowds
Large. the Entertain ment Varied and
Interesting Things Done ON an Elabor.
ate Scale

Denver, Oct. 4.-The initial day of
the fourth annual Festival OF Mountain
and Plain was Il satisfactory one.
While the weather was not IDEAL. being
little cool. il was pleasant. AS is
usually the case on the first day. the
Incoming crowd OF carnival visitors
was a lHrgc one. According TO the rail-
road officials. the arrivals Were from
twenty 10 thirty per cenI. greater than
they were on the first day of last years
carnival. A conservative estimate or
the arrivals yesterday placed the num-
Der at iS.oOo. To accommodate the
many persons desirous of coming to
Denvcr the various railroad companies
were forced to run no less than twenty
eight extra trains In addition TO the
great number of additional trains that
were put on, the size OF the regular
trains were increased by several cars
each. Even then The railroads Were
scarcely able 10 accommodate the peo-
Pile coming to the carnival. Both the
regular and extra trains were crowded
to their utmost capacity.
The crowd was "A happy. good ma
tured one and all seemed bent on hav-
ing good time.
The opening event of the carnival
was the usual parade nj 2:30. 1t was
Fa'iiptN ~
sharacter being somewhat different
from that OF former years. The dis
play of natural resources and manufac-
iured products being omitted, Their
place was taken by many floats repre-
scnting United States warships,
among them being the Olympia.
Brooklyn, Puritan, Gloucester and 9th
ers.
While the dummy cannon that point
I'd from their decks did not thunder
and beich fame. the sailors made up
for IL by shooting OF cannon fire crack
ars. On the decks OF the vessels ap-
peared their well-known commanders
who were greeted with cheers by the
crowds. There We're floats representing
the negotiations for the surrender or
Santiago and the final transfer OF the
city. Other floats represented Peace
Ceres. Colorado, and various subjects
Of an allegorical character. There
were bands by the dozen in the parade.
stationed at intervals which never per
miited the sounds Of music to die out.
The Apache and Ute Indians
marched In the first division. led by
''Buckskin Charley" and yellowstone
Bill'' As usual. their appearance was
the signal for much handclnppinG and
many complimentary expressions. a
cleaner lot of Indians and Indian
clothes were never seen in Denver.
The decorated carriages constituted
very attractive part of the parade.
Pretty women. fine turnou's, splendid
horses and brilliant colors were Its dis
tinguishing features. The season for
natural flowers Is past. but ingenuity
and good taste produced effects from
tissue, cloth and panpas plumes that
clothed each rig in the beauty Of nat
ural blossom.
The third divIsion Of the parade was
devoted to display OF the Fire De-
partment. There were twenty-eight
pieces of apparatus in line, represent
Ing the entire department. saving occn-
sional pieces left in the stations for
emergency calls 1t took fifteen min
utes for this division TO pass the grand
stand and every minute of the fifteen
was filled with the plaudits OF the null
titudes. The opinion was expressed
generally that the men of the depart
inent had covered themselves with
slorS.
The grand stand. seating $4,000 was
packed and presented magnificent
spectacle In the afternoon sun.
In the evening biograph pictures
were exhibited before the grand stand
while a fine display Of fire works was
made at the City Park. where an enor-
mous crowd was in attendance.