Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1898-06-16
A Letter From Rev. KreIl.


Headquarters Co. X 51st Iowa VOL
We arrived at Cheyenne, 519 miles west
OF Council Bluffs at S:35 a. M on Mon
day. June 6. Here they have rocky
mountain time which is just one hour
slower than central time. West OF
Cheyenne on either side OF the track there
ia nothing but gravel and stone. The
grass is very scarce. No houses have
been seen since leaving Cheyenne and
one station is passed. The hills are get
ting larger. Many hundreds OF horses
are grazing over the hills. Some cattle
are to be seen. Large pastures are
fenced, but pasturage is very poor and
surely at later date there is no grass
and the ground must be barren. AT
1870 we see the foot hills OF the rockies
and are now riding upon them. To our
right is granite canyon. 1t is rlghtly
named. The mountains on either size
ara masses of granite and the valleys
are deep enough for canyons. Grass
grows along narrow strip at the bot
tom which looked like a ribbon. The
road bed of the rail road where we are
now hating was blasted through solid
granite. No houses are to be seen except
section houses. All is wild nature
Great piles of rock are to be seen piled
M lust as nature piled them. Upward
and still upward we go. The scenery is
now enrapturing to one who has never
before seen mountains. To our left IN
the distance we see mountain covered
with snow which looks like silver. Many
of the peaks have nothing upon them
but rock. They are mass OF barren
rocks. The scenery becomes more en-
chanting all the time. Some large heaps
of stone look like ancient castles, some
like monuments and others like toad
stools. The great gravel pit where two
engins we're loading fiat cars with gravel
on the top of the mountain crest for
ballast we're interesting sights. We are
now, at 1:25, on the crest of the rockies
the highest point we are to pass over. Ii
ia inst 8247 feet above the ocean and 552
miles west of Council Bluffs. Here is
Ames' monument erected of granite and
ia pyramidal shape. Thisis at Sherman
We now shall begin the descent toward
Ogden the terminus of the U. Z. X. IL
and toward Salt Lake. At LAB p. m.
we see in the distance the dark outline
of mountain ridge and it's top is silveret
over 80 beautifully with the reflection
from the snow. Next we cross yer,
high trussel with wonderful scenery o
rocks and deep canyons. just to on
right four or five miles away is forHa
ton of stone very tall on level plateau
rising high up and perpendicularly OF
each side. 1t is of a light color ant
resembles a castle of the middle ages
Many such are seen. At 800 p. m. W
left Laramie. 1t is beautiful city o
about 1000 inhabitants. 1t is on plat
eau surrounded by mountains on al
sides. To the south is a most beautiful
snow capped mountain which l suppose
was eight miles away. Great was m
surprise on learning that it is forty mile
away. We have seen it for several hour
and it is still in view. At $3.50 two ante
lope happened to be inside of the "a
road fence. As our train came up the
ran on ahead for over two miles. On
crossed over the track ahead OF the trai
and kept ahead till it came to hous
when it halted and we passed it only
few rods away. 1t was real beaut.
tan colored with large white spots
places and good sized antlers. We sa
many others. They seem to aboun
here. A number of other wild ANNA
were seen. The elevation now
1853 feet. 1t is much warmer than O
the crest, yet we are only about IL
feet lower. This is $50 miles from Coul
Gil Bluffs. Another beautiful scene hi
Just been passed; we could see from IL
mountain side stream wind throug
buo Ndlioy anu tue llSnt VI lue Bun Ill
sky made it look like silver thread. A
day long we could hear on either sic
ooh boys just see there" and "Oh no
beautiful" "Isn't that rich etc.
6:45 we arrived at Carbon, $50 miles fro
Council Bluffs. is quite mining tow
Here we see the tallest mountain V
have yet seen, its top is covered vii
snow and as we were passing near it '
guessed it to be but one mile away, b
great was our surprise to learn that '
were twenty miles from it. This may
correct. 1t is now $50 and it seems b
little if any farther off.
Up at 5, all the rest are still in be
Yesterday at 5 a. m. we were still i'm
desert. Perfectly flat plateau with
abrupt mountainous border in the d
lance. All is barren. We crossed
river with perpendicular banks as il C
out by the hand of man. Quite CT
iosity. We soon came to several mil