Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1899-10-20
COLORADO SCENERY.
THE UTE PASS G RAND
CAVERNS.
Williams Canon - The Garden
of The Gods-Cave of The
Winds.

special correspondent to the Evening Capital
Two lofty tablets OF comedian colored
sandstone. sit directly opposite each other
about 50 feet apart. and rising to height
of $50 feet. form the portals of the far
famed Gateway. Rising as they do from
perfectly level ground, these upthrusts
present a strangely impressive spectacle.
The "Cathedral Spires" are of a SINH
lar character to the Gateway. but their
crests are sharply splintered into spire-
like pinnacles. The striking contrast
formed by these crimson crags, outlined
against the deep blue sky and gilded by
the high white lights of the unclouded
sun of Colorado. cannot be described.
Paintings have been made in which
artists strove tor this effect. but the re-
suit was bizarre and garish. Art cannot
reproduce this effect. What appears
crude and violent in colors on canvass.
appears strong, brilliant and harmonious
when beheld in nature. In the Garden
of the Gods, solitude is unbroken by the
residence of man, but we found here in
animate forms of stone, quaint and gro
tesque suggestions OF human life. Here
were hints of Athens and the Parthenon,
Palmyra and the Pyramids, Karnac and
her crumbling columns.
After their form the most striking fea-
ture was their color. which glows with an
intensity of red, unknown in any of the
sandstones of the East. 1t is impossible
to describe the WEAKNESS OF this wonder
full garden, which, once beheid, can
never be forgotten. One has the impress
sion OF something mighty, unreal and
supernatural. 1t is truly a Garden OF
the Gods, but of the gods OF the Morse,
Morse Walhalla in some OF their strange
outbursts of wild rage and uncouth play
fulness. The scene is theatrical, and
highly spectacular. The rocks here have
gone masquerading in all sorts of queer
costumes and characters. If one could
live here for months he might find lam
guage flowing in its proper channels and
be able to describe the savage grandeur
OF the sight.
But one must hold his breath in the
first stupor OF astonishment, and words
are useless, worse than useless to attempt
such picture as the Garden of the Gods
presents in its outlying wildness and cru
inous perfection. To fully understand
must see for himself these relics OF ruined
strata, these fanciful images-of things
seen and unseen, which stand thickly
over hundreds of acres like mouldering
ruins of some half-buried city of the des-
ert. There is little of tenderness or deli
cate carving, these ghastly rents and
seams are tragic, and the grandeur of il
all is terrible and gruesome rather than
beautiful. In the Garden of the Gods
one feels that he is in the holy of holies.
that he is on the confines of another
world and that the veil that divides him
will soon be rent asunder.
"Here the New West its ealth unlock ks,
And tears the vail aside,
Which hides the mystic glades and rocks
The Red Man de6ed.
This greenwood girt with tongue and
name,
With spectral pillars strewn,
Not strangely did the savage name
A haunt Of gods unknown"
Leaving the Garden of the Gods we
visited "Glen Eyrie, the site OF a pri-
vate residence owned and occupied in
summer by Gen. Palmer, whose winter
residence is in New York. Glen Eyrie
is most interesting Glen, and although
not open to the public, tourists are per-
mitted to drive through the grounds
every day except Sunday. 1t is situated
in Queen Canon, and the character Of
the monoliths in this canon are even
more wonderful than those OF the Garden
of the Gods. The "Major Domo'' is a
column of red sandstone, rising to a
height of 900 feet, with a curious swell
near the summit, which far exceeds in
diameter the base of the shaft. 1t looks
as though it might fall at any moment in
obedience to the laws OF gravity. The
effect OF one standing under the Major
Domo is said to be the same as when
standing beneath the Leaning Tower at
Piso, Italy.
We neglected to mention the Balanc-
ing Rock at the entrance of the Garden
OF the Gods. This huge rock is balanc-
ed in manner opposed to all laws OF
stable equilibrium, and is an object Of
special interest to the tourist, and IA
vorite spot for photographing ones self
on a burro. Having seen so much of
this worlds grandeur, of the everlasting
hills, of nature in her most majestic,
capricions and fanciiul moods. of savage
wilderness, of the beautiful and sublime,
the gruesome and grotesque. of all in
nature that is full Of surprises and pleas
ure, it was indeed difficult for this col
umn to descend to the common place,
and when we did come out OF the clouds
il was with dull thud. For once we
wished ourselves poet that me might
invoke the muses. and lay a rhythmic
offering on the altar Of their shrine, thus
immortalizing the picturesqueness of
lovely Colorado, one OF the newest por-