The Marble times and Crystal silver lance., 1901-02-08

gulch hundreds of feet, over a frown-
ing, nearly perpendicular ledge of rock
ere the body had reached the tiny
basin, the human soul had left the
bruised and broken tenement 1t is
impossible to describe ones feelings
as he traverses for the first time this
rugged path.
One feels away from everything that
is safe, has parted from the world, and
is brought face to face with the Ever
Living Creator of Nature, and is apt
to acknowledge his own impotency to
grapple with the creations of Almighty
God.
A snow-slide, and one is buried in
an icy tomb, to be found only when the
hot rays OF an August sun melts away
the enfolding barriers: a false step, the
mere giving away of loose rock
there are many of them-the victim is
dashed to pieces: a binding snow
storm, which is apt to come at any
time, and the only thread left to guide
man to the hospitable cabin of the min
er below in the world of life is gone.
One here is merely spec of dust upon
the enormous altitudinous mountain
crest, and he feels more keenly his eX-
treme sense of desolate weakness as
Nature confronting him becomes grand
er and more terribly gigantic, and
| its latent forces may, from Its very
inactivity, in an instant be called into
play bringing certain destructiont Ito the
adventurous climber.
Along the comb we pick our foot
steps: now up craggy, Jagged monu-
ments of crumbling rock: anon crawl
ing, sliding, slipping down, grasping
and tightly holding on to the inumer-
able friendly cubes iutting out; then
around others which cannot be crossed
over, digging our feet into the steep
glacis, closely hugging and holding to
the perpendicular sides of the crags,
carefully lest we slip.
AT LAST depression in the mountain
is gained. which proves to be miner
al lode, it's course being clearly traced
by oxidation: few hundred feet more
and we have reached the crown of Hay
denis peak, our objective point, and
we'll has our toll been repaid by the
glorious vista before us.
Slowly the mind photographs the
wild freaks of Nature, and anything
more grand, more impressive than the
view from this last eminence is impos-
sible to imagine.
Objective points hundreds of miles
away and around are before the eye in
bold relief. The sun was shining very
brightly, and through raritied atmos-
phere as only Colorado possesses, are
seen the iSangre de Cristo range, the
range beyond Trout lake, to the west
the Wasatch range, in Utah, the Con-
eios and San Juan's to the southwark,
| Pixies peak and Mount of the Holy
| Cross, all as a vast rolling sea of
white crested waves: close at our feet
| lay Natures untold heritage to the
children of Earth, lavish in wealth OF
gold, silver, iron, lead and coal; there
to the north is Aspen and contiguous
mountains. whose pierced sides are sur
charged with an untold deposit of sill
YER; westward lie Conundrum, Maroon,
Silver, Rock, and other prosperous
silver producing territory, while just
across two ranges, tiny speck, nest
ling placidly in the talus beneath the
frowning crest Of crumbling peak is
pointed out as the Sylvanite mine,
where / am informed tons of quartz
containing knotted and twisted masses
of wire silver as pure as ever came
from crucible are daily turned OUT
these are the Elk Mountains and are
synonymous to all that is rich in min
eral treasure.
Far in the distance, dissolved among
the clouds, darkly stands out the geo.
logical 'front range" the Sawtooth,
the Cochetopa, and the far distant
ranges OF New Mexico, dissolving like
ether from the view, loosing themselves
among the shimmering, heecy clouds,
until the eye becomes weary, and the
brain a maze of indistinct grandeur.
Far below our feet, to the west, Con-
undrum creek could be traced from its
source in the hills to its mouth at
Highland, and on the east beneath
our feet rushed and rolled Castle creek
each but as silver threads, and SO
far below that we can scarcely hear
their murmur: the rich, fertile and
beautiful Roaring Fork Valley show
ing glimpses of its sunlit breast; lake
lets, ten and eleven thousand feet high
g. .i3tening and dancing, laughing and
blushing, now a dark green, anon res
plendent in glory of silver sheen,