Cañon City record., 1903-12-24
TRACKWALKER'S STORY.
An Ex-EmpIoye Of the D. & K. q.
Railroad Company Relates
Some Interesting Phe-
nomena Of the Roy.
nj GORGE.
n Gorge.

al Gorge.
Whether the dark recesses Of the
Royal Gorge are the abode OF the Sup
erpstural or not has for several years
been a mootcd question among people
who are familiar with that marvellous
creation Of the ages. or those that in
cline to belief in psychic phonomen-
on credence Is given to the report, cur
rent from time to time, OF weird forms
and mysterious music being seen and
heard in that tremendous chasm in
the mountains which the river has
created In the unnumber-d miileniums
that have the in,ervened since "the
everlasting hills" protruded themselves
through the mighty deep, which covered
the earth when the Divine fiat went
forth that there sho uld be dry land
for the habitation OF man.
From the dawn of human history
down to the present time . considera-
BILE portion OF mankind has had .
faith in the existence Of an incorporeal
elass OF beings, although the idea Of
their forms and funcsioss were ne
bulous and fantastic. The ancient
Greeks peopled the summit OF Mount
Olympus with . race Of gods and demi
gods who were popularity supposed to
control the destinies Of the nation.
The japanese Of the humbler class
attribute . supernatural citisenship 70
the heighths Of their sacred mountain.
|"Fusi-Yama". The Hawaiians assert
hat their volcano, "Kilsnea'. 10 TIE
home Of "Pele". the dreaded nre god
asss, bot why multiply instances OF
this kind. sufIice it 70 state that one
: half Of the human kind has . tradition
al faith in those intangible. harmless,
and often grostesque. thinEs which
enlight~ned mankind refers to under
the gensric head Of "ghosts".
The most highly educated and In
teliigent among the nations OF the past
believed their mountain crsgs to be
the abode OF ethsrsslised mankind, and
the valleys which intervened, to be the
|home OF eorgops and other fabulous
ncnsters. Modern civilization has not
entirciy eliminated these superstitions
|from the minds OF its beneficisries. and
their literature has invested many OF
the most beautiful and interesting
places Of the Creators hsDdiwork with
romance, based upon their imagined
nssocistion with the supernatural.
The Highlands Of Scotland, the
BLACK Forest Of Germany, the Alps Of
switreriand and the Pyrenees Of Spain
Are renowned In the folklore Of their
as the abiding places OF
shat remarkable class Of intangible be-
Inss, half human. half celestial, which
occupy 90 large = place In the chron-
kcles Of mankind, and Il Is little wonder
khat the Katterskilis Of New York
we're made the scene OF Washington
Irving's legendary story of Rip Van
winki. in which the spparitions OF
Hendrick Hudson and his comrades Of
khe Half Moon are described as en-
kagcd in . bowling contest at the
ritchiug hour Of midnight. II the
places mentioned have their spectres
Ishy may not also Niagara Falls.
yosemite Valley and the Royal Gorge
have their phantoms of the unreal7
Even since Fits Mac, the well known
correspondent, published in the Denver
Post the story Of the d. 4 X. @.
Engineer who saw the shadowy re-
embinnce OF a man, drcssed In the
xarb of convict Of the penitentinry
ktanding on the railroad track i'm
nediately ahead Of him while rounding
\ sharp curve in the Royal Gorge, but
which dissipAted into thin air when the
locomotive reached the place where he
tood, there has been a suggestiveness
f the uncanny about that famous pass
b the minds OF the people who were
{ the time OF its occurrence.
The engineer was 30 astoDished Mt
he sudden disappearance OF the ap-
partition that he stopped the train to
Investigate the affair, but was unable
% find nything to indicate that the
|uppositious man he saw few rods
head under the full glare OF the
InRine headlight was thing Of flesh
Ind blood and he reluctantly resumed
is place In the locomotive cab
thoroughly convinced that he had seen
that the backwoods Tennessean calls
"hnnt". It was an experience that
he engineer has not forgotten to this
az and will remain vivid memory
then all else in the past IL forgotten,
A newer story than the one alluded
has recently come to the knowledge
the RECORD and is the recital OF the
rperiences OF former trackwalker.