The Oskaloosa herald., 1904-09-01

L
road is 46 miles long and only to GOV
er is miles Of distance. Quite al
wonderful a piece of mechanism
never saw nor expect to see. BY PEG
| pie who have travelled through the
Alps and European scenery, they claim
this short line trip to Cripple Creei
is yet TO be surpassed. Three Of US
\ got out on the observation car, where
| we could see to great extent better
| than those in the car, and looked un
til we were tired before we got to the
end of our journey. certainly car
not do you justice in trying to de
scribe the trip, as it is one continue,
winding around, going through tun
nels, up steep grades that you would
wonder how train could ever gel
there, and now you look down the
canon for thousands and thousands Of
| feet below, some Of the ravines lined
with large pine trees and again with
beautiful grass. | might mention
here that the forest fires in some
places have played havoc, and ruined
many a pine forest. These fires,
was told, are sometimes started by a
camper going through and happening
to throw down match, or the spark
from the train catching the dead
grass or dry material along the side
of the mountain. Every means is
used to extinguish the fires and keep
them from spreading I was told they
sometimes use wet blankets. / asked
if fire extinguishers were ever used,
and the fellow didn't know. The
rocks to the side of the track are of
so many different kinds, and that is
one feature of this trip; you do not
tire of the sameness as you do on the
Ward or Loop trips. Now you will
see a tall, tall peak about half way,
and this has a flag waving from its
dome. The name given it is st.
Peters Dome,I think getting its name
from the shape, as it looks quite a
little like a cathedral dome. The
rocks you will see sometimes are of
a rotten granite and crumble very
easily. This is used for the under
coat of the paving material they use
mere in Denver, and it is quite solid
when packed as they do here by put
ting layer of sand with it and some
thing like tar to stick it together and
then run an engine over it to pack it
good.
AS we come in sight of Cripple
is NJ his cin &c
You most ever saw, as you are away
above Cripple Creek about 1000 feet,
and this city of $4,000 inhabitants can
be looked over as if it was no more
than town like Lacey.
Tired and hungry again, the hun
cry six" followed the merry crowd,
and guess we had made friends
enough that there were some more by
this time, and all piled into the lunch
counter and lined up ready to eat a
ham sandwich, piece of peach pie and
drink cup of coffee all for thirty
cents tesssE6 NJ q az taste
! good We tried to get one of tb
!, crowd to take our pictures as we wer
there stufing, but guess he was wis
and thought ne wouldn't waste a plat
on us. Anyway it was good enoug
to stick to our ribs, and then we wer
for the trip through the mine.
} Little train holding about twent!
! five or thirty, two in a seat and tn
{ outside fellow holding candle, yo
, are pulled by a donkey into the tut
, mel Of the Bonanza King" gold min
at a distance of $500 feet and S;
, feet under ground. Quite novelt
, for me and the crowd could be hear
here and there jollying the driver {
bowling at the donkey called "Teddy
till the mine was full of laughter.
! had the pleasure Of seeing the Inc
at work digging the ore in which gol
is contained, and their method of ge
ting it out of the mine. l might tie
you of how Anna was the means {
, our crowd having a laugh; we wei
waiting to go into the mine when sh
was standing with her back to tn
+ donkey as he was hitched to a pos
., in the rear, when he let loose hi
| braying, and jump,-well, I shoul
T say she did, and another concourse {
I shouts.
/ When the crowd all got out of tn
! mine we then took the low line tri
to Victor, viewing all the while tn
hundreds of gold mines that line tn
; trip up here. This is done on a tro
ley car, and one of the prettiest on
, would want to see. ] was told tina
, the richest mine up there is Gale
, "The Portland" mining about 80
tons per day, and while there are oil
, ers that put out lots more per day
!. yet the ore is not nearly so valuable
You arrive in Victor and it is now get
ting so high that it is quite cool an
at no time of the year do they thin
of wearing thin dresses and have t
have jacket at all times. Here i
Victor is quite business section an
although the mining region is goin
elsewhere. yet they still are quit
prosperous. Real estate is now n
value at all, as the work Of gettin