The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-08-03
SIGHTS OF COLORADO
A Leon Boy, who is Taking in the
Sights of Colorado, Writes The
Reporter Long letter.
Ivanhoe, Col, July II, 1905.

is In q cabOOSe. 1t contains four bunkS,
stove, three cupboards, an ice chest
and few empty nail kegs. The latter
takes the place of Norris chairs. Now
we base our claim to journalism in the
resemblance of our towel to that of THE
REPORTERS. "Loch" Ivanhoe is the
name of the little place at which we are
and is situated on the western slope of
the range, about one hundred and fifty
eight miles from Colorado Springs. 1t
is place that supports one depot, a
water tank and sheep herder's camp,
besides beautiful little lake three
fourths of mile in diameter in which
abide countless numbers of different
kinds of mountain trout. Each morning
you can find ice formed along the edges
OF the water. The operators and sec
tion men tell of four and five pound
trout that they have caught, but the
writer has not even been successful in
even getting "rise." However, l will
not digress farther but will proceed to
describe the climb to the summit OF this
Haegerman Pass. So few go over that
there is no we'll defined trail. The as
cent begins about one-fourtll mile below
the timber line and as most Of the tim
ber has been cut down, one has good
view of the surrounding country. The
telegraph wires of the Midland cross
the mountains and it struck me quite
forcibly that the perspective of the top
poles looked not unlike Bills whiskeSs.
The trail is strewn with the remains nf.
magnificent spruce forest. Some pfi
the stumps show diameter of over two
feet but as we pass along this rapidly
decreases, in fact, almost as If line
had been drawn where the timber
growth had to cease. Numerous kinds
Of unfamiliar wild flowers make their
appearance, many Of which may be seen
growing in the snow. Some Of the Parry
gathers bouquet while the rest quench.
their thirst at crystal spring la
Indian style. Patches of snow are
numerous now and we cannot help but
SNOWFALL. The remains of a lost sheep
are in evidence and we hasten to get
out of range. When one views the Pass
from below the ground seems to be
covered with grass, but as we appoach
this vast and silent region we find that
it is short bushy spruce, flattened as if
some monster avalanche had passed over
it going upwards. This shows the awfnl
force of the winter storms that are
almost continuous at this altitude in
winter. A July rain in the valley turns
into snow here and although the snow
is constantly thawing it seems never to
diminish. We had to constantly coax
Bill along for the air becomes remark
ably rare as we approach the highest
point of our climb and you know Bill is
SO fat. In fact, the others were so slow
that soon found myself long ways
ahead Of them when | struck the top.
Doc had said the "other side was
straight down" but was not prepared
for the magnificent view that met my
eye. All of the old abandoned track of
the Midland, as it zig-zagged up the
eastern slope to the old tunnel, was in
sight, and after spending thousands, yes
proach, the Midland company finally de-
cided to pierce the range lower down
and in doing so cut out seven hundred
feet rise and about seven miles of track.
The rest of the party not having arrived
thought l would venture little way
out on a field of snow that sloped
slightly downward; suddenly my feet
took a notion to go too fast and the re-
suit was went over the brink of the
bank and landed on bracket of snow
which had fortunately formed about
twenty feet below. Here l yelled and
yelled until the others came to my res
cue with pole. The view from the
summit of the pass covers a vast terri
tory consisting Of snowy peaks, two
beautiful mountain lakes and many
mountain meadows. Looking far to the
east and near Leadville, the Mount of
the Holy Cross is plainly visible. 1t is
not as perfect as it originally was, for a
landslide has ruined one arm. Leaving
this point we walked along the crest of
the ridge with comparative ease for
about mile and then turning to the
left began to descend. One can scarcely
realize that we were over two miles
high and at that heighth the upheavals
were quite precipitious, SO descension
was a serious proposition as there was
no trail here. After trying one place
and another we finally selected what
we thought to be safe even though it be
steep. Doc took the lead and the rest
of the party tried to select the easy
places between the great granite bould-
ers. After proceeding downward for q
hundred feet we came to another snow
field. III was at least over twelve