Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-02-28
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo, Feb. % 1905
To THE EDITOR OF THE PLoT,
Wausau, Wisconsin.

To THE EDITOR OF THE PLOT,
Wausau, Wisconsin.
My dear Mr. T'hayer:
wonder if it would not be a sort of
comfort, though cold comfort only,-to
the good people at home, to know that
your much talked of, widely heralded,
unprecedented blizzard, has at last
reached these parts and made itself so
keenly evident that the reputation Of
Colorado Springs as winter resort.
heretofore securely guaranteed as a
land of perpetual sunshine and good
weather, is in serious jeopardy. The
inhabitants are well nigh panic stricken
in consequence for the thermometer
actually registered IS degrees below
zero. What would our oldest inhab-
liant say? Nothing, but just reach up
for his almanac and puff away all the
harder at his pipe. Colorado Springs
boasts of no oldest inhabitant Every
body dies or gets well. No one lives
here long enough to establish resi-
dence record worth mentioning, or if
they do they had rather not tell about
it. Natives are as scarce as honest
politicians are in Denver.
Since living here | have discovered
about two things you get for nothing
in the West-impressions and air.
Both are good.
The scenery is altogether tremendous.
Peaks are so high and yawning chasms
so vast that their massive grandeur de-
fies description. The Garden of the
Gods, Pixies Peak, Manitou, The Cave
of the Winds, and Williams Canon,
that geologists' Utopia, each has its own
charming fascination. He who says
there is no God has never been in
Colorado.
These are tourists impressions. A
resident sees more. The noticeable
feature in the houses here, is that near
ly every one is fitted up with a sleeping
porch, so that those who believe in the
gospel of fresh air and an abundance
of it, have their fill. Many people
practically live out doors night and
day, even during this recent cold snap
and become SO accustomed to sleeping
with the blue armament overhead that
| they prefer it to a comfortable roof. 1t
is an acquired taste however and grows
upon one like Gruyere cheese or
| Wagner's music
Those poor unfortunates who come
here with their days numbered, form no
small part of the population. To an
outsider the snatches of conversation
you hear in the street are strikingly
characteristic. The drift of it goes
something like this:
"His temperature went up in the
night but the doctor says that" you
pass on and the rest is lost
Another says: "She doesn't cough as
much as she did at home but the altitude
affects her heart"
Still another: "Well, the pain catches
me in the chest, but this Colorado air
and altitude will bring me out, ]
reckon" The above hopeful statement
was supplemented by sepulchral
cough. One sees so much of the dread
disease here that it loses its terror and
ceases to be gruesome. Down on the
Mexican ranches there are COW punch
ers whom even death dosen't discon-
cert, for they gamble on the number of
their days and the survivor takes the
pot.
Everything about this place is rare,
except money, even atmosphere. Watch
an unsophisticated tenderfoot come
here and see how this altitude of Z, ,000
feet plays with him. His ears begin to
buzz and hum until he wonders what is
scheduled to happen next and if, carried
away by his enthusiasm and the scenery,
he goes up trail for two or three miles
at brisk pace, there is apt to be
trouble ahead and work for the doctor,
for walking here requires the same ex.
ertion that running three times that
distance does at sea level. Moreover, q
knowing tenderfoot refrains from in
dulging in fire water, until he becomes
altogether acclimated. At this altitude
single glass of Trimble often gives 8
man the impression that the Standard
Oil company is the least thing he owns
and if he imbibes to excess on the sum
NIT of Pixies Peak, they call Farley
/ 10 fho 1aY.fo lya,
here
Millionaires are here as thick anG
common as gooseberries on a hill
know in Wausau. So far as / am able
to observe, am the only person ou
here, who isn't in the habit of drawing
checks for million. 1t is very discom
forting and embarrassing, too. The
other day some people were on the
subject of "balls." In blissful ignor
ance | asked about the charity bal
and when it took place.
Charity ball p they exclaimed
"Why we never have one in Colorado
Springs. Poor people do not come
here"
1t was my turn to tell them | had ;
solid conviction that | could produc'
satisfactory evidence to the contrary
but didn't and ever since | have beer
wondering what the town authoritie
will do with me when they find it out.
Every millionaire owns an AUTOMOBILE
more or less-mostly more. Mr.. Croesul
who lives on our block has a garag'
stocked with thirty-two cars to suit hi:
every convenience and whim; yet his lo
is not so enviable, for circumstance
compel him to live here always because
the automobile he invariably drives hal
a very bad cough.
A great deal of good may be said fol
Colorado, its people, its scenery, anC
its mines. Yet, Notwithstanding al
these, Wisconsin viii still continue Il
be the best state in the Union to it
own people.