New-York tribune., 1906-08-05
UNIQUE CELEBRATION.
Plies Peak First Mountain To BE
Thus HOnOred.


'-'he writer 81 his Harvard days. had q West
eTner for his room mate. Broad plains were his
former home and high mountains his holiday
grounds. II Is not strange, then, that he felt
somewhat cramped in the midst OF an es-
tablished order and that he thought civiliza-
ton g, hundred years old must OF necessity be
effete- According 20 his mood, he was highly
amused or graveIy ir.1tated by the frequent an
nouncements he came across OF the hum
dredth. hundred and hftieth the two
hundredth anniversary of this institution or OF
that village city. He used. in lofty manner
and somewhat irrelevantly. TO quote Browning,
WHATS Tine? Leave Now Cor dogs and apes
Man has forever
On one OF his geological rambles however.
he came across so palpable an evidence OF the
heart hunger TO be linked with q past that he
inveighed no more against the passion In
remote. inhospitable corner OF New England.
where some descendant OF the MayhOwer had
strayed he found nailed 10 a tree, rude board
bearing this legend: This tree stood during the
Revolution!" From that day he vowed that he
would never laugh again at what he called the
centennial folly" OF human nature. Despite
that VOW, he will undoubtedly smile when he
reads Of the projected Pixies Peak centennial
celebration.
Now, the scoffer should remember that a con-
siderable element Of the population of Colorado
IS from the Far East and even from father
lands across the sea To them centennial cele-
bratons are necessity rather than luxury.
SO in that land where no human institution
could boast of more than quarto centennial
they must needs turn TO nature.
Long ago Wordsworth wrote feelingly. Mature
never betrays the heart that loves her" These
seekers after centennial material It is true could
find no tree that stood during the Revolution"
II was hot easy to mark off epochs Of time on
the broad plains. so there was some discourage
ment and the weak kneed began to doubt the
Worisworthian dictum But one bright youth
who was fresh from President Roosevelt's "Win-
ming of the West had an idea His eagle eye
flashed over the treeless plains. with their sage
brush and sand, TO the most prominent object in
the first range of the Rockies Pixies Peak He
recalled that when the nineteenth century was
young, Lieutenant Zebuon Montgomery Pike
stroIled over the Western waste TO find out what
kind Of a bargain Uncle Sam had made with the
great Napoleon. one fine day, as the explorer
was trudging up the great slope near the West
ern boundary of the present State of Kansas,
there loomed up before him, in the thin clear
autumn atmosphere. a monstrous white noun
tain peak. That day in 1906 made him immortal
and is sacred 10 the inhabitants of a great COM
nonwealth, since il furnishes them the first op-
portunity for a centennial celebration.
MYSTERY CONNECTED WITH NEBO.
This is 4 unique honor that falls to Pixies
Peak. No doubt the famous mountains of the
past. mountains that have figured largely in
human history, have deserved their centenaries
and their millenaries. but they, like the heroes
before Agamemnon. have suffered at the hands
of Fate There were. alas, no chambers of com
n.erce in those days. If one could brush aside
the findings of the higher critics one might feel
IL fitting 10 celebrate the fourth millenary of
the mountains of Ararat for harboring Noah's
wonderful craft; but the benighted inhabitants
Of those realms do not seem to care for the
shekels of the tourist There is a mystery con-
nected with Mount Nebo that, to the scientific
mind. has never been cleared up. If, however
the dwellers along the Jordan had Western en-
terpTise. they might find confrrnatory proofs as
10 the resting place Of the distinguished law
giver All ocean steamers would undoubtedly
offer exceptionally low rates to the thirtieth
centennial of Mount Nebo.' Think what mag
nihcent chance little. heroic Switzerland has just
let slip through her hands. Why didn't some
one recall the day when Bonaparte stood by her
placid lake. directed the eyes Of his soldiers to
the sparkling crest of Mont Blanc and said,
There are no Alps"
One is pleased 10 know that mountains are
coming into their own. for they have had only
shabby treatment in the past. Through the