The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1907-09-26
Colorado, as We Saw 1t.

lHIIlOuS NtNtb TuliNs
Here are massive walls of richly
colored granite rising from the muir
muring stream almost perpendicular
Ia the sky above. Their bold and rug
ged cliffs and pinnacies are split and
broken 10y the never-ending battle
with the elements; their lofty domes
and towers standing alone and unsup-
ported after centuries of upheavel and
com.notion, inconceivable to man.
Here is the foaming brook of crystal
waters, the home of the speckled
trout 1t heads in the deeply wooded
reccsses of the mountains beyond, and
with fretful, murmuring melody
glides among the mossy logs and
boulders strewn in its path and be-
meath the ferns and bushes arched
above it,. At first its course is through h
some solitary glen deep in the shadows
oi the past, where the wanderer may
find supreme rest and undisturbed
communion with Nature. 1t then
flows forth in the sunlight, winding it's
way through some open glade, carpeted
with the most beautiful wild flowers o.
every tint and hue and adening the
air viii, the sweetest Of perfumes
On it rushes, ever gathering strength
aud volume, until ut last it il pre-
pared tn make its awful plunge into
the gorge below.
The winding road, all the while
closely following the curves of the
stream, finally emerges from his
labyrinth of trees and enters into the
canon proper.
Before you rs great cleft in the
granite mountains as though some
mighty hand had split and wedged IL
apart thnt one might enter and behold
the wondrous works of time within.
To the right IL massive granite shaft
towering almost to the sky Eagle
Cliff" il is called because our glorious
American bird has chosen it as fit
place tn build his home.
Two tremendous cliffs, The Pillars
of Hercules, seem, to stand squarely
across The canon, completely filling it
aud demanding halt. The way seems
barred, and the stranger is at loss to
know which way to go, but the brook
has found way and so must we.
Here is most wonderful demonstra-
tion of the action of water For hun
Al rpI,a II t...,t l,a 81
has been worn through the solid gran
lite, On either side are the perdendic-
Mar walls, nearly thousand feet high,
and at one place but forty feet apart
barely giving room fol the creek and
roadway between them. Indeed, the
whole space was originally occupied by
the stream, which had to be crowded
from its bed
short distance beyond the "Pillars
Of Hercules" on the left, is Observa-
tory Point. This is one of the objec-
tive points of the burro brigades,
which leave the terminus of the cleo
tric ear line at the entrance of the
Canon. Again proceeding through the
ever changing scenes in the canon, we
come To place opposite Prospect
Dome. This is a graceful, symmetrical
pinnacle of granite, more than three
hundred feet in height 1t stands
alone in one of the side canons like a
watch tower of the god of war, its base
wrapped in "A great cloak of dark,
sombre evergreen. AT this place the
hurro trail leaves the canon and winds
its way through II thickly wooded gulch
Ia Point Lookout and the top of the
Seven Falls, and from thence To OBJ
servatnry Point by whose base we have
just come. The view from this point
is unsurpassed At our feet is the
canon with its mass of rended and
shattered cliffs, and the stream re-
sembling IA mere ribbon of light en-
twiucd among the trees far BENEATH,
over and beyond the rugged walls and
just with the break of the foothills,
lies Colorado Springs-an emerald
checker board midway in the pictme
Far beyond are the great plains, rolling
away like the waves of the ocean, To
meet the sky. As we turn To the west
the eve is dazzled with the unbroken
grandeur of the mountains as they
stretch away, tier upon tier, till they
meet the blue horizon miles in the
distance, and winding in and out
among the peaks and valleys we see
slender line of gray-the grade of the
short Line" Railway climbing higher
aud higher, over mountain and canon,
Ia the great gold camp of Cripple
Greek.
A short distance above Prospect
Dome and we come to the foot of the
Seven Falls where Nature outdoes her
self in grand display of mighty cliffs
and rushing waters. Here the canon
proper ends i'm a colossnl amnhithaatra