The Washington herald., 1908-07-05
A MILE ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

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get to the convention city this week the
farther they will be up in the air. After
they get there. they may stop going up or
they may not The exhilarat.on Of the
/ Colorado climate Is felt quickly. There is
one glorious feature about it-however hot
1t may be during the day. and Il Is always
a perfectly dry heat. the delegates viii
sleep under blankets at night. They can
sit outside their hotels and put up jobs
and swap stories until or 10 o'clock, but
after that they viii begin TO feel chilly.
for they are then on a level with the high
est peaks Of the Adlrondacks. although
they haven't yet reached even the foot
hills of the Rocky Mountains, says the
New York Evening Post.
If any of them gets up early in the
morning, let him not throw out his chest
and start for before breakfast saunter
TO these foothills. Many a visitor to Den
yer has done that. The hills look so en-
ticing. only few blocks farther than the
end of the street yonder. That Is trick
OF the atmosphere. The nearest foothills
are fourteen miles from the outskirts Of
the city. Early in the morning. when
there is no simmer in the air, and little
smoke around the city. the lure Of the
hills is remarkably deceptive. They used
TO tell a story Of a stodgy Englishman
who had never. seen the Platte River after
cloudburst up in the hills lie was
found taking Off his clothes on the bank
Of a creek he could have jumped across.
What's hit your" they shouted at him.
why don't you jump across?"
That's all right" he answered, with a
knowing smile. I'm not going to get
bally well wet through twice. had to
swim across the Platte this morning, and
IL never looked more than about three
yards wide 10 me. This air is a blooming
riddle. you know
The Arid Platte.
r The Platte River-river bed It should
really be called-is BIT Of a riddle itself
II is, also. the despair Of landscape art
lists and bridge engineers. II runs through
rift In the rolling prairie not far from
the railroads as they converge to the
Union Depot. and for nearly all the year
: can boast Of the noble depth Of about
4 four inches. Here and there piles Of tin
! cans add 10 its backyard beauty. 1t has a
[ shifting bed. from which a good deal OF
r gold was taken out In the early days. and
I II trickles out OF town over quicksaDds
and refuse and meanders along into Ne
: braska. and finally adds yellow TO the
+ grimy flow OF Big Muddy" Once every
e very long while some one tries 20 navigate
5 Il IN a canoe. for want OF something bet
= ter to do. There Is no use trying 10 Goa,
S the Platte into any semblance Of a rea
: sonable stream Of water, for this is wha
T happens:
e TWO black clouds float lazily toward
0 each other in the varying air currents o.
different attitudes above the foothills. 1
rarely rains in Colorado. yet the Stat'
8 has one Of the heaviest rainfall averages
Il I'm the Union. and the small black clouds
are the trouble. Suddenly they come 70
o gether. There is a roar and Hash an,
n those clouds simply collapse. They com
s. down in sheets OF water Ike thinnes
= window glass. Every brook in the hill
II begins to sing and tumble. There Is
roaring in the canyons. There are wash
e. outs and stalled trains The old Platt
starts living In its stagnant pools. In
u couple Of hours or so it becomes a rive
/ with a vicious current. In another It
y half mile wide and tearing along, mud
e tin cans, old shoes, debris OF all kinds
just racing east. Entertainments are swep
= away and trestles go like matches. Fo
= about a day and a half the Platte has
y convulsion Of nobility. becomes. in fact
y a dangerous paranOiac. Then it stink
&c back. almost as quickly, into It's norma
appearance OF imbecility.
. A Realty Genius.
ie The only man who ever made anythin
out Of the Platte was a real estate ma
Il with an overdeveloped sense Of humol
- back in the boom days OF some sixtee
Iv years ago, when silver was worth res
IF money. and before that economic wa6
Wisconsin or some other place back i
r the States had leveled the deadly insu
i g the State Of Colorado about coinin
! cart wheels" out OF IimbCrger chess
: IN those days Denver was a metrOpol
u with a vengeanCe-with a hundred thou
~ sands souls. sir.-just as the ordinary b
ped is a much bigger man at twenty
- his own minds eye than at forty. Their
A was enough Of the prairie around Denve
laid out in city lots. IL was estimated. I
: make a city Of over a million peopl,
:. An Eastern investor. who was subst
:. quently referred 10. Of course. as beln
y no good because he wore "creases in hi
!. pants" took oath that there were snow
!, shoe rabbits in the city park that ha
never seen OF neaTO a human DelnE-
20 The park at that time. indeed. did hav
a, a gate and few flower beds at the Der
j, yer end. and then blended into that paI
Ts OF the world which mapmakers dismis
hopelessly with the word Desert" In e.
-, tended letters. The only people VIII
a. knew where II ought 10 end were N
', realty sharps who had lots TO sell--o
20 maps. The genius referred to did goo
p business selling these to unsuspectiu
n Englishmen. and a returned traveller tol
with great pride and admiration a stor
ID of his adventure into this brokers' branC
Office In London.
r Strike me blind. boysi" he exclaimet
"a what do you think saw? There on n
as wall was a great picture OF mountains an
city by a magnificent river crowde
is with steamers and fuil-rigged windjan
ne mers, and underneath 1t all was 'Denve
or Colo. as seen from the Platte River. "
it First Convention.
!. II was in those days, too, that Denvc
had it's first great convention, when II
,u triennial conclave of the Knights Templs
n. was held there. in (about) 1892. Denv,
I'd certainly spread ITSELF on that occasion
y All the principal part of the city hs
recently been paved. and one could e;
:; ones breakfast off the street early
the morning. so fresh ana clean they a
were and are. for they wash them dow
5o every morning with powerful hose al
a. nozzle All these streets were festoonC
= and arched with thousands upon tho
~, sands OF lamps and at s o'clock In II
~ evening traffic was stopped and u
switches turned on. The effect was fair
I'd land-like in the extreme.
no Denver did not get its beautiful stree
,U without the usual political quarrels al
av fuss. Some wanted asphalt and Othe
hs raised the "home-product" cry, and d
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