The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1908-07-23

thus able to see all the points of in
terest. The roadbed is the best, being
hewn from solid granite walls as the
ascent of the mountains is made and
every once in awhile we pass through
tunnel in order to get around a high
peak which bars our progress. Away
below us can be seen Boulder Park, q
pretty summer resort, and then Tolland
is reached with an elevation of $3.50
feet while Denver is only 5,170.
Leaving Tolland the train creeps up
the great gulch above the little town,
crosses the roaring fork, the South
Boulder Creek, and swings back with a
majestic curve high upon the wall of
the opposite mountain. The town and
buildings are diminished in size by the
heighth from which you view them, for
the train has gained more than 100 feet
in its steady climb over the four per
cent grade, in travelling to a point on the
mountain side opposite the place where
it stood at Tolland to allow passengers
to alight. The train passes out of sight
in the dense forests that thickly clothe
the lower slope of the mountains and
comes back again after describing
curve passing along the mountains face
still higher above Boulder Park than on
it's first step Of the giant stairway
which lays ladder-like against the face
of the mighty divide. Again the train
describes a majestic loop and we are
still higher on the mountain and now
we can see the track three times below
us as we circle around the top of the
mountain. Looking down at Tolland
the buildings look like toy houses.
High above Boulder Park the train
swings around two pretty little lakes,
Yankee Doodle and Jenny lake, one an
emerald green and the other as blue as
the sky, and at elevation of 10,S60 feet.
We can see the snow on the mountains
and the timber is getting very small.
Beyond these lakes the tracks winding
takes you to sight that has no coun-
terpart in the worlds railroad building.
The mountain juts out sheer thousand
feet above the valley, forming verit-
able point of rock after the manner of
old Lookout Mountain. The track crawls
along the side of this towering cliff,
rising by stiff grade all the way and
it makes one dizzy to look down to the
bottom of the chasm below. We arc
now just leaving the timber line and
great banks of snow can be seen. We
creep through tunnel and are nearing
the continental divide or Rollins Pass,
the station where we alight being
called Corona, the highest standard
gauge railroad station in the world, H.
$50 feet above sea level. There is moth
ing at Corona but an eating house and
the great snow shed through which the
train passes for more than half mile.
In the shed are great banks of snow
and the passengers are glad of the op-
portunity to get dinner and hot coffee.
We have stay here of more than two
hours and the big crowd scatters over
the snow banks and many indulge in
snow balling on the 18th day of July,
while others are having their pictures
taken by photographer who accom-
panied the train from Denver. A grad
ual incline rises on the south slope from
the station and we clambered up over
another thousand feet, making the ele-
walton nearly $4,000 feet and here we
had magnificent view of Yankee
Doodle lake several miles below us.
Although there is no timber and in
places the snow is over hundred feet
deep, there is almost solid mass of
beautiful mountain flowers, Mrs. Hull
gathering a boquet containing more
than twenty different kinds. While we
were on the summit we had all kinds of
weather, sunshine, rain, sleet and snow
and overcoats and wraps were very
comfortable for it freezes every night
at Corona. The time slips away only too
soon and at o'clock we again take the
train for Denver after having enjoyed
the finest single days trip of our life
We reached Denver at $3.50 o'clock and
are ready for bed for tomorrow we are
to gos on special train to Cripple
Creek and other mining towns over the
famous Short Line, the scenic route of
the world, and are promised a trip
down in real gold mine, of which we
will tell our readers in our next letter
O. K. HULL.
Leon Wins from Van Vert.