The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1908-07-23
THE EDITOR IN THE WEST
Another Interesting Letter from
''lnn0Cense Abroad" Hdy-
ing a Good Time.
DENVER, CoLo., July II, 1908.

not infiict any further description of
the national convention as all will be
known by you before this letter reaches
you. The newspaper men who attended
the convention were we'll taken care of,
especially by the Denver Press Club,
which kept open house and it was made
our headquarters. Here we met an
other Hull engaged in newspaper work,
George G. Hull, of the Denver Post.
After the work of the convention many
of the visiting editors remained over to
see some of the sights of Denver. Colo
RADIO Springs, Manitou and other resorts.
Mr.. Chas. o. Sprenger, secretary of the
Denver Press Club, had made all ar
rangements SO that we could get trans
portation over any of the railroads in
Colorado, for this state has no anti-pass
law like Iowa and editors are still
privileged characters SO far as riding
without giving up good hard dollars.
On Thursday evening the Press club
had smoker at which we met many of
the representatives of the leading
papers from all parts of the United
States. Saturday many of the editors
took trip on special train to Idaho
Springs where they were elaborately
entertained, while others made the trip
over the Moffat road to the continental
divide at Corona, and we decided on
the latter trip and have no cause to
regret our choice. 1t is called the Moi
fat railroad because it was built by
David H. Moffat, pioneer of the state,
who counts his money by the millions
and who is foremost in every great un-
dertaking for the public good. This
railroad runs almost due west from
Denver. 1t climbs the great continental
divide which rises more than mile
high, a mile west of the city. This
climbing of the continental divide is a
feat which has astonished civil engineer
in every section of the world. If you
look at map of Colorado you will see
vast empire without mile of railway
stretching between Denver and Salt
Lake. The Union Pacific runs north
from Denver to Cheyenne, Wyoming,
and crosses the level plains to Ogden,
Utah, turning towards the south to
enter the city of the Saints. The D. &
r. G. runs south to Colorado Spring and
Pueblo and swings toward the west,
passing through the narrow defiles of
the Royal Gorge and following the
Arkansas river until it turns northward
again to reach Salt Lake. The U. P.
road runs 627 miles in it's passage over
the sage brush plains between Denver
and Salt Lake, while the Rio Grande
runs 741 miles in swinging with many
loops and curves down toward the
southern part of the state in it's search
for an easy crossing of the great range.
If you stand in the streets of Denver
and look toward the setting sun you
will see why no railroad can easily go
in direct line westward, for the great
range of mountains to the west rise
like solid wall defying progress. 1t
had long been the dream of Mr.. Moffat
to build railroad toward the west
over the top of this great divide and
tap the almost limitless resources OF
this wealthy country lying beyond this
towering wall. His was not the first
brain to conceive this gigantic enter.
prise, but it remained for him to carry
out the scheme which is soon to link
the capitals of Colorado and Utah and
which will cut down the time of the
trains by fourteen to sixteen hours. A
number of years ago the Burlington
road tried to run line across this great
divide, but abandoned it after sinking
several million of dollars in tunnels
bridges and grades, as the men who
were furnishing the money saw how
desperate was the undertaking to sub
due the stupendous forces of nature
and cross the barrier of rocky peaks
1t was the practice years ago for the
surveyors of a railroad line to follow
the grade of rivers, but during Later
years this custom has been abandoned
The Moffat road cuts across the water
courses, follows tue ridges Of the foo
hills, gains little by little in elevation
as it winds up around the lofty sides O
the giant peaks and finally traces tn,
length Of it's shining rails across tn,
top of Rollins Pass, 1880 feet above tn,
sea. 1t is worth journey clear tt
Colorado to see the wondrous pano
rama of scenery that spreads away il
every direction from the train as tn,
great engines struggle on up the rugget
slopes.
We left Denver at 8:15 in the mornin,
with two big engines pulling our train
and the first 45 miles of the trip i
through the irrigated and productive
lands, and then the plains and foothills
We met the roadmaster of the road OF
the train and hod unIond;d rsda y,