Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-08-02
TELLS OF TRIALS
CLIMBING PEAK
THOMAS WEEMS WRITES HIS
MOTHER or EXPERIENCE ON
VISIT TO COLORADO.

Depicting the beauties of Pixies
Peak, Thomas Weems, 1908 West
Main street, who is visiting in that
scenic section, has written his mother
telling her of his experiences in
mountain climbing. The letter In full
follows:
Colorado Springs, Colo.
July %, 1910
Dear Mother:
81 arrived here about IL a, M, July
81, and in the afternoon rode my
wheel over to Manitou, Colo, about six
miles from Colorado Springs. which is
at the foot of Pixies Peak. l got on
burro and went out to the Garden OF
the Gods. When got back it com
menced to rain. 1t rained from 4:3O
to O'Clock. About o'clock Ave other
boys and myself started for the top
Of Pixies Peak.
Climb to Peak.
The best way to get to the top is to
go up the cog wheel railway. 1t is
fourteen miles from the bottom OF
Pixies Peak to the top SO you can see
! what walk we were starting on.
| Only one out of every forty-nine men
starting out to climb the peak ever
reaches the summit, and only one out
Of every seventy-three women. When
we had gone about a mile one of the
boys couldn't get his breath, SO he
! had to turn back. When we had
reached the half way house one OF
| the boys heart began to beat so fast
we had to let him rest minute. We
had to keep letting him rest every few
minutes. The road Is almost straight
up, winding in and out the mountains.
When we had got to where it is 10000
feet above the city we met twenty-six
men and women trying to climb to
! the peak. Some were painting for
breath. and some were 50 dizzy they
couldn't tell what they were doing
and some were sick.
See Moon Rise.
1--WE all walked together for about
500 feet when the moon began to
come up. So we all sat down and
made big fire and watched the moon
rise. There were thirty-one present
and twenty-seven states represented.
Eve had about seven miles more to
go and from there on the air was be-
ginning to get very light, and the road
was almost straight up. Out Of the
crowd that started there were only
eight out Of the thirty one that reached
the top.
But Eight Reach Top.
zone man was making fun of the
rest because they couldn't get their
breath, but when he was about a mile
from the top he got sick, and |
thought he would die, but we got him
to the top. We were in heavy snow
storm for about twenty minutes. 1t
was fun to see the people having to
turn back one by one. About half
1 mile from the top the air Is very light.
Some people couldn't walk two feet
without resting There were only two
that the air didn't bother out of the
bunch-a boy from Kansas City and
myself. Only seven men and one
woman out of the thirty-one reached
the top. It was about o'clock In the
morning when we reached to summit.
"The sun began to rise about 4:3O
O'Clock and never saw such beau
tiful sight. About 4:15 a. m. fifteen
people came up on burros, and most OF
them were so sick they couldn't see
the sun, but did not even nave
headache 1t was twenty-three degrees
above zero on the summit.
! "Our small bunch started down at
6 O'Clock and got down at IL o'clock.
We walked twenty-eight miles and |
can hardly move.
"There were 374 started up yester'
day and only thirty-one got to the top.
"Your son,
"Thomas E. Weems.