The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-05-31
THE CENTENNIAL STATE;
ITS MOUNTAIN SCENERY
Colorado Furnishes Finest Views of
Rocky Mountnins-Thc Rnriacd Air
Thnt C0nsumptivcs Seek.

In entertaining Il visitor. Colorado
never has TO point twice at the same
endowment. She never has ITO harp on
any one theme. II this is a JOY to the
visitor. II is equally y satisfaction TO
the State. Her people are 30 secure
IN their prestige as L. be content TO
wait complacently until others make
the discovery tor themselves.
And perhaps II !s just as we'll so.
Perhaps II Is beet that too many precise
comparisons and statements are not
put forth. Printed statistics received
in advance often are more appalling
than tempting. In a touring book they
coul1 only bewilder and bore. Whole
volumes might lie Allied with them. but
II no one read the volumes. what would
he the uge?
Among all the mountain Kingdoms.
Colorado gems 10 stand easily first In
physical adornment.
This Is saying very great deal.
for, scen!caily, Colorado IS without
peer, not even Switzerland and her
Alps Offering more than n fair com
parsson. The crescent chain which
forms the chiefcst attraction of Central
Europe. covers. altogether. an area OF
about $4,000 square miles. It's crown
ing peak. Mont Blanc. l5.1S4 feet high.
is the most famous and most often
named of the mountains or the modern
world. But Colorado has many peaks
lacking little of this height. and they
stand amid others much higher than.
but not nearly so bleak, those in
Guided In the Alpine chain. The fam Gus
Jungrau Is 1873 feet nigh. Tho Mat
terhorn IS sim lower. Vegetation
ccases ut lesser height than II does
IN Colorado The Pass OF the great st.
, bernard !s only s.l7o feet high. Mar
shall Pass. In Colorado. .s 1880 fee:
and is climbed every day b. Denver
and Rio Grande trains and not much
said about Il either. La Veta Pass
50 over 1900 feet h!eh--anothcr rail-
way station. Alpine Pass. on the Colo
RADIO and Southern. and Rolling Pass.
on the Denver and Salt Lake. have each
an elevation Of 1850 feet Hell Gate,
on the Colorado Midland main line.
In 1880 feet. the town or Leadville.
familiar residence for several thous-
and people. Is 10000 feet above the sea.
some Of tho beautiful and famous
parks Of Colorado have their lowest
depth higher than the average height
OF tho Alpine chain.
A young woman, ambitious to learn.
once commanded man who had
,ramped over Colorado for "a decade To
tell her Of all he saw The man an
swered that az he had but another
twenty years TO live, there wouldn't
he t!mc enough.
The reply was less exaggerated than
one who never has visited the State
might suppose.
Imagine, To bcg!n with. the extent OF
this bit of scenery. Colorado contains
l03. o25 square miles--G5. 5i2. 900 acres.
Of this vast Arrears big as all New
England. with Indiana added-two-
thirds is mountains. Not such as claim
that name In Maine, New Hampshire.
Virginia and the Carol!nas. 5ut IL
tanic The height Of the average AL
leEhanics ana Of the Blue Ridge is per
haps $500 feet. The famed peaks OF
tho chain rise sometimes 10 5000 or
more. katahdin is 5.3s5 feet high:
there arc others 3,ioc. $500. and so on.
They might all be lost in Colorado
end never be found again. The State
Is traversed b. the main chain OF the
Rockies. tho oft-quotcd back bone OF
the continent" the huge roof-tree Of
our republic. Prolific mother OF rivers,
this great watershed gives rise 10 the
rio Graude. the two Plates. the Ar
kansas. the rivers OF central Kansas
ana the Colorado, that. in Arizona.
passes for zoo miles between those
sheer red walls that are one OF the
scenic wonders Of tho world, and flows
1t last into foreign seas.
out OF this mighty chain and TANKS
rise the peaks. beside which tho Sc
rencst heights OF the common world
as as hillocss--Massive. pixies. Gray's.
Longs, Lincoln. Ouray. Grant. Sherman,
Yale. Harvard. Dome. Spanish Peaks.
tho Wet Mountains. AMI scores OF 9TH