The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1917-07-27
CHAPTER x.
The New Rodman.

There are no more beautiful valleys
anywhere than those cut by the waters
of primeval floods through the foothills
of the great snOw-covered Rocky noun
tains. The erOsions and waShings of
untold centuries have flung out in front
of the granite rampartS of succession
of lower elevations like the bastions of
fortress. At first scarcely to be dis
tinguished from the main range in
height and ruggedness these ravelins
and escarpments gradually decrease in
altitude and size until they turn into
series of more or less disconnected,
softly rounded hills, like outflung
earthwOrks, finally merging themselves
by gradual slopes into the distant
plains overlooked by the great peaks
of the mountains.
The monotony of these pine-clad,
wind-swept slopes is broken even in
the low hills by Out-thrustings of stone,
sometimes the hard igneous rock, the
granite of the mountains, more fire.
quently the softer red sandstone of a
period later, yet ineffably old These
cliffs buttes, hills and mesas have
been weathered into. strange and fam
tastic shapes which diversity the land
scape and add charm to the country.
The narrow canOns in which the
snow-bed streams take their rise grad
ually widen as the water follows it's
tortuouS course down the mountains
through the subsiding ranges and out
among the foothills to the sandy, arid,
windy plains beyond. At the entrance
of one of the loveliest of these broad
and verdant valleys, a short distance
above its confluence with a narrower,
more rugged ravine through the hills,
lay the thriving little town of Coro-
nado.
Some twenty miles back from. the
town at place. where the valley was
narrowed to quarter of mile, and
separating it from the paralleling ra-
vine, rose huge sandstone rock called
Spanish Mesa. Its top, some hundreds
of feet higher than the tree-clad base
OF the hills, was mainly level From
its high elevation the country could be
seen for many miles, mountains on one
hand, plains on the other. 1t stood
like an island in sea of verdure. Lit
tie spurs and ridges ran from it. To-
ward the range it descended and con-
tracted into narrow saddle, vulgarly
known as ''hOg-back," where the
granite OF the mountains was hidden
under deep covering of grass-grown
earth, which formed the only division
between the valley and the gorge or
ravine, before the land, widening, rose
into the next hill.
The people came from miles away
to see that interesting and curious
mesa, much more striking in it's ap-
pearance than Baldwin's knob, the last
foothill below it. Transcontinental
travellers even broke journey to visit
1T. The town prospered accordingly,
especially as it was admirably situated
as place of departure for hunters, ex-
plorers, prospectors and adventures,
who sought what they craved I'M the
whd hills. There were one or two good
hotels for tourists, unusually extensive
| general stores of the better class,
where hunting and prospecting parties
could be QUILTED, and the high-liying.
extravagant cattle ranchers could get
what they demanded. Besides all
these there were the modest homes of
the lovers of the rough but exhilarating
and health-giying life of the Rocky
mountains. OF course there were nu-
merous saloons and gambl.g halls.
and the town was the haunt of cow
| boys, hunters, miners, Indians-the old
| frontier with few touches of civiliza-
| ton added!
What was left of the river, which
had made the valley-and during the
infrequent periods of rain too brief to
be known as the rainy season, it really
lived up to the name of river-fowed
merrily through the town, when it
flowed at all, under. the name Of Picket
Wire. When the railroad came the
Picket Wire had been first studied in
the hope of finding practicable way
over the mountains, but the ravine on
the other side of the mesa had been
found to offer shorter and more prac-
ticabie route. And, by the way, this