French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1916-1919, 1917-02-22

mOAuAuCuI OI lie comment. liner
has been. until recently. U. S. Gov
; eminent Wireless Station in the sum
NIT, but there is now on toy of wha
is used as a hotel, an Observatory
tfat enables one not only to clearI
take in the surrounding world, on al
sides, but TO clearly see and contem
plate the immediate mountain to-
right under your feet In The year,
gone by. before the day of railroads
this ever snOW-covercd crest gave tt
the toiling pathfinders, as they ap
preached from the east. the first glaC
signal that the dreary waste OF desert
over which they had dragged suffered
and almost starved and thirsted fol
drink, should end and they gladly hail.
ed Pixies snowy peak. This monu.
mental landmark was ever in the eve
'Of the traveller, many miles to the East
and Quickened his pulse as we'll as his
speed. all the time lending majesty
and beauty to his view.
Scientists tell us that men lived,
wrought and vanished in this region,
hundreds of thousands of years ago,
| in q state OF nature, leaving no crumb.
ling parchments. to last long enough
to tell the tale-the only witness was
the great mountain, which locked the
secret in its mighty Breast. Since its
discovery by General Pike, in 1906. this
grand old pile of rocks and all its
brothe rsentinels, began to unlock and
give out its millions of riches. ali in
response to the hum Of industry. Hun
dreds of books and thousands of maya
zine articles have been written on this
mountain and the surroundings. but
We promised to take the Hustler read
ers to the top, by means of the most
unique railway on this earth. The
train starts at the foot, in the beauty
spot,-Manitou,- the svaying
pines, limpid purling stream, COMING
from gulches in the side of eternal
ro'k piles, partially wrapped in dirt
The ordinary electric railroad brings
you out from Colorado Springs, a dis
lance of some IA miles. to where the
Cog Wheel Route begins it's ascent to
a height of 14.109 feet and of course
the novel train is the first thing \
traveller is interested in,-three rails
and the one in the middle with grooves
for cog wheel turning under the en-
CINE. The train is all the time cogged
and tied to the earth, for which one |
feels glad.
The management declares q man is !
safer in one of these trains going up |
that rock pile of mountain, than he /
would be sitting on the front porch of |,
his home and that 25 years they
have carried millions of passengers
and never vet has hurt a single one.
The steepest of the grade is soon after
leaving the foot station,-then we !
quickly merge into canyon-like defiIe,
then our train hugs the left hand
wall, dizziness both above and below.
7awning gulch first on one side and
hen on the other, a river called the
buxton churns and dashes amidst the
'ocl's sometimes being completely
covered over witt huge bouldersewh,ch
la"e fallen from tie sides and from
blasting the railway tracks,-suCh
iotfng as that river does do at times, =
making more than a hundred feet al
ach jump very often. By and by, we !
ONE to station called Minnehaha,
og cottages, a tiny cove-park, the :
caring waters can be heard, above all :
Their noises and as on we go, the scene =
ever changing so fast ones note :
ook can hardly keep up, til the Halt :
Way house is reached and girl comes
ITO the car and hands you a card and
equests you to write your name oc y
upation and place of residence. then =
he takes uD the card and goes out and
Don we pass a place that may not =
ound SO pious, but it is called Hell
ate, where our train passes between 8
0cks more than a hundred feet hign ~
4 each side, and here is where some -
lusions take place. for instance wa =
# running up hill and the steepesS "
art of the railway track looking like {"
was down hill, that is what you see, -
neither the reader believes it or not. =.
e pass in all six stations 9 miles =.
'st we have the tall FIR trees then a .
mailer spruce, then some sort of a :.
ruby looking pine, then q kind of -
Izel bush. then only grass and Rocky .:
ounta1n Daisy and then only rocks =,
Iked and finally rocks covered with =.
oW, on June 29th, 1916, with the ss
Gather as cold as any November day n
good old Henderson county. The -
ritter got out of the car and made ~ y.
ow-balls and handed to. those in the
side, on this isolated top and the "
enc is one that will never be forgot CT
q. Just before reaching the top, the :.
nductOr announced to the passen- al
RS that perhaps all were nearer their us
ID than ever before, and so the en- ye
e crowd sang Nearer my God to Vi
ee," as the train reached altitude Gu
109 feet, above the waves of old co
can. How foolish to undertake to Ia
scribe, incredible immensely, awful az
'etches- inf1nite-earth and sky Id
oping-senses almost dazed,-clouds 9 ~
below your feet striking the side Je'
the mountain-Dcnver eighty miles We
ay-Cripple Creek, with dozens OF :.
ferent named mines to the West IL liz
all list that select their boards OF LII
lcatfon by popular vote. ms
L IS regretaple that any legislation as
IL