Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1920-10-01

WIS d uOldDle event, LII l4idl liie
mountain in way epitomizes the progress of the
west.
Although Lieut.. Zebulon NJ. Pike, q. S. A, the
intrepid explorer first discovered Pixies Peak in
1906, he never scaled the mountain, saying the
task was impossible for a human being But DR..
Edwin James, a member of the expedition OF
Major Long, in 1920, accomplished the feat
Major Long, in honor of James accomplishment,
named the peak james Peak" but as early as
1910 trappers and plairSmen named it pixies
Peak" and Fremont put it so the map
In 1878 a bride path was built; a wagon
road to the summit was built in 1880 and in 1891
the cog wheel railroad, nine miles long, was
built. The weather bureau established station
the summit. In 1916 the present automobile
road was built at a cost of 100000, after two
years of construction work. This road is eighteen
miles long rises 6695 feet in that distance, has
average grade of seven per cent and maxi
mum grade of 1912 per cent with 42 per cent
of the line in curves. 1t is twenty feet wide with
curves wide as fifty feet.
In April, 1919, a government war tank at
tempted to climb the peak over the automobile
highway, but broke down in the deep snow drifts
Al did not make second attempt. A month
later a caterpillar, Used for artillery hauling
made the summit without difficulty. August 3,
1919, airpIane piloted by Alexander Lendrum
of Colorado Springs made successful trip over
the summit of the peak.
This brings US to date. Now man is reforest-
ing the lower slopes of the famous peak
But first word about the first ascent. Dr.
James was only % years old at the time. Starting
from Council Bluffs, the explorers reached what
is now Colorado City July II, 1920. July 13 he
started with four men for the top. The late
Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, a member of several
government expeditions in the west, wrote this
of the climb of DR.. James
about they came to the Boiling Spring,
the present wel-knOwn spring of Manitou, which
gives name to the stream of which it forms
source. This beautiful spring Of great inter-
est to James and they had their lunch beside it.
Through its crystal waters could be seen on the
bottom the offerings of beads and trinkets by
the Indians.
"The night of the 18th, James and his COM
panions spent in a most uncomfortable place, and
on the next morning started early with the hope
of making the round journey before dark. About
noon, the timber line 11,72O feet, was reached
and by o'clock they stood on the mighty sum-
nit, IL, ,10S feet above the and 5000 feet above
| the plains, and could the east the prairie
ocean melting into the limitless distance, while
! on the other hand spread away a broad chaos of
peaks, canyons, valleys fading into the depths OF
| the unknown wilderness. Vast clouds of grass
hoppers were flying over the peak, sometimes SO
| dense almost to obscure the light.
"After half an hour on the majestic summit now
reached by prosaic railway, the descent began
Losing their course they failed to reach the camp
of the previous night and forced to SLEEP
out with no food shelter or comfort of any
kind not after all so awful as it sounds. AS
soon as light came in the morning they continued
and reached their camp only to find it ablaze
the fire had spread and consumed everything
except a few scraps of food, which they
greedily breakfasted."
The American Forestry Association of Wash
ington estimates that out of the 160 million ode
acres of national forests there are seven and
half million acres in need of planting seeding
to re-estabsh tree growth. The yearly loss tt
the nation in forest products from lands suited
only for the production of timber and now idle il
said to be S65,OOOO0O. No large sums have beel
specifically appropriated by congress to refores
the denuded lands within the national forests 81
that the acreage planted each year has been nomi
nal and the work of an experimental character. II
| nickinp the areas in the national forests wher