The Challis messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1912-current, 1924-04-09

tlllS ROAD through virtual tunnels o.
verdure, one gains the impression that
1t is only because trains continue tc
pass and to mash too venturesome
roots and branches and tendrils that
the jungle does not wholly overrun the
right of way. Palms, bamboos, ferns
and an endless variety of vines and
parasitic plants form almost impen-
etrable walls that line the track for
miles. There is no dust, for the soil
is never far below saturation, and the
foliage always looks as though it had
been freshly scrubbed.
AS the traveller ascends the western
Andes the effect of altitude and local
barriers on his surroundings becomes
fascinating. Topping an auxiliary
ridge he leaves the dense tropical for
est behind, for the ridge is barrier to
the heavy misunderstanding clouds. Be
yond it is grass land, only reasonably
well watered. But once across the
valley and on the climb again up the
main mountain range beyond, he passes
out of the rain shadow" and finds that
moisture has taken up its forest build
ing again. This new forest zone, how
ever, is no longer tropical The re-
duced temperature due to altitude has
made it into a semi-tropical land with
plants and animals and birds as dis
tinct as if it were a thousand miles
instead of a dozen from the steamy
forest that was first traversed. Then
one tops the main ridge of the western
Andes. and again the scene is shifted
as suddenly as in a theater. To the
east of the crest one is again in a
rain shadow" and the downward
slopes are bare of trees, but covered
with grass.
Cauca Valley Almost Ideal.
This is the beginning of one of
Colombia's principal geographic di-
visions, the Cauca valley, approximate
Iy 40 miles wide, which extends for
more than 500 miles between the tall
walls of the western and central Andes.
Granted that one wishes to live in a
mildly tropical climate, the upper
Cauca valley would seem to be one Of
he half-dozen best locations in all the
world. It's floor near Cali, metropolis
If the vale, has an altitude of $500 |
'eet and a moderate rainfall which |
gives it an agreeable reasonably warm |
climate; and almost at arms length |
IN either side is whatever cooler tenn |
,erature he may wish, at which to |
pend his vacations and holidays and
wen week-ends.
The soils fertility seems beyond the
possibility of exhaustion. On some
plantations sugar cane has grown lux
rithout fertilization; and grass, once
established on the cattle ranges, goes
n furnishing the raw material for
God beef year in and year out. Since
ian does not live on sugar and beef
lone, one other valuable factor in the
he beautiful scenery that meets the
We at every turn, whether in the
risp rays of the morning sun, the
arm MONDAY, or the mellow after
low of the mountain sunsets.
Down the valley flows the Cauca
yer whose steamers furnish a de-
ghtful means of transportation
ward the outside world. AS one
cams down the stream the country
kes on more and more tropical as
ect. Savannas give way to groves
bamboo and plantain and these to
eep primeval forests with birds of
'illiant plumage and interesting fam
es of monkeys.
Over the central Andes md into the
Illey through which flows the coun-
Us greatest river, the Magdalena,
e finds in way a repetition of con. q
tons in the Cauca valley. The Mag.
lena valley is deeper, however, and I
it one finds real tropical heat. But
e region between the central Andes h
d their eastern brothers is not all
,pical valley. The distance between
csc two ranges of mountains is 100
les or more, and much of it is occu- :
I'd by the supremacy important table
I'd of Rogota. This lies at an eleva- n
a. VI uloIt liistu O,oVO ieels 81 iilSu
1t the unpleasantness of the tropics q
all extracted, leaving the North Il
ierican to enjoy the sort of climate p
1t his own country can show at its
st. There is little wonder that the
Y built here hundreds of years ago
N if it is remote from the seacoast, &C
) become the center of the national
!. II