USA > Maine > First Maine bugle, 1893 (history of 1st Maine Cavalry) > Part 31
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to learn what we could about the manners and customs of 5 strange people. And we found Him an intelligent and . informant. He was shrewd, too, and managed once ort. the course of conversation, to get in a good "shot" at s01.07 the customs of people who are not Mormons.
SKIRMISH DRILL.
We took a ride out to Fort Douglas, some three miles 50 at the base of the mountain, going by the electric raisond This gave us several good views of the city, and of thefree: Salt Lake in the distance, so the ride was an enjoyable one. we arriving at the fort, I had one of the finest experiences of the whole trip-an experience which called up old memorie . con derfully, which would have called up old memories for yor. comrades. Connected with the fort were two companies of It dians, and one of these companies was having a skirmish dati. with ball cartridges. I watched them with more than ord- nary interest. The targets were but a little distance from wien- we stood, and we could see that the red men were doing some very good shooting. They were pretty well drilled, and a.l. vanced firing and fell back firing, just as you, comrades, di . many a field. I failed to see that they, although " regeln" and under daily drill, kept any better line than you used to: obeyed orders any more promptly. But they were as can't in their work as though they had an enemy in their front, an ! I considered it very fortunate that we visited the fort in time ! witness this drill. These were the only Indians we saw duris the whole trip for whom we could get up any enthusiasm. . ittle further along was a company of white soldiers firing by volley at a target one thousand yards away, and we could x that they too, were doing good work, but had less interest in that than in the skirmish drill.
BATHING IN SALT LAKE.
Of course we visited the great Salt Lake and took a bal; therein. Otherwise our visit to Salt Lake city would have been a lamentable failure. This was an experience such as one
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can get nowhere else in the wide world. We did not swim in the lake -- that is simply impossible for the ordinary swimmer. The buoyancy of the water is so great that it is impossible to sink, and head and feet stick out of the water at the same time. Consequently the moment one attempts to swim he finds it necessary to put forth so much force to keep his feet under water to have the water to push against, that he has little force left with which to push. But one can float there all day. It is a saying that one cannot drown in Salt Lake, but one may strangle. I know this is true. At least I know one cannot sink in the clear water, and I also know that the water is fearful to get into the mouth, and I have no doubt that a very few mouthfuls would strangle one to death. We found many -- gentlemen and ladies -- in bathing, and having all sorts of fun in the strange bath. All went where they chose, without paying any attention to the matter of depth, only being careful to keep the water out of the mouth, and they floated and paddled around with perfect freedom and safety. Lying on the water, even walking on the water, is no miracle at Salt Lake. We sported around in it to our hearts' content, and then had a sua- son of watching others. Then we wrote down the visit to the great Salt Lake as one of the wonderful experiences of the trip. The following description of bathing in this lake tells the story better than I can tell it:
" A first bath in it is always as good as a circus, the bather being his or herwen amusing trick male. The human body will not and can not sink in it. You can walk out in it where it is fifty feet deep, and your body will stick up out of it lik". Eshing cork from the shoulders upward. You can sit down in it perfectly s .... where it is fathoms deep. Men lie on top of it with their arms crossed under thete heads and smoke their cigars. Its buoyancy is indescribable and unimaginable. Ary one can float upon it at the first trial; there is nothing to do but lie down gently ajout. it and-float. But swimming is an entirely different matter. The moment you leyin to " paddle your own canve,' lively and -- to the lookers-on-mirth-provoking cxer.iss ensue. When you stick your hands under to make a stroke your feet decline to s'y anywhere but on top; and when, after an exciting tussle with your refractory prosl extremities, you again get them beneath the surface, your hands fly out with the spick and splutter of a half-dozen flutter wheels. If, on account of your brains leing heavier than your heels, you chance to turn a somerset an ! your head goes toler. your heels pop up like a pair of hisky di.lapper ducks. You cann t keep more than one end of yourself under water at once, but you soon learn how to wrestle with it
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novelties and then it becomes ' a thing of beauty' and a joy for any summer they the sense of luxurious ease with which it envelopes the bather it is unrivaled onem
AT A MORMON MEETING.
So Ed and I roamed around at our own sweet will all day af this strange city and among its strange people, riding here and there, visiting this and that place of interest, and enjoying every moment. In the evening we attended a Mormon meeting :: Assembly Hall, another of the historical Mormon building Candor compels me to say that we went there purely out : curiosity-we wished to see the Mormons at their worship. an i we wished to see the inside of this building, which was closed. during the day. This hall is particularly interesting from the fact that the ceiling is elaborately frescoed with scenes from .. Mormon history, and although these scenes were meaningks- to us, yet we gazed upon them with much interest. The ser- vices were not different from those in many a church in our own New England, this being a gathering in the interests of th Sunday School, and consisted, while we were there of an ad- dress by some venerable Mormon. We had not time to remain till the service was completed, but so far as we heard, I could not see but the remarks would apply to any Sunday Schie! gathering.
A RIDE AMONG MOUNTAIN SCENERY.
About nine o'clock in the evening we took the cars on th Rio Grande Western Railroad, to continue our homesarl journey. There is where we made a mistake. We learned d' terwards, that we missed some very fine scenery by not goin. over this road in the daytime. But we had not then rea's learned how to travel, though we fancied that we were becom. ing pretty good travellers. Nor could we have then spared th time to continue our journey all the way by daylight, had ;- realized the benefits of so doing. So we lost much that wna worth seeing, but we had a good night's rest, the cars being 3o smoothest riding of any in which we rode. In waking moment during the night, I had to listen carefully to satisfy myst whether or not we were moving at all.
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The next morning we were awakened in time to change car- at Grand Junction, where we took the train on the Denver and Rio Grande narrow guage line for a ride which beggars descrip- tion -- a ride, to use the language of another, "which condenses in a four hundred and twenty-five mile run grand and varicd scenery enough to have rendered the world picturesque if Go! Almighty had made it everywhere else a desert plain." Here we found what I had been looking in vain for ever since we left home-viz .: guide books, or books which gave us some idea of the country through which we were riding. The Rio Grande Western and the Denver and Rio Grande Railroads are well pro vided in this respect, and the books are so breezy and attract- ively written as to be very good reading even when one is not traveling over the lines, so vivid are the descriptions given.
We were in the mountains when we started, and remained in the mountains all day -- now with them close beside us, and now in the distance, but always mountains. At first we rode by the side of huge, high black rocks, with the sides straight up in the air or seeming to hang over us, with a vein of different color and formation near the base, giving us a sense of insecurity, or looking as if the rocks might fall over upon us. For miles we had the bluffs on one side and the Gunnison river on the other, with smaller bluffs beyond the river and further away. All along were strange hieroglyphics on the rocks-Nature's hand- writing -- the history of ages long past written in characters unknown to the present day and generation. The bluffs were on our left, very high at times and then low, now near now afar, and the rocks of which they were composed of varied forma- tion. At Bridgeport we rode through a tunnel more than two thousand feet long, which only added variety to the ride. It times the mountains suggested the palisades of the Hudson --- now they took on shapes describable and now indescribable. Occasionally returned a sense of insecurity, as huge crevices seemed to threaten the toppling over of the whole mass. We gazed at heavily crowned towers with a sense of wonder and of fear; at battlements, crags, peaks, mounds and castles, with ever-varying emotions, till we welcomed the change when the
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track crossed the river and from the same window wo low different scene-the river and vegetation, with mountain-in th distance .. Yet we could not rest casy without crossing the est and looking out to see if the mountains and hills were the - wa on that side as they had been on this. We found them ron the same, but with snow clad peaks in the distance. alt passing Delta, fifty miles from Grand Junction, we left the Gen nison river and followed the Uncompahgre river for a phil The valley was broader, the mountains further away, with ions vegetation, and more signs of civilization. We were in a :00d farming country, with evidences of fruit-growing in advance abundance.
THROUGH THE BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON.
As we rolled into the station at Montrose, more than The thousand feet above the level of the sea, we were greeted " in a familiar face and form-those of Charles A. Lee, one of the. Essex family and a resident of our own city. We had mety : seen nor heard from him since we bade good bye to the E three weeks before. He had been roaming around in X. among friends, while we spent the time in Southern Calitoro : He proved to be a delightful traveling companion duri the few days he was with us. At Cimarron we had a sphere- did dinner, and when we boarded the train again founleur enjoyment enhanced by " observation " cars attached to th train. These cars were simply cars without either top or sido. above the back of the seats, thus giving the passenger unobstructed view above, below, and all around. We wer the view in all these directions, for almost before we knew it. 10 were riding through the famous Black Canyon of the Gods . For fourteen miles we rode between two solid walls of G masonry ; walls two thousand feet high, and so close tog d there is only room for the river and the railroad-indos many places there was not room for the latter until a roal lon had been blasted out of the wall. The walls, of a dark h; give the canyon its name, yet there is red sandstone in places, and in crevices and on the top shrubs and cedars 30
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while the river has a deep, sea-green color. While passing through this canyon, I did not wish to speak to any one, or to have any one speak to me, even to call my attention to some special feature in the wonderful scene. I wanted to look and look, undisturbed. I did not then care to know that a certain lofty, graceful peak was called "Currecanti Needle," or that the beautiful, misty and almost mystical waterfall which came dancing down the mountain side was called "Chippets Fall." It was enough for me to look upon these mighty works of Nature and drink them in as much as I could in our rapid passage, without being called back to earth by hearing them named by poor humanity. It was a ride never to be forgotten -a ride which can never be described. Thus the poct sings :
The midday sun in this deep gorge Resigns his old-time splendor. His palace walls of dreamy gold The rose-hues warm and tender. The cleft is dark below Where foaming flows the somber river, The wild winds sigh and blossoms shiver, And violet mists ascending Obscure the Orient glow.
O! rushing river emerald-hued, How mad thou art and fearless. No frowning gates, though granite-barred, Can curb thy waters peerless ! The silent gods of stone Revoke their ancient laws of might When through the gorge with wing-swift flight Thy wind. tossed waves are speeding, Each moment wilder grown.
On massive clift-walls Nature's hand Has turned time's sun-worn pages, In faces carved and figures hewn
- We trace the work of ages. The gold-tipped spires sublime, That pierce the sky-like shafts of light, But mark the measureless heavenward height Of Nature's own cathedral,
Whose stern high priest is Time.
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OVER MARSHALL PASS.
Soon after emerging from the canyon, we resumed our ier in the ordinary cars, the observation cars being left there ; take the next party of tourists back through the canyon. The came a ride full of ever interesting scenery, to Sargent, : logg we began the ascent of Marshall Pass, and then came a rido new wonders. With two engines, puffing and straining von working almost like human beings, we wound in and out andg the mountains, doubling on our track now and again, climbim higher and higher all the time. At times we could see the track over which we had come but a few moments before far down below us, often seeming to us that we were going down gra l so much steeper was the grade we had passed than the one w were just then riding over. As we climbed higher and hagr ... we could see three or four tracks winding below us, and b .40 to realize what it meant to travel sixty miles in order to poi thirteen miles on our way. The higher we climbed thewider and broader our view of the mountains around us. till we von well nigh lost in awe at the immensity of the view and of Nature's handiwork spread out before us. Still we climbed until we rode through the snow sheds, and at last were at Man shall Pass, more than ten thousand feet above the level of th sea. Then we had a grand view. We were more than to miles above the sea level -- nearly twice as high as the same of our own New England Mount Washington-and could > mountains and mountains until they were lost in the dom dis tance. We suffered no inconvenience from the atmosphere-t that dizzy height, only as some of the party started to run to the top of the tower to get a still broader view, they rolled that something was the matter, and that they were easily off of breath. We had a game of snow-balling-think of that. op : seventeenth of June -- but most of the time was passed in 32red on the wonderful scene. Then we descended. At times could see snow away down below us and at the same time green trees high above us -- or at least that was what appearances in : cated. At one time we could see two tracks close by, ov which we rode, riding over a mile to make a distance of ninty
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feet. This reads like nonsense, or as if the road were built in that way for the sake of amusing tourists, but it only needs for one to look at the situation, when he will be disabused of that idea, and instead will admire the engineering skill which has surmounted all these natural obstacles. Thus says the poet of Marshall Pass :
Upon the summit of this crest Columbia's eagle built his nest. The plumage of his mighty wings From sea to sea its shadow tlings. Sheltered beneath this faithful breast A continent doth safely rest. Guarded by piercing eyes so true His beak holds firm the banner blue.
Then came another ride full of interest, to be sure, though secming somewhat tame after the experiences of the Black: Canyon and Marshall Pass, and late in the afternoon we reached Salida. We had learned something about traveling and did not propose to lose any more by traveling in the night time, so stopped at Salida over night, that we might pass through the Royal Gorge by the light of the sun.
THROUGH THE ROYAL GORGE.
At Salida we had the good fortune to again find the Raymond excursion party, and to mect the friends from home whom we had last seen at Los Angeles. The next morning, as there was no train until noon, we hired a carriage and took a ride alors the Arkansas river --- a wild road, with the river on one side and overhanging bluffs on the other -- a different kind of ride, but a very pleasant experience. At Wellesville we took a bath in the famous hot springs. We three, Mr. Lee, Ed and I, had the bathing house all to ourselves, and as the water was "so nice and warm and soft," we remained in there an unconscionable length of time, and sported about as we used to do when we were boys, so many years ago. At noon we took the train again, and this time had a ride along the Arkansas river-grand all the way, with hills and overhanging rocks now on one side, now on the other, and now on both sides, and with vegetation
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here and there -- ever-varying formations, shapes, and stemay until we arrived at the Royal Gorge, the morrowest portion the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas. I have no words to t you of the wonders of this work of nature, and will let another tell it for me :
"After the entrance of the canon has been made, surprise anil almost terror cions The train rolls around a long curve close under a wall of black and bandel price beside which the ponderous locomotive shrinks to a mere dot, as if swinging co. pivot in the heart of the mountain, or captured by a centripetal force that mo never resign its grasp. Almost a whole circle is accomplished anl the grand r. l. theatrical sweep of the wall shows no break in its smooth and zenith -in facade. Will the journey end here? Is it a mistake that this crevice goes the the range? Does not all this mad water gush from some powerful spring, or b twee of a subterranean channel impenetrable to us? No, it opens. Resisting centripet". centrifugal force claims the train and it breaks away at a tangent past the wig 0 around the corner of the great black wall which compelled its detour and that of t. river before it. Now, what glories of rock-piling confront the wide disten it's How those sharp-edged cliffs, standing with upright heads that play at hand ball vy: the clouds, alternate with one another, so that first the right, then the IP, theo th right one beyond strike our view, each one half obscured by its fellow in front, con showing itself level-browed with its comrades as we come even with it, cach . s. of hundreds of dizzy feet in height, rising perpendicular from the water and the t! !. splintered atop into airy pinnacles, braced behind against the ahoost continental ; through which the chasm has been cleft. This is the Royal Gorge."
Oh! the power that piled these wonders, As the mountains took their stations; As a great red belt rose upward in a glittering zone of fire. Oh! the crash of blended thunders Shaking earth to its foundations, As each struggling cliff rose upward, climbing higher, ever higher.
Oh! the crashing and the groaning, And the deep and awful shudder As that great red belt was parted and the mountains crashed in twain. And the Arkansas came roaring, Raging with its dreadful thunder, Sweeping through the mighty chasm dashing madly toward the main.
Oh ! this myriad crested canon, With its walls of massive marble, With the granite and red sandstone piled in peaks that pierce the shy. Where no bird dare dip its pinion In the narrow veil of azure, Where the solemn shadows linger o'er the river rolling by.
ROYAL GORGE.
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After passing through the Royal Gorge we had little taste for the ordinary scenery of mountain travel, but cach seemed to be busy with his own thoughts, and before nightfall we three were at Manitou. My own feelings at the end of this ride from Salt Lake City were something like these: " If it ever comes possible, I will ride over all the tailroads between Denver and Salt Lake City, both ways, in the day time, for in this way alone can one get a satisfactory idea of the wonderful scenery of this wonderful portion of our great and glorious country. And I would like to commence this ride right now."
MANITOU.
Manitou ! What memories does this magic name call up -- memories of hours of delightfal rest, mingled with new and wonderful experiences and 'mid charms of Nature in her mo. t fanciful mood-now strong and rugged, now delicate and tender ; memories of an afternoon stroll through the famous Garden of the Gods with wonders on every side; of a walk through Williams Canyon, which gave us a better idea of these works of Nature than did either the Black Canyon of the Gunnison oi the Royal Gorge, because we were nearer to the mighty walls and could examine them and the various formations of which they are made at leisure; of a visit to the Cave of the Winds and all the varied emotions of a stroll under ground; of a little city nestled in among the foot hills of Pike's Peak so cosily as to be a standing and most cordial invitation to the stranger to rest awhile, and so much in the hills that the houses all seem to be built on different grades ; of the springs with which it abounds in which bubbles up water impregnated with almost any mineral one might desire; of the views of Pike's Peak from the distance and the ride to its summit-a ride never to be forgotten; and of breathing air which brought content with every breath, with beauty all around, and with a feeling, " Here's the place where I want to remain forever." I had been pleased with Chicago; I had been more pleased with San Francisco, and fancied that I would be satisfied to live in either city ; I had enjoyed the rest and quiet of Riverside amid its beauteous surroundings, until I
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thought I would like to remain there always; but Manitou sor passed them all, and at last I found the place where I knew ! would prefer to live above all other places I had seen.
Mr. Lee, Ed and I arrived at Manitou Saturday afterndos after our ride through the Royal Gorge, and found comfort. Mh quarters at the Continental Hotel. We learned that the Way mond excursion party had arrived that afternoon, and of cours we went over to the Cliff House to see our friends. We pa- of a very pleasant evening, especially as one of the excursionist had received a bundle of papers from home, and we had the opportunity of learning something of what had been going As in our own city during the week or more which we had not heard from there.
IN THE SADDLE AGAIN.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early, and made our way to the station on the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, in the hope of making the ascent of that famous mountain, the goal of my young ambition. On arriving at the station, ho !! ever, we learned, to our disappointment, that the train was to run only half way to the summit, and at first we were inclined not to go ; finally we decided to go as far as we could that day and make that do. So we boarded the train, headed by the funny-looking little Italic engine, and started. The result was that this part of a ride gave us such a desire to make the whole trip that we decided then and there to remain another day, and! see the top of Pike's Peak. So I will leave the description . : the ride until the next day. At the half-way house, however. we had an interesting experience which belongs in the record !! this day. We found there in waiting, several horses and barr " saddled and ready for a trip up the mountains to Grand View and Ed and I, with several others, took this little trip. M. emotions as I found myself in the saddle for the first time d: a score of years, really needed some vent, and I had to shout and shout. The way I made those rocks ring with the oldl aring orders and commands, was enough to make my fellow travelers look at me as though they thought I had gone " clean dait
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But that did not interfere with my enjoyment of the ride in the least. How quickly my thoughts went back to the famous Luray raid, and our march over the mountains in the crisp December air, way back in 1863, and how the memories of that raid came back to me. Verily we had a great ride-or I did- though a short one, climbed the mountain, and from the sum- mit had a wonderful view in all directions.
THE GARDEN OF THE GODS.
In the afternoon we three took a stroll through the Garden of the Gods. Words would fail to give a description of this garden that would convey any just idea of it or the wonders it contains. It seems to be the result of a grand upheaval of Nature in one of her fiercest frolicksome moods. Here, on a level plain, acres in extent, she has thrown up masses of car- nelian-colored sandstone in curious and often grotesque figures, suggestive of forms of life, of architectural effects, and of fancy's wildest dreams of shapes. Two lofty tablets set directly opposite each other, about fifty feet apart, and rising to the height of three hundred and sixty feet, form the portals of the gateway to the garden. Formations of similar character have been given the name, "Cathedral Spires," their crests being sharply splintered with spire-like pinnacles. These are only the grandest of the works of Nature here. The garden abounds in massive rocks in varied hues, which assume strange forms, and the imagination is kept busy discovering resemblances to figures of beasts and birds, of men and women, and of strange freaks in architecture. We roamed at will among these won- ders, gazing with awe now, and now with surprise, as some rock which had at first appeared to be without definite shape slowly assumed some recognized form. We looked at the various won- ders of Nature's imagery which have been shown to visitors for years, and we amused ourselves finding new forms and shapes as the different masses of rock were viewed from different stand- points. We even were able to trace, here and there, resem- blances to peoples whom we knew. We found the Garden of the Gods of equal interest with the canyons-as grand, though
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