Sight-seeing In Colorado

In our last issue we wero compclled to oniit our article on Colorad', but as onr noto-book is not yct exhaustod wc will ondeavw to take tbc Akous reader a lit' tle further. And first, tbr a trip on the N.UUUMV-GAVltE UAILHOAD. The first train ran over the completed section of this road, tbo Denver and Rio Grande, on Saturday, regular trains were put on on Monday, and wc wero privileged to gft irrv.T ifc on Tuesday. And whilo tickets are boing boMghtT baggagc claiuied H(Ï cheokcd, and the last omnibus waited for, we will lot another teil something boih of the rond and train : Standing bosidfl ther train of theDenver Pacific, our train had docidedljr a dwarfish ajvpeafartce. The ties whre Jittle, the engiue was little, the cars wero little ; and in accordance with the etornal fitness of things. tlie station at which we stopped was Littleton. The road-bed has a width of oight fct ; ties six and half feet. Xb gaxtgc, m is well knoMfn, is throe feet. 'fho rails are twenty-four feet in length, and weigh 30 pounds to the yard. Thoso on ordinary gauge roads weigh fifty-six pounds. In track-laying three men handle thes railseaaily. Freight enginos hare thirtf-six inch drive wheels, six whoels coupled, and one pair of small lead wheels ; cylinders nino by sixtoen inches, and weigh, with tendor, fifteen tons. Passenger enginos have forty-two inch drive wheels, tour whcols coopled, me pair of sraall lead wheels, and weigh, with tender, thirteen toas. - The tender has four whoels. Passenger cars have eight 24 inch whoels. Jjength, ovot platform, {() feet ; inside, 35 feet ; outsido width, 7 feet ; inside, 61-2, Heigbt inside to center of dome, 7 1-2 feet ; abovo rail f rom floor to beam, 27 inchesj above rail to top of dome, 10 feet, 2 niches. These care havo sents for 35 passengere, ths oniinivry width seat for two persons oft orto sido, and a singlo soat, just wido enough for one person, on the other. A partition divides th( car in the middle, and to kóep tho balance the position of the single and doublé seats in ono apartment is the reverse of that in the other. These cara are hiuidsijiiiely finish ed, and upbolstered fat the best stylo. They aro rocrray aiid well ventiluted, and as coiaförtablo aa any car oould ha. The motion is easy - no jumping the track, no bumping or rooking, more than one experiences on any new road. In faefc, this road is sicoother thau any new road I over sawThe freight cars weigh aboutfour thorasand pounds, and have a capacity of ten thousand pounds ; and hare four wheels, and are of two sizes, twelve and fifteen feet ; width oulside, seven feet ; inside, six and qne-half feet ; doors on end of de. Platform car of the same length and width a box cara." Meantime " all abcard " ís calletT, tho last whistlo sounds, and tho train is in motion. The course Í3 to tho south. On our right and twelvo milos distant aro the mountains - though se3mingly about within gun -shot. Bange rise3 abo va range, uutil the peaks ever covured with snow lift their honds f rom 14,000 to 15,000 fuet some 50 to 70 miles away. To the left we look out upon " tho plains." The road follows up the ralley of the Platte to the mouth of Pluiii creek, then up that creek until the pass of the Divide - or highlands from which the waters flow one ray to the Missouri and the other to the Arkansas - is ï'oachod. Tho valley3 of the Matte and Phirn crook are being rapidly sottled, and largo horda of stock are no;iced grazing upon the nourishing grases. Every few milos a sawmill is at work, cutting up the loga obtained along tho st'rcanta, in the gorges of the mountains and on the outlying spurs. Crossing tho Oivide at an elevation of 7,010 feet, the road follows down Monument creek to üolorado Springs, - a misnomer - 76 milos xom Denver. In approaching tho Divide the grado for a nuraber of miles is 75 feet per uiilc, and over tho Divide a downward graae at the samo rate. Yet ;he littlo engino makes no extra effort, and tho 76 miles is made in just five tours. Tho view3 the wholo distance, eswcially on the mountain sid;, aro enchanting; whilo along Moiiunaant creek imiiy wonderful curio3ities aro pointod out. Hcre a detached rosk or mass of rock in thti form of a turreted castlo ; there one the exacte uiterpart of a fort, with battlemnnta au 1 ombrainrcs ; and all along rocks worn and cut by th ; action of frost and water into monumento almost 8 porfect as tho " Cirdiff glant.' Tnis in )rief for the scenory along tho ro-.iA As the coni larativn o.ost. of t.lin mr. , row gauge, Oov. HüXT, wh,i:n w ) m -t on the train, iaformed us th t tho Mtu l c st of the 7G miles thon complet 1 1 i:i 1 i.i peu'ation was a fractioa Io3thi3 $11,0)') por mile, ag.imst $22,0.)) jur mito, the coet of the Denver División of tia Knuas Paoiflc. As to capwjity, ho a's- a3sertod, and not without reason, Ihat the Kansas Pacific could dofour or fivo ti nes its present business, and that the Douver and Kio Grande - narrow-gauge - could do all the business which would probably bü required of the Kansas Pacific in tho next dozen years. Theso figures boing fcts thero can bo doubt of the suocess of the narrow-gaugo in a sparsely settlyd country, or where short curvos and hoavy grades aro necessary. The chartered line of the Denver and Rio Grande now terminatos at El Paso, on the Mexicaa baund-iry, about 850 mijes isouth of Denver, to whioh oint it is dosignod to push tho road as fast as possible. And, as wo wcro advisoci, tho company proposes to go to Ihe Mexican government the coming winter and ask a chartsr from El Paso to the city of Mexico. English capitalists are roportod inerested largely in this onterprise, and at Denver no doubt is oxirossed of the completion of the road to tho oíd capital of tho Montezumas. In fact, Denver doubts nothing - nothing that nerve and niusole and daré and money can accomplish. COL0RU)O SPIIIXO V the pros int terminus of thenarrow-gaug; road, ought not to have baen so named, as the spriugs are fivo miles distant, in a gorge of thu mountains, and wel! up into the Ute pass. Howcver, it is a thrivuig to-wn for a tuntling, beautif ully located on an elevatod plateau, soine three or four miles from tho-foot of the mountains, facing which, Pike's Puakcappd with everlasting snow, rears its cvost over 1 1,000 feet, but twolve miles aw.aj'. To the leftK Cheyenne, pronounced " tho most. lKi;i.u.tiful of mountains," projocts its lofty and ruggcd sides wcll out into tho plain.anl geems distant but a morning's walk. Tho town is a creation of the raihoad. Tl: e coaipany hal nearly completed a veiy fiue hotol, two stjiies with Fronyh roof, and. nutaorous dwellinga weso going up ' on cvery sido. It is designed to'Bè the headqnaiteis of the railroad coinpttuy, and has a promising future. It is at cunear the junotion of tho Fountiin with Mi ■tm.'.üii -ut creek. COLORADO CITV, one of the olilcst of O.jlorado town?, nnl onco a rival of Denvor, in about thrce miles distant.up tho Fotmtain. It shows now no signsof itst'onnor prosperity, and m to bo sacrificed upcra tlu alt ir oi' tho new town at the depot. C0LOKAD0 9PBIMGS. or Founta:n-qui-Bouillé - Fronflll, Rpinjsh or soinethingolso for ' Boiling Fountiiin" - metwo milos further up s raam or fivo miles from the depot, and doublé that, oathu iting distance by charge for trivn-sporUtion, aa 0pt. TirATira oanjofn us ín testifying. Here are soveral spriags, soda, iron, etc, literally boiling or bulbling up through rock fornuvtion. The water is cool, ptaasant to the taste, an'l is said to possess exfraordinary modicinal properties, The looation of thee springa is as bwautif ui as coulcl well be imagined Pilie's Peak is in full view, and tho lowef inountains shnt the valley in on all sides. Up tho Fountain, say ha-lf mile, is a Tory beautiful fall, and abovo it another. The railroail oompany has built a temporary hotel hore, long nd low and of rough plank. But it vu clean, aweet, woll-kopt - by svn Boglishman two months froin London- nndtho table would tempt anepicure, to saynothingof party of huagry tniTuIer wlw iuountaiu rambles had created a wondorful appetite. N'uxt scaeon lrgor hotol ia to be erocted, amd a fnshionablo smnmor resort established. . THE OARDF.X OF THE OOD3 is also locatod about threo mile frora the sjjrings and five from the depot. Our pon ia incompetent to describo the wondere which, by some freak of nature or naturo's forces, are here displayed. The goAs - 9O-C7illed - ara hugo rocka in all concoivable shapes, staurtiag alono and in groups. Guar.ling the entrañes is one toMreriag 80 or 100 feet, Arith ivrm. tipliftsd and fist oleacfaeJ, louking for all fcho world as if he had obeyed the order : " Simon sy thrnnba up." These rocks are of a softish, brick-colored stoae. How thoy Trero detachod from the mountaina and how caryed into their produut fornis, aoioe one else will dato to telL Therc are two tf theje g&rdens, coiled the ♦ largo garden " and the " s:a;vll garden." In the " small gardon " tbo monuiaents or gods are gray instead of red, and appear to be harder ; and in ono an eagle's nest or eyry is pointed out, which has given a ñamo to a beautiful, picturesquo, and wild gloa. In GLEN EYBXE President PalïEEU, of the narrow-gauge road, i building an elegant mansion. As a suminer residonce it will bo a most attractire spot, and the hospitalices of the General and his lady wil be soverely tested ; that is, if thoy havo a large Ü3t of hcalth or beauty seeking friend. A rudo cafion opens intotho glon, and the stream coursing down it hos ia fall, pronounced one of imposing beauty. But time and our driver wero both impatient, and we were hurriod off to the delot to lose two hours in waiting for our train. At tho depot we had tb pieasure of meeting an excursión ptirty of Colorado editors, celebrating the opening of the road, and of partoking of tho sumptuous bimquet provided for the occasion. In duo timo the train moved off, and at 7 P. M we were back in Denver, having put in two days of sight-seeing and pieasure to be lived over in memory again and again. il i m i