"Around the Circle": One Thousand Miles Through the Rocky Mountains

by Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Company

CATHEDRAL SPIRE.

Half a dozen revolutions of the wheels and we are on the Atlantic slope. The waters all run to the eastward now. One engine holds the train in check. There are no smoke and cinders. Pneumatic breaks skillfully applied by the engineer control the power of gravitation, which is the sole force needed to carry the long train down its winding way. The sinuosity of the descent is something indescribable. A glance at the illustration of the alignment of the road over Marshall Pass will convey a better idea than anything that could be said. The descent is ended at Poncha Springs, and the train enters the valley of the Arkansas.

At Poncha are some of the most remarkable hot springs to be found anywhere in the West. There are over one hundred of these springs; the water varies in temperature from 90 to 185 degrees Fahrenheit. The analysis of the Poncha Springs corresponds almost exactly with that of the waters of the Hot Springs in Arkansas.

From the Arkansas Valley can be obtained a fine view of the Collegiate range of mountains, including the peaks of Harvard, Yale and Princeton, all of which reach an altitude greater than fourteen thousand feet.

The crowning attraction, the wonder of wonders, the marvel of marvels, yet remains to be seen. The Grand Cañon of the Arkansas lies before us. There are no words in the language which can describe this cañon. There are no pigments on the artist's palette that can paint it; it is indescribable and entirely beyond the reach of mimetic art. The Grand Cañon is seven miles in length—seven miles of wonders, seven miles of the grandest, most awful scenery in the world. To the right boils and surges the Arkansas River, above which tower the red rocks of the cañon. To the left are cliffs, jutting in places above the track, and rising to tremendous and awe-inspiring heights. The progress down the cañon is by means of many intricate curves, and it seems as though the engine would dash itself to atoms against the cliffs, but each time a slight turn is made and the train rounds the promontory in safety. Soon the tourist finds himself in the heart of the mountain. Peak upon peak rises above him, until the splintered summits seem to touch the sky. Darker and darker grow the shadows, narrower and still more narrow grows the gorge, deeper and deeper grows the gloom, the river ceases its roaring, the noise of the train is hardly perceptible, for the engineer has "slowed up," and the Royal Gorge is at hand. Here the cañon is not wide enough for road and river, and here is one of the most remarkable feats of engineering. Right across the gorge, fifty feet wide at the base and perhaps seventy at the summit, which soars above to a height of nearly three thousand feet, a series of great iron braces has been thrown, from which huge iron bars depend, holding a long iron bridge in suspension, that clings to the face of the cliff, and runs, not across, but parallel with the course of the river. The eye can scarcely comprehend the stupendous height of the perpendicular cliffs whose summits pierce the heavens half a mile above our heads.

APPROACH TO THE BLACK CAÑON.

After beholding the Royal Gorge the traveler has a superlative comparison for all that is wonderful and grand in nature. He has seen something which he can never forget, and of the many marvels of this marvelous journey "Around the Circle," the greatest of them all, the crowning glory, is the Royal Gorge.

It will not be inappropriate to make some special mention of several of the more important points of interest on the circle tour, and we add below a short description of the "Royal Gorge," "Toltec Gorge," "Animas Cañon," "Black Cañon of the Gunnison," and the "Marshall Pass."