Veta Mountain is to the right as the ascent of the pass is made, and rises with smooth sides and splintered pinnacles to a height of 11,176 feet above the sea level. The stupendous proportions of this mountain, the illimitable expanse of planes, the symmetrical cones of the Spanish Peaks, present a picture upon which it is a never-ceasing delight for the eye to dwell. The train rolls steadily forward on its winding course, at last reaching the apex, glides into the timber and halts at the handsome stone station over 9,000 feet above the level of the distant sea. The downward journey is past Sierra Blanca and old Fort Garland, and through that pastoral and picturesque valley known, as San Luis Park.
WAGON-WHEEL GAP.
At Placer one can say that the descent of Veta Pass has been accomplished, though it is still all down grade to Alamosa. This little town is situated on the eastern border of the San Luis Valley and at the western extremity of La Veta Pass.
From Alamosa station a magnificent view of Blanca is obtained, and this majestic mountain, with its triple peaks capped with snow, and two-thirds of its height above timber line, presents a noble and impressive spectacle. To the north and south, silhouetted against a sky of perfect azure, are the serrated pinnacles of the Sangre de Christo range. It would be difficult to find, even in this land of peaks, a more impressive mountain view than that obtained during the traversing of the San Luis Valley, on the eastern rim of which Garland Station, the site of old Fort Garland, rests. Here is a park 7,500 feet above sea level, surrounded on all sides by ranges of rugged mountains whose summits are whitened with perpetual snow. San Luis Park has an area larger than Connecticut, watered plentifully by mountain streams and traversed by the historic and beautiful Rio Grande del Norte. The soil of this valley is fertile, and through the medium of irrigation the park is rapidly becoming a great agricultural region.
From Pueblo the line diverges and the tourist may go via Veta Pass as described above, or to Salida, and thence through the Poncha Pass to Villa Grove and down through the beautiful San Luis Valley to Alamosa, noted for its fine farms and phenomenal yield of agricultural products. From the point named above there is a tangent of fifty-two miles and the San Luis Valley portion is a straight line through one of the most fruitful and beautiful sections of the State.
From Alamosa a delightful side trip can be taken to the Hot Springs at Wagon Wheel Gap, and to the new and already famous mining camp, Creede, for which a reduced rate will be given. A word about this wonderful health and pleasure resort will not be out of place here. As the Gap is approached the valley narrows until the river is hemmed in between massive walls of solid rock which rise to such a height on either side as to throw the passage into twilight shadow. The river rushes roaring down over gleaming gravel or precipitous ledges. Progressing, the scene becomes wilder and more romantic, until at last the waters of the Rio Grande pour through a cleft in the rocks just wide enough to allow the construction of a road along the river's edge. On the right, as one enters, tower cliffs to a tremendous height, suggestive in their appearance of the Palisades of the Hudson. On the left rises the round shoulder of a massive mountain. The vast wall is unbroken for more than half a mile, its crest presenting an almost unserrated sky line. Once through the Gap, the traveler, looking toward the south, sees a valley encroached upon and surrounded by hills
"Bathed in the tenderest purple of distance,
Tinted and shadowed by pencils of air."
