1894, by
H. S. SMITH,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at
Washington, D. C.
All rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| The Sublimely Grand and Incomparable Scenery of America.—Picturesque lands and places of other countries—Engagement of a corps of Photographers—Equipment of our Camera car—A trip to the Rocky Mountains—Hasty resumé of the pictorial districts visited—From summer climes to Alaska’s glacial shores—Excursions by car, stage, donkey and foot—Educational benefits of the tour—The work one of patriotic incitement, | [6]-16 |
| [CHAPTER I.] | |
| Among the Wild Scenes of Colorado.—Through the Gateway of the Rockies—Wondrous visions—In the cañons of Bear Creek—Colossal cleavage of Clear Creek—A submerged forest of petrified trees—Among the clouds—Devil’s Gate to Bridal Veil Falls—The Loop at Georgetown—Silver Flume—Cornucopias of silver—Over the switchback to silver lands—Between towering crags—Terrific convulsions of nature—Dome Rock—Invocation of surging waters—The highest point ever reached by rail—A marvelous tunnel—An astounding view—Through Boulder Cañon and into North Park—A tour of Estes Park—Visits to Long’s Peak and Bald Mountain—Wild game in savage haunts—Climbing the American Matterhorn—Bewildering prospect from the “key-hole”—A trip to Table Mountain and examination of the glaciers—A journey through Middle Park—A story of Grand Lake—Away up on a dizzy brink, | 17-40 |
| [CHAPTER II.] | |
| Manitou the Mighty.—Twin cities that sit at the feet of Pike’s Peak—A spell of wonderment wrought by the eccentricities of nature—God’s acres of tumultuous stone—The story of Major Pike’s discovery—The first ascent of Pike’s Peak—The cog-wheel railroad to the summit—A trip to cloud-land—The wonderful panorama to be surveyed from the peak—A battalion of mountains in review—A storm on the mountain—Ute Pass to Cascade Cañon—Rainbow Falls and Grand Caverns—From the Cave-of-the-Winds down William’s Cañon—Garden of the Gods—Nature in wild riot of gruesome forms and sublime creations—Through Glen Eyrie and Monument Park—Witcheries that confound imagination—A visit to Cheyenne Cañon—Seven Falls—Entrancing hymns of nature—Legends of the Manitou, | 41-62 |
| [CHAPTER III.] | |
| Grand Cañons of Western Rivers.—A land of graceful, deep-leaping waterfalls—A park of marvelous petrifactions—Buena Vista, the beautiful view—Sportsmen’s Paradise—Through Hagerman Tunnel to Mount of the Holy Cross—Grand River Cañon—Sixteen miles of natural wonders—The Grand Cañon of the Colorado—Major Powell’s Trip from Green River to Yuma—A perilous journey richly recompensed—Flaming Gorge and Horseshoe Cañons—Tossed by dangerous rapids into halls and temples carved by Titans—In a chasm 7,000 feet deep—Caverns of Enchantment and walls flecked with rainbow colors—A borderland of phantasy—Cave habitations of an extinct race—Story of the hunted refugees—Vermilion Cliffs, Temples of the Virgin and Marble Cañon—Glories that thrill the heart with ecstasy, and fill the soul with reverence, | 63-84 |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | |
| Marvels of the Great Desert.—Magnificence of the scenery along Grand River—From mountain to plain—Beautiful Provo Falls—Our great inland sea—Fruitfulness of Salt Lake Valley—A wall of mountains around Salt Lake—Shores of ancient Lake Bonneville, now America’s Dead Sea—Islands of Salt Lake—The Mormon City and how it was founded—Red Butte and Emigrant Cañons—Garfield Beach and Giant’s Cave—Echo and Weber Cañons—Valleys of marvelous diversity—The Devil’s Slide and the Witches’ Playground—Beaver River Gulch and scenic wonders about Ogden—A trip across the creviced lava fields of Idaho—The magnitude and awfulness of Shoshone Falls—A second Niagara in the desert—Twin, Cascade and Bridal Veil Falls—A realistic description of this incomparable wonderland, | 85-112 |
