There is one glory of the moon and another glory of the stars, as well as the glory of the sun, in this mountain region of Colorado Springs. The sunsets over the mountains are marked by the most gorgeous phenomena of color before whose intensity all the hues of a painter's palette pale. The gates of the New Jerusalem seem to open. Great masses of billowy clouds in deepest, burning gold hang in the air; the rainbow hues of all the summers that have shone upon earth since the first rainbow was set in the heavens, reflect themselves in a thousand shimmering cloud-shapes. It is one of the definite things of the tourist's day to watch from the western terrace of "The Antlers" these unrivalled sunset effects; and when, later (still in compliance with the unwritten laws that prevail in the Empire of Transcendent Beauty), dinner is served at small tables on the terrace,—where the flowers that form the centrepiece of each table, the gleam of exquisite cut glass and silver, and the music from an orchestra hidden behind the palms and tall roses that fling a thousand fragrances on the enchanted air all blend as elements of the faëry scene whose background is a panoramic picture of mountains and sky,—the visitor realizes an atmosphere of enchantment that one might well cross a continent to gain.
SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK, COLORADO
Again, there is the glory of the night. A young moon glances shyly over the mountain summit and swiftly retires to her mysterious realms on the other side. Each ensuing night she ventures still further afield, gazing still longer at the world she is visiting before she again wings her flight down the western sky, pausing, for a tremulous moment, on the very crest of the mountains ere she is lost to sight in the vague distance beyond. The stars come and go in impressive troops and processions. They float up from behind the mountains till one questions as to whether the other side is not a vast realm of star-dust in process of crystallizing into planets and stars. Has one, then, at last arrived at the Land that is the forge of the gods who create it? May one here surprise the very secrets of the Universe? Perhaps some dim, mysterious under-world lies over that colossal range in which celestial mechanism is at work sending forth and withdrawing the shining planetary visitants, so continuous is the procession of stars through all the hours of the night. Each star, as it rises over the mountains or sets behind them, pauses for an instant on the crest for a preliminary survey, or a parting glance, of the world it is entering or leaving.
It is still in the realms of doubt as to whether there may be discovered a royal road to learning; but a royal road to the summit of Pike's Peak, more than fourteen thousand feet above sea level, has been, since 1890, an accomplished fact in the Manitou and Pike's Peak cogwheel road, starting from Engleman's Glen, one of the famous resorts of Manitou. This lovely town, that dreams away its summer at the base of Pike's Peak guarded by precipitous mountain walls, is connected with Colorado Springs by electric trolley, and the little journey of four miles is one of the pleasure excursions of the region. The route lies past the "Garden of the Gods," where the curious shapes of red sandstone loom up like spectral forms in some Inferno.
Like Naples, Colorado Springs is the paradise of the tourist, offering a new excursion for every day in the season; and there are few of these whose route does not include lovely Manitou, which is also the objective point from which to fare forth on this journey above the clouds, into those mysterious realms where he who listens aright may hear spoken the words which it is not lawful for man to utter. The journey into aërial spaces opens in a defile of one of the deep cañons, the train on the one hand clinging to the wall, while on the other one looks down a vast precipice, at the foot of which dashes a river over gigantic boulders. The route is diversified by the little stations on the way,—Minnehaha, whose waterfall indeed laughs in the air, and is given back in a thousand ghostly echoes; the Half-Way House, nestling under the pinnacled rocks of Hell Gate—must one always pass through the portals of Hades on his way to Paradise? Strange and grotesque scenery companions the way. On the mountain-side one finds—of all things—a newspaper office, where a souvenir daily paper is issued with all the news of that new world above the clouds, Pike's Peak. The ascent is very steep in places. The verdure of the foothills vanishes, the trees cease to invade this upper air, and only the dwarfed aspen shivers in the breeze as it clings to some barren rock. New vistas open. The world of day and daylight duties is left behind. Gaunt, spectral rocks in uncanny shapes haunt the way. The air grows chill; car windows are closed, and warm wraps are at a premium. But the scene below! The sensation of looking down on the clouds, the view of Lake Moraine, an inland sea high in the mountains; the new sensations of the rarefied air,—all these seem to initiate one into a new world. From the summit, reached in a journey of ninety minutes, the view can only be described as that of unspeakable awe and sublimity. An expanse of sixty thousand miles is open to the gaze. To the west rise a thousand towering peaks, snow clad, in a majesty of effect beyond power of portrayal. To the east the vast plateaus stretch into infinite space. Below, the sun shines on floating clouds in all gleams of color. In the steel tower of the new Summit Hotel is a powerful telescope that brings Denver, eighty miles distant, into near and distinct view. In Colorado Springs, fourteen miles "as the crow flies," the telescopic view even reveals the signs on the streets so they may be plainly read. In close range of vision appear Pueblo, Cripple Creek, Victor, Goldfield, Independence, and Manitou.
The surface of the top of Pike's Peak comprises several acres of level land thickly strewn with large blocks of rough granite of varying size,—blocks that are almost wholly in a regular rectangular shape, as if prepared for some Titanic scheme of architecture. The highest telegraph office in the world is located here, and the usual souvenir shop of every summer resort offers its tempting remembrances, all of which are closely associated with the genus loci, and are all a very part of the Colorado productions. A powerful searchlight was placed on Pike's Peak during the summer of 1906, adding the most picturesque feature of night to all the surrounding country. Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, the Cripple Creek district, the deep cañons of the Cheyenne range, the silvery expanse of Broadmoor, whose attractive casino is a centre of evening gatherings,—all these points in the great landscape are swept with the illumination from the highest searchlight in the world to-day.
A century has passed since Major Zebulon Montgomery Pike first discovered the shadowy crest of the mountain peak that immortalizes his name. It was on November 13, 1806, that the attention of Major Pike and his party was arrested by what at first looked to them as a light blue cloud in the sky, toward which they marched for ten days before arriving at the base of the mountain. The story of this journey is one of the dramatic records in the national archives. Major Pike and his men left St. Louis on July 15, 1806, on his trip to the Rocky Mountains, or Mexican Mountains as he called them at the time. He pronounced the country through which he travelled to be so devoid of sustenance for human beings that it would serve as a barrier, for all time, in the expansion of the United States. In vivid contrast are the conditions to-day. Major Pike could now make his journey from St. Louis to Pike's Peak over either of several grand trunk railways equipped with all the modern luxuries of travel. Where he passed great herds of buffalo, he would now see cattle grazing in equal numbers on the prairies. The vast plains that paralyzed his imagination by their desolate aspects are now dotted with prosperous farms or ranches. The mountains that appealed to him only for their scenic grandeur have been found to be the treasure vaults of nature that were only waiting to be conquered by the hardy frontiersmen who followed him nearly half a century later. The great white mountain that he declared could not be ascended by a human being is now the objective point of a hundred thousand tourists annually, who gayly climb the height in a swift trip made in a luxurious Pullman observation car. The first attempt of the Pike party to ascend the peak was a failure, and Major Pike expressed his opinion that "no human being could ascend to its pinnacle." In 1819 Hon. John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, sent Major Long and a party on an expedition to the Rocky Mountains, then almost as unknown as the Himalayas. This exploring party camped on the present site of Colorado Springs, and on July 13 (1819) started to ascend the peak. On the first day they made only two miles, as the ground was covered with loose, crumbling granite. On the second day, however, they succeeded; the first ascent of Pike's Peak thus having been made on July 14, 1819. A chronicle of this ascent describes the point above which the timber line disappears as one "of astonishing beauty and of great interest as to its productions." The first woman to stand on the summit of Pike's Peak was Mrs. James H. Holmes, in August of 1858.
General Zebulon Montgomery Pike achieved distinction both as an explorer and a brave soldier. He was but twenty-seven years of age when he was chosen to lead the most important military expedition of the day, and eight years later, as Brigadier-General, he commanded the troops that captured the British stronghold at York (now Toronto), Canada, and here he met his death, which has been compared to that of Nelson. The captured flag of the enemy was placed under the head of the dying general to ease his pain. The cheers of his soldiers aroused the young commander, and on being told that the fort was captured, he closed his eyes with the words, "I die content."
In his notebook were found the maxims that had guided him through life, dedicated to his son, among which were "Preserve your honor free from blemish," and "Be always ready to die for your country."