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[Illustration: GARFIELD PEAK.]


THE CREST OF THE CONTINENT:

A Record of a Summer's Ramble in the Rocky Mountains and Beyond.

by

ERNEST INGERSOLL.


    "We climbed the rock-built breasts of earth!
     We saw the snowy mountains rolled
     Like mighty billows; saw the birth
     Of sudden dawn; beheld the gold
     Of awful sunsets; saw the face
     Of God, and named it boundless space."


Twenty Ninth Edition.







Chicago:
R. R. Donnelley & Sons, Publishers.
1887.

Copyright,
By S. K. Hooper,
1885.

R. R. Donnelley & Sons, The Lakeside Press, Chicago.




                                   TO
                        THE PEOPLE OF COLORADO,
            SAGACIOUS IN PERCEIVING, DILIGENT IN DEVELOPING,
                          AND WISE IN ENJOYING
                                  THE
           RESOURCES AND ATTRACTIONS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS,
                         THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
                                  WITH
                             THE HOMAGE OF
                                                       THE AUTHOR.




PREFACE.


Probably nothing in this artificial world is more deceptive than
absolute candor. Hence, though the ensuing text may lack nothing in
straightforwardness of assertion, and seem impossible to misunderstand,
it may be worth while to say distinctly, here at the start, that it is
all true. We actually _did_ make such an excursion, in such cars, and
with such equipments, as I have described; and we would like to do it
again.

It was wild and rough in many respects. Re-arranging the trip, luxuries
might be added, and certain inconveniences avoided; but I doubt whether,
in so doing, we should greatly increase the pleasure or the profit.

"No man should desire a soft life," wrote King Aelfred the Great.
Roughing it, within reasonable grounds, is the marrow of this sort of
recreation. What a pungent and wholesome savor to the healthy taste
there is in the very phrase! The zest with which one goes about an
expedition of any kind in the Rocky Mountains is phenomenal in itself; I
despair of making it credited or comprehended by inexperienced
lowlanders. We are told that the joys of Paradise will not only actually
be greater than earthly pleasures, but that they will be further
magnified by our increased spiritual sensitiveness to the "good times"
of heaven. Well, in the same way, the senses are so quickened by the
clear, vivifying climate of the western uplands in summer, that an
experience is tenfold more pleasurable there than it could become in the
Mississippi valley. I elsewhere have had something to say about this
exhilaration of body and soul in the high Rockies, which you will
perhaps pardon me for repeating briefly, for it was written honestly,
long ago, and outside of the present connection.

"At sunrise breakfast is over, the mules and everybody else have been
good-natured and you feel the glory of mere existence as you vault into
the saddle and break into a gallop. Not that this or that particular day
is so different from other pleasant mornings, but all that we call _the
weather_ is constituted in the most perfect proportions. The air is
'nimble and sweet,' and you ride gayly across meadows, through sunny
woods of pine and aspen, and between granite knolls that are piled up in
the most noble and romantic proportions....

"Sometimes it seems, when camp is reached, that one hardly has strength
to make another move; but after dinner one finds himself able and
willing to do a great deal....

"One's sleep in the crisp air, after the fatigues of the day, is sound
and serene.... You awake at daylight a little chilly, re-adjust your
blankets, and want again to sleep. The sun may pour forth from the
'golden window of the east' and flood the world with limpid light; the
stars may pale and the jet of the midnight sky be diluted to that pale
and perfect morning-blue into which you gaze to unmeasured depths; the
air may become a pervading Champagne, dry and delicate, every draught of
which tingles the lungs and spurs the blood along the veins with joyous
speed; the landscape may woo the eyes with airy undulations of prairie
or snow-pointed pinnacles lifted sharply against the azure--yet sleep
chains you. That very quality of the atmosphere which contributes to all
this beauty and makes it so delicious to be awake, makes it equally
blessed to slumber. Lying there in the open air, breathing the pure
elixir of the untainted mountains, you come to think even the
confinement of a flapping tent oppressive, and the ventilation of a
sheltering spruce-bough bad."

That was written out of a sincere enthusiasm, which made as naught a
whole season's hardship and work, before there was hardly a wagon-road,
much less a railway, beyond the front range.

This exordium, my friendly reader, is all to show to you: That we went
to the Rockies and beyond them, as we say we did; that we knew what we
were after, and found the apples of these Hesperides not dust and ashes
but veritable golden fruit; and, finally, that you may be persuaded to
test for yourself this natural and lasting enjoyment.

The grand and alluring mountains are still there,--everlasting hills,
unchangeable refuges from weariness, anxiety and strife! The railway
grows wider and permits a longer and even more varied journey than was
ours. Cars can be fitted up as we fitted ours or in a way as much better
as you like. Year by year the facilities for wayside comforts and short
branch-excursions are multiplied, with the increase of population and
culture.

If you are unable, or do not choose, to undertake all this preparation,
I still urge upon you the pleasure and utility of going to the Rocky
Mountains, travelling into their mighty heart in comfortable and
luxurious public conveyances. Nowhere will a holiday count for more in
rest, and in food for subsequent thought and recollection.




CONTENTS.


  I--AT THE BASE OF THE ROCKIES.

  First Impressions of the Mountains. A Problem, and its Solution.
     Denver--Descriptive and Historical. The Resources which Assure
     its Future. Some General Information concerning the Mining, Stock
     Raising and Agricultural Interests of Colorado. 13


  II--ALONG THE FOOTHILLS.

  The Expedition Moves. Its Personnel. The Romantic Attractions of the
     Divide. Light on Monument Park. Colorado Springs, a City of
     Homes, of Morality and Culture. Its Pleasant Environs: Glen
     Eyrie, Blair Athol, Austin's Glen, the Cheyenne Canyons 26


  III--A MOUNTAIN SPA.

  Manitou, and the Mineral Springs. The Ascent of Pike's Peak;
     bronchos and blue noses. Ute Pass, and Rainbow Falls. The Garden
     of the Gods. Manitou Park. Williams' Canyon, and the Cave of the
     Winds. An Indian Legend.                                         36


  IV--PUEBLO AND ITS FURNACES.

  The Largest Smelter in the World. The Colorado Coal and Iron Company.
     Pueblo's Claims as a Trade Center, and its Tributary Railway
     System. A Chapter of Facts and Figures in support of the New
     Pittsburgh.                                                      51


  V--OVER THE SANGRE DE CRISTO.

  Up and down Veta Mountain, with some Extracts from a letter. Veta
     Pass, and the Muleshoe Curve. Spanish Peaks. Beautiful Scenery,
     and Famous Railroading. A general outline of the Rocky Mountain
     Ranges.                                                          60


  VI--SAN LUIS PARK.

  A Fertile and Well-watered Valley. The Method of Irrigation. Sierra
     Blanca. A Digression to describe the Home on Wheels. Alamosa,
     Antonito and Conejos. Cattle, Sheep and Agriculture in the largest
     Mountain Park.                                                   71


  VII--THE INVASION OF NEW MEXICO.

  Barranca, among the Sunflowers. An Excursion to Ojo Caliente, and
     Description of the Hot Springs. Pre-historic Relics--a Rich Field
     for the Archaeologist. Senor _vs._ Burro. An Ancient Church, with
     its Sacred Images.                                               81


  VIII--EL MEXICANO Y PUEBLOANO.

  Comanche Canyon and Embudo. The Penitentes. The Rio Grande Valley;
     Alcalde, Chamita and Espanola. New Mexican Life, Homes and
     Industries. The Indian Pueblos, and their Strange History.
