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Show COLORADO. 453 tiful cascades; to the east is Left- hand Gulch, a rocky trough with great fall, in which the stream is a constant succession of cascades and rapids, all the way up to its origin in the snow- banks on the Range. Only two hundred yards above the Barton House a square reservoir was blasted out of the rocky bottom, and in that short distance fall enough for the water- works is secured to throw water over the spire of the Union School building the highest in town. This stream is cold as spring- water all summer, and quite as pure and healthful. Just across town, on the face of Republican Mountain, is a beautiful fall of thirty feet or so, and all around tiny streams pour down from ice- cold springs or snow- banks near the summit a natural water system not to be surpassed. The two main streams unite in the center of town to form Clear Creek ; above the mills it is crystal clear and sweet to the tate, Jjelow them it is now foul with " tailings" and the wash of poisonous ores, and contains no fish, though once lively with them. Our party celebrated the Fourth of July, 1874, on the dividing ridge of the Rocky Mountains, at least 13,000 feet above the level of the sea. There we loosed the American eagle, and with polysyllabic speech and patriotic songs moved him to soar and scream. We straddled the backbone of America, sat down on the ridge pole of the continental water- shed, ate sardines from California and crackers from Boston, and drank from two ice- cold rivulets which flowed from the same snow- bank, the one to the Atlantic and the other to the Pacific. The occasion was inspiring. Of course we did and said all those pa-triotic things which are customary on such occasions; the speeches being the result of a geometrical progression beyond ordinary patri-otic remarks in proportion to our elevation, and proving us the great-est, freest, wisest people in the world. Whether the British lion howled and the effete despotisms trembled, is not known ; but it is to be presumed they did. The real enjoyment was in the trip to the summit, whereof a few notes are now in order, beginning with our departure from the rancheria of Charley Utter, scout, guide, and equine purveyor. A summer morning in Georgetown combines the perfect in climate and scenery. At 8 A. M., the sun is still behind Griffith Mountain, and the city in a shaded amphitheater walled in by cool mountains. But this promises to be one of the few warm days ; and, as we tighten straps upon the mountain bronchos, selected for their skill in going up high and narrow ways, the pack- trains are toiling wearily, by care-fully devised and winding dugways, up the neighboring cliffs. Over |
