Astoria High School - Zephyrus Yearbook (Astoria, OR)

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H tlup to pike’s peak On a Monday afternoon in September of 1906, I left Indepen¬ dence, Iowa, and arrived in Colorado Springs, Colorado the following Wednesday forenoon at nine o’clock via Kansas City and Limon Jun¬ ction. In going to Manitou and Iron Springs, the terminus of the cog- rcad, I passed through Colorado City, much of Colorado Springs and by the entrance of the Garden of the Gods. When I reached Manitou Springs I first tasted the water of the Soda Springs. What a nause¬ ating taste! I was content to drink but little here. Since the second cog-road train did not leave until 1:30 p. m., I took a walk up the track as far as I had time to go, and just as I felt tired enough to retrace my steps, I came upon a beautiful spring grushing from beneath a hugh boulder—not soda, sulphur, iron or any other bad-tasting medicinal water, but real, cool, refreshing, thirst- satisfying “Iowa” water. It was the only of such I had tasted since leaving my native state. After enjoying the scenery of an endless confusion of precipices and forest-covered mountains in the distance above and below, made possible by my lofty position, I came down with more speed and less energy then had been used in the ascent, just in time to catch the train for the top of Pike’s Peak. The 220 horse power locomotives of 28 tons each present a very pecular appearance with their hind wheels like car trucks and no front wheels at all. This tips up the cab and lets down the front so that in making the steep grades the boiler remains nearly horizontal at all times. Each engine shoves one car. Instead of coupling pins they have two steel rollers so placed that the awful jars and jerks of the en¬ gine are reduced to a minimum. In going up the seats are leaned to¬ wards the front so that you may sit straight up and down when the car is tipped; but when coming down they are adjusted to the other extreme so that one may lean back and keep from sliding under the seat in front. Each car carries about 50 passengers. In the middle between the rails are two sets of cogs about one and one-half inches made of the best Bessemer steel. These two sets of steel cog-bars are one and five-eights inches apart and fastened to the ties so that the cog of one bar comes opposite the opening between the cogs of the other bar thus making it quite impossible for the cog-wheel to leave its track, for 3

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if this middle cog-wheel should leave its track, it would be rather un¬ certain where the passengers would find a landing place. So much for the mechanism of the train and its equipment. Now the engine whistles and we start for the summit of Pike’s Peak 1414 feet above sea level and 7525 feet above Manitou Springs. The exact length of this road is 46992 feet and the average elevation overcome 25 per-cent and the maximum degree of curvature is 16 per-cent with a radius of 359 feet. On the 20th day of October 1890, the golden spike was set completing this—the highest railroad in the world. To keep the track from slipping down the hillside as many as 146 anchors are firmly set into the solid rook or in the absence of that material, deeply imbedded in the roadbed. The road begins at the mouth of Engleman’s Canyon near the Ute and Little Chief Iron Springs. Thru this canyon flows the Ruxton Creek rushing and falling madlv over rocks and through tiny narrow gorges c reating much disturbance in the silence of the solitude. Here is the playhouse of the speckled trout. About a mile from the depot are the Shady Springs, on either side rocks, named Gog and Magog, may be seen thousands of feet above like giant monuments which were already old before the Pyramids were thot of. Here the train enters Grand Pass, to the right are Echo Falls so called from the Echo Rocks above, whose many invisible tongues an¬ swer back in sounds that go reverberating from cliff to cliff until they are lost in the vastness of space. To be in the midst of such wonder¬ ful surroundings but for a moment makes life worth living; for it will cause one to think nobler thots, to have higher ideals, and to see in it all the Great Hand of the Great Creator. Other interesting scenes are the Hanging Rock, Artist’s Glen, Crystal Park,and Cameron’s Cone whose tapering heights can be plain¬ ly seen at a distance. Now we come to a Falls sheltered by overhang¬ ing rocks and a little beyond are the Minnehaha Falls one of the most beautiful places along the road. After passing the Halfway House we can see Devil’s Slide and far above it the Grand View Rock, with its rustic pavilion, cuts a distinct silhouette against the clear blue sky. Just beyond this after passing thru the narrow, ragged walls of Hell Gate is the beautiful Ruxton Park. To the left may be seen Sheep Rock and a little further on Lion s Gulch where is obtained the first glimpse of the Mighty King of the Peaks. Before we realize it we are above timber line where rocks and snow reign supreme. While climbing the steepest grade on the so called Windy Point around the east side of Pike’s Peak we get a good v iew of Lake Moraine and sev-