Show A HAPPY DM The Railroad Nuptials of Colorado Colo-rado and Utah THE COMPLETION OP THE LINK A Between the Rio Grande Western and the Colorado Midlandwlll BrinDenver Pueblo Lcadvllle and Glenweod Springs on the One Hand and Salt Lake City and Ogden on the Other Hand Into Close Business Connection THE WORK Since last Julv an average number of 4000 men have been busy as bees with pick spade hammer and spike changing the gauge of the Rio Grande Western from a narrow to a standard measure the entire length of the roadfrom Ogden to Grand Junction distance of 325 miles This work with the new rolling stock that it will make necessary represents an expenditure expen-diture of SCOO000 of good American coin The entire line is being laid with G pound steel upon a solid ballast of rock and is in 1 every sense an entirely new construction involving new grading new ballast new ties and new rails and in many places new surveys as the distance has been shortened short-ened a fraction over twentyfive miles between be-tween the termini of the line by the reduction re-duction of the curvature necessitating a great deal of additional tunneling i Despite this enormous work the freight and passenger traffic of the enterprising II Western has not been abandoned a single day but her wellladen trains have thundered thun-dered through the valleys and mountains as of old with but a slight delay now and then The contractors who have undertaken this mammoth job of converting the Western West-ern from the narrow way to the broad steel highway are Corey Brothers of this city W N Dusenberry of Provo andT A Mc Murtrie of Denver and in every sense the word implies success has crowned their efforts as today the Rio Grande Western stands unrivaled in the west as a daring feat of railway engineering and construction construc-tion its bands of steel penetrating the most picturesque and enchanting mountain scenery scen-ery known to either continent baffling the stupendous impediments of rugged precipitous preci-pitous mountains traversing almost impenetrable impen-etrable tortuous serpentine canons which presented to the engineer and builders bold forbidding masses of rock and jutting N4 granite It represents the victory of man over nature In its dare devil ascent over apparently impassable mountain ranges whose highest peaks are covered at all seasons sea-sons with a mantle of virgin snow the Rio Grande Western represents the very incarnation incar-nation of matchless daring TUB OLD AND TUB SEW Without disparagement to the excellent excel-lent management of the Western who have succeeded in making of an almost abandoned property a gigantic power in western railway circles and placed the credit of an almost impoverished corporation beyond the slightest criticisn TUE HERALD with the people in common is glad to not the abandonment aban-donment of the narrow roadbed and its attendant at-tendant inconveniences Four or five inches of additional space in a dwelling or c street may not be noticeable but in a train it covers a multitude of sins or rather obviates them Therefore this additional ad-ditional space upon their gauge and the new rolling stock the Western presents to the traveling public will prove a most welcome New Year gift and one that will be sincerely appreciated and hailed with joyous acclaim by the people peo-ple of the valley Some details of the munificent gift have been learned by TUE HERALD The new locomotives thirty in number are from the Baldwin Locomotive works and are the best character of that I well known companys product They were i built especially for the Western with a view to mountain climbing and speed I When these messengers of the highest art of mechanics find it necessary they can easily make sixty miles an hour upon their new track making delays things of the past The coaches are the acme of comfort and convenience They are of the latest and best make with all the recent im provements known to the car builder All the coaches will be heated by steam and lighted by gas and the luxurious day cars I will have both ladies lavatory and gentle mens smoking rooms Pullman the irrepressible will have the management of the sleeping and parlor conveniences con-veniences and by contract will furnish rolling palaces only Infact the Western realizing the comptition in point of direc I tion studiously endeavored to secure the best possible equipment and being the last in the field it is no disparagement to competing com-peting or associate lines that the new rolling roll-ing stock for the accommodation of both freight and passenger traffic is the best west of the Missouri river and will stack up even with any east of that same muddy stream I WHAT IT MCAXS It is not the purpose of this article to detail the vast improvement inaugu J rated and now nominally completed by the friend of Utah the Rio Grande Western for the mere details are cast into shadow by the contemplation contemp-lation of the grand result a result that promises increased prosperity to the enterprising enter-prising feeders of Salt Lake and Ogden at this end of the line and to our energetic sister state at the other endColorado Colorado has been and is justly regarded as among the greatest of the western commonwealths com-monwealths Her climate and healing springs have drawn thousands from distant homes in search of health and the smoke from her hundreds or smelter stacks speaks louder than words in praise of her mineral wealth The precious gold and silver dug from the bowels of her earth have gone back into the ground to bloom and blossom anew with the cereals and fruits that flower her vales and her prolific soil and mineral wealth have attracted a popu laticn the pride of the continent A belle is she and when Utah has woed and won her as a bride at the ceremony the Rio I Grande Western will be found as best man for to the broad guage track of steel from Ogden and Salt Lake to Denver is the i credit due for the happy nuptials Utah I has no envy in contemplating the strides towards greatness Colorado is making I I Between the state and the territory there can be no clash and the happiness happi-ness and prosperity of one only I tends to enhance the value of the other We have Ions courted Colorado attracted by her charms and that she has smiled upon our suit is evidenced by the connecting link she is building from Rifle to Grand Junction in order to embrace us When this is completed the west and the east must bring their choicest treasures to the centre of the circle Utah and it is in this contemplation we arc happy Only a few more weeks and the through line from San Francisco to Denver the through broad gauge linethe grandest scenic line of them all will be complete and the trav j olor in the luxurious broad gauge sleeper will cross the continent via the coming cen tres of western civilizationSalt Lake and Ogden THE NEW CONNECTION At Grand Junction the eastern terminus of the Rio Grande Western her trains will roll upon the Rio Grande Junction track the new line now being rapidly pushed to completion by tho Rio Grande and Midland companies and then on to Denver via the Colorado Midland the famed Pikes Peak route whose broad guago roadbed has bid defiance to the sneers and scoffs of the mighty I engineers who claimed it was impossible to build a railroad as this had been surveyed Although great enterprises and marvelous marvel-ous works of engineering Colorado have not been few in number no enterprise was ever inaugurated in the Centennial state that attracted the attention of the country as did the building and equipping of the Midland Scarcely had the news of the organization been received before the an p j4 74p T r Y r HTi4r p a r t f 7 w r4 r r vT I iaj Y THE BIG SWIMMING POOLGLENWOOD SPRINGS COLORADO nouncement came that the contracts had been let for the building of 300 miles I through tho most mountainous part of that mountainous state and the people wondered at the nerve displayed If you will pick out a scenic route through the Rocky Mountains 300 miles long and divide it into sections of about thirty miles each and have the scenery of each section totally different in character from that of the preceding or succeeding section and no two sections alike you will have a faint idea of the general scenic effect of the country through which the Midland passes It is no exaggeration to say that for beauty grandeur magnificence and diversity of scenery the Colorado Midland Mid-land cannot be equaled by any 300 miles of road in the country From one end of the line to the other there is a continual succession suc-cession of scenes of both mild and wild grandeurcharming and aweinspiring of boauty and loveliness and of magnificence and sublimity Seventysix miles from Grand Junction are the famous Glenwood Springs the sanitarium of Colorado whose healing waters and palatial accommodations attract thousands of visitors from all quarters of the globe Where Glenwoods great cauldron doth bubble and steam And forth from the earth flows a hot healing stream A stream thai some fairylike alchemist With love of the sea in her heart we gist With nature obeying her every command With subtlest of arts and magical wand Doth bring from below In bubbling commotion As salt as the surf from the far distant ocean That all may partake from the flow of these fountains A salt water bath In the heart of the mountains The cut of the famous place is presented with this article but cannot suffice to illustrate illus-trate the magnificence of the palatial equipments of the property which represents repre-sents an expenditure of over 300000 There are ten large springs and a large number of small ones the outflow of the ten springs being about 8000 gallons per minute or more than twenty times as much as all the fiftyseven springs at Hot Springs Arkansas The properties are remarkable re-markable They are alkaline saline sulphuric sul-phuric chalybeate calcic and thermal The extreme temperature of the water is 120 A degrees The number of grains of solid contents or minerals to the gallon varies from 1243 to 1254 while the next strongest spring in the United States is at Las Vegas where there are 004 grains in the gallon Thus it will be seen that these springs possess in a marked degree the qualities of six out of the seven classes of mineral springs in the United States One of the most wonderful of the large number of springs is the one found in a natural cave in the side of the mountain The cave is fifteen feet high and forms a good sized chamber with solid stone walls The hot spring in the cave furnishes a natural Russian bath which cannot be excelled by the ingenuity of any bathhouse builder in the country The medicinal properties have proven to be of great benefit to persons suffering from the following complaints some remarkable re-markable cures having been effected Blood diseasss indigestion constipation hemorrhoids nervous prostration general debility rheumatism pout From Glenwood the Pikes Peak route pursues its way to Denver through beautiful beauti-ful vales and over lofty mountains at one point reaching an altitude of 11500 feet were a tunnel over a mile in length has been built straight through the top of a I massive mountain ranse The traveler is taken by Aspen and Leadville the great mining camps by beautiful Buena Vista viewing from the coach window Bierstadts subject for his famous painting The Valley Val-ley of the Arkansas then on to the summer sum-mer resorts Manitou Park Green Mountain Moun-tain Falls and Cascade under the shadow of Pikes Peak through the Saratogas of the west Manitou with the Garden of the Gods in the distance and Colorado Springs thence through a fertile farming country to Denver the Queen of the Plains where passengers from San Francisco Fran-cisco and coast points will make the only change of cars between the Pacific Ocean and Chicago |