Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 October 1889 — A VALLEY OF WONDERS. [ARTICLE]

A VALLEY OF WONDERS.

Marvelous Sights Along th« Course of the Colorado River. % On the Colorado river, a distance cl 100 miles, are mountains of salt extending miles. The salt is so pure that a newspaper can be read through blocks of six and eight inches. A single blast of giant powder will blow out tons upon tons of it. This salt does not dazzle your eyes, ns you might expect, while riding along on the river steamer or clambering over it. It has a layer of sandstone from two to eight feet thick over it When this is torn away, the, salt lies in full sight like a great snowdrift. How deep it is nobody knows. This salt is destined to be the source of great wealth. Hamilton Disston, the big saw manufacturer, and Baldwin, of the Baldwin locomotive works, are the only men who have secured any of these salt mountains. When the Utah Southern railroad is pushed on from Frisco. Utah, it will tap the gigantic Balt mountains.,. The rocks up toward the salt mountains are painted and cut into hieroglyphics which none of the Mojave, Yuma, Piute or other Indians know" the_ meaning of. There arc valleys along the great but as yet, unknown Colorado, singly as much as 120 miles long and twenty wide. That will be the real orange country of the globe; They are as rich as the valleyof the Nile. Irrigation will redeem them. Water will be brought on them as sure as destiny.

* El Dorado canyon is grander than the Grand canyon of the Colorado. The tops of the windows of the steamer Gila do not project out more than-srr inches, yet I may put my head out and look as high as I can and I can’t sec half way up the mighty walls of the canyon. The river is 350 feet wide there, too. The. only way you can see to the top is to get right out on deck and look straight up. The walls are so high that there is perpetual shade there. Neither the suu nor the moon can shine in. It takes ten. hours going up to go through the canyon and two hours coming down. By the Colorado river and the Virgin you can run clear up into Nevada and Utah. Many people have laughed at me for saying 1 was going up into mountainous Nevada by boat, but that’s just what I have been doing right along. Strange as it may seem, and little as it IS, the Colorado has more navigable water without portage than any other river on the Pacific coast. It has 700 miles, while the Columbia has but 350. The Colorado is the only real field for explorers on the North American continent outside of the frigid North. Th« wonders that could be unearthed there will yet attract the attention of the greatest scientists of the world.—Colorado Letter.

Hon a Man Became a Colonel on Short Sendee. Col. Ike Hill, of Licking county, without doubt one of the greatest ; of national characters, was in the city a few days ago. To a number ot oTS friends, wno braved the terrors of war, he related how he came by the title of colonel. "I served in the army one consecu-' tive night," said Ike. “It was the. Army of the Potomac, and it was hear ■ Alexandria when I found them. I was on my way there, and on the train, not far from Alexandria; met an old friend who was an officer in that army. I uas then a great short-card player, and ho knew it. He invited me to* go down to camp, tolling me I could win “It was ’long 'toward evening, and that night we had a game of poker. Why, 1 won at least $3,000, breaking them all. One of the crowd of officers was a, " fibre loser, and When he .had staked, and lost his I,stcent he yptilied his revolver and' made me'"Throw up my hands. Then they took every cent I had and turned me over from one guard to another until I landed in the bull pen at Alexandria. I was dressed fit to kill, and one of those devils took a knife, running it up - the back of my fringe Alb rt slitting...iJL to-the neck. Mv patent leather shoes were all burst from walking and I was almost dead. beside? being ‘busted. 5 J succeeded in getting out of the prison and over to Washlggtojij_whaceMrs. Sunset Cox loaned :na s2s* in gold." “ AN as that all of your war experience?- ’asked or.o of .the party. "That was all. Capt: Owens; once asked me. in a very surprised way, whether I had thrown up my hands when they told nm to. I said 1 did. “ ‘WeILT wouldn’t have .done it. 1 he said. “ ‘Xo, you would have whipped the army. I TkWtdlft:’*—Cincinnati Enquirer. ir. If damsels fair and youthful But meant the ttTttßfl they say, Ah! then, what joy to listen \Y hen eyes of azure giiston •~t And tender words and truthful Our fears and doubts allay; If damsels fair and youthful -But meant thethiiSgs they say. If maidens never flirted And men wore never false; If matrons never emded. If wall bowers ne'er derided, One’s cares might be diverted By gliding tir >u ra a vai-so; If maidens never girted And men v.'j.e never salsa, ff hores were never present. And boors were never seen; If girls in their tenth season 'Two dd tender m .ch'moro pleasant . So"i 'iv i w ■ ■• i ■ If bores were never present And boors were, never seen. —America. A (iamblrr's Kequt-it. ■Frederick. . ikofatu. ..-a- -weU -known •porting man of Washington; who died in Saratoga recently, made a will leaf. • • .... *h ing his mother .SBO,OOO. This amount Ins lias won from the bookm • kers in vile lat't year. At the last n v *eling of the Joeicey club th. iuiy “iveiTt broke, 1 ’ raving from the wreck only ;t diamond ring, which he pawned for $•10. WorrftWlfig ?I’o~ lift' slafyoll. with this capital ml won SII,OOO during the spring meeting. He followed the horses to MoninnulUj Sheopshcad and Saratoga, and won right along, lie deposited $17,000 of Ilia winnings In a SaraKtgo Iwhak.-, .