"Around the circle. (1892) (14574555387)

Identifier: aroundcircle00denv (find matches)
Title: "Around the circle."
Year: 1892 (1890s)
Authors: Denver and Rio Grande railroad company. (from old catalog)
Subjects: Wagon Wheel Gap
Publisher: (Chicago, Knight, Leonard & co., printers)
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress



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horizon line like a gently undulating ocean, fromwhich rise the twin cones of Wahatoya, strangely fascinating in their sym-metrical beauty. At the summit of the pass the railroad reaches an elevationof 9,393 feet above the sea. Veta Mountain is to the right as the ascent of the pass is made, and riseswith smooth sides and splintered pinnacles to a height of 11,176 feet above thesea level. The stupendous proportions of this mountain, the illimitable ex-panse of planes, the symmetrical cones of the Spanish Peaks, present a pic-ture upon which it is a never-ceasing delight for the eye to dwell. The trainrolls steadily forward on its winding course, at last reaching the apex, glidesinto the timber and halts at the handsome stone station over 9,000 feet abovethe level of the distant sea. The downward journey is past Sierra Blanca andold Fort Garland, and through that pastoral and picturesque valley known, asSan Luis Park. At Placer one can say that the descent of Veta Pass has been accom-
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Around the Circle. 13 plished, though it is still all down grade to Alamosa. This little town is situ-ated on the eastern border of the San Luis Valley and at the western extrem-ity of La Veta Pass. From Alamosa station a magnificent view of Blanca is obtained, and thismajestic mountain, with its triple peaks capped with snow, and two-thirdsof its height above timber line, presents a noble and impressive spectacle.To the north and south, silhouetted against a sky of perfect azure, are theserrated pinnacles of the Sangre de Christo range. It would be difficult tofind, even in this land of peaks, a more impressive mountain view than thatobtained during the traversing of the San Luis Valley, on the eastern rim ofwhich Garland Station, the site of old Fort Garland, rests. Here is a park7,500 feet above sea level, surrounded on all sides by ranges of rugged mount-ains whose summits are whitened with perpetual snow. San Luis Parkhas an area larger than Connecticut, watered plentifully by mo