Part 3

“Hon. John J. Knox, who was Comptroller of Currency at Washington for eleven years, said: ‘Yes, Hutchinson is indeed a beautiful and also a wonderful town. The geographical position of Hutchinson respecting the great through lines east and west is such, that she is sure to continue to be one of the leading cities in Kansas.’

“Mr. D. Ogden Bradley, President of the Tarrytown National Bank of Tarrytown, N. Y., a member of the Legislature of the State of New York for several years, and a banker of forty years’ experience, said: ‘I am greatly pleased with Hutchinson, and see elements of great strength and certain prosperity all around it. I greatly admire Kansas. It is rapidly advancing to the lead of the moral and intellectual forces of the nation. It is doing a great work, and has a gigantic future. Hutchinson will certainly become its metropolis.’

“Hon. Darwin R. James, who served in the Forty-eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses, is an importer of indigo and spices, president of a savings-bank, and secretary of the New York Board of Trade and Transportation, said: ‘Words fail to express the pleasure of the excursion we are making. Kansas is a magnificent State, and is developing with wonderful rapidity. I thought I knew something about it before I came, but I am amazed at the progress made since my former visit. All that I had heard of Hutchinson, and it was much, has been more than realized. She is a magnificent young city, whose possibilities for the future are unlimited. We might say of Hutchinson “She is the salt of the earth.”’

“Dr. Frank W. Shaw, of Brooklyn, N. Y., being asked for his impressions replied that, while not a banker himself, he could appreciate the interest which men of affairs always feel toward the prosperity of any growing section of the West. The opinions of Kansas which he had heard from the distinguished gentlemen with whom he had the pleasure of travelling had shown him the broader views of observation, but what he had personally seen to-day of Hutchinson and its wonderful industries and possibilities convinced him of the soundness of Western enthusiasm. Those magnificent salt works alone assure the future success of the city. He said he should always feel indebted to Mr. Blanchard for his first view of the substantial prosperity of Kansas and of this beautiful city.

“Crowell Hadden, Esq., President of the Long Island Bank of Brooklyn, the oldest bank in the city, said: ‘I am highly gratified at the growth and enterprise of the city. It bids fair to become one of the greatest of Western cities. The recent discovery of salt underlying the city by Mr. Ben Blanchard will add largely to its wealth.’

“Capt. Ambrose Snow, President of the Board of Trade of New York City, said: ‘Yes, sir, Hutchinson has a great future before her. That wonderful salt! Why, it is a revelation to me. With that, and the railroads you have and those you are getting, no power in the world could prevent Hutchinson from forging right to the front and staying there!’

“The ladies of Mr. Blanchard’s party were of much more than ordinary intelligence, and had travelled not a little, and seen much of the world, and were familiar with European scenery. They were charmed with our beautiful streets and neat and handsome business blocks, and elegant lawns and residences. They were unanimous in the opinion that if they could not live in New York they would certainly choose Hutchinson.”

Of one fact all were convinced--that Hutchinson could furnish as good social life as we could desire. “Hutchinson’s salt mines are valuable, but her women are far above rubies,” said a gentleman of our party, and we all said “Amen!”

Our party were delighted and surprised to find in this beautiful city of seventeen thousand people such a rush of business. The streets were thronged with teams, the stores crowded with people. Hundreds of new buildings were going up--great stone blocks and elegant residences. We could easily understand this, when we found that Hutchinson was located on three trunk lines and two branch railroads, surrounded by an agricultural country that cannot be excelled, and underlaid with the thickest vein of pure salt in the world. Mr. Bourne, Treasurer of the Empire Loan and Trust Company, and for many years a banker, told me that a great many of the business men of Hutchinson were formerly from New York, and that Eastern capital was rapidly coming in to develop the latent interests here.

As an illustration of the rapidly growing commercial importance of Hutchinson, the Santa Fe Railroad Co. has recently issued circulars to shippers of live stock, which places Hutchinson on an equal footing with Kansas City.

William Willard Howard, in _Harper’s Weekly_, Nov. 3, 1888, says: “Wise and conservative methods of doing business attract a great deal of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston capital to Kansas properties that are now lying idle. Many Eastern capitalists are sending money to Kansas, but with few exceptions the bulk of the investments are in mortgages on farm property. To men who have made a study of Western securities these mortgages are looked upon as safe and profitable investments; but while they are no doubt beneficial to the individual borrower and lender, they yet cannot benefit Kansas a hundredth part as much as the same money would if used in the proper development of the State’s great resources. The day is rapidly approaching when the vast sums of money now stored in financial centres will be as readily invested in Kansas property as funds are at present put into farm mortgages. The city of Hutchinson has shown how it can be done.”

After the banquet we entered our car bound for Colorado; after a short stop at Pueblo we arrived in Denver, and went to the “Windsor,” where Mr. Blanchard had secured rooms for all during our stay in this far-off city. So easy and pleasant had been our journey of over 2,000 miles, we could not realize the distance we had travelled, except by the difference of time--we were two hours behind New York time. On Sunday attended service at Trinity M. E. Church, a beautiful building, organ, etc., valued at $300,000. Monday morning, in seven carriages, a representative of the “Bankers’ Association of Denver” in each carriage, visited the “Omaha and Grant Smelting Works,” public buildings, etc., under the courteous direction of ex-Gov. J. B. Grant. Leaving Denver Monday, 4:45 P.M., the next stop was at Colorado Springs, where there are no springs. We were anxious to reach Manitou, where the springs are numerous. The regular train had left. The necessity for prompt action was apparent. There would be no out train till morning. Mr. Blanchard was equal to the emergency; a special engine was secured, and with the superintendent of the road as conductor we started on the up grade, and arrived at Manitou (which is the Indian for Great Spirit) safely at eight o’clock of a beautiful evening. Carriages had been ordered, and were waiting at the depot, and a ride through Manitou, up Ruxton Glen to the springs by moonlight, completed the delightful experience of the day.

The “Iron Spring” and “Soda Spring” are superior for health to the “Washington” and “Congress” springs of Saratoga.

UP PIKE’S PEAK, Tuesday, October 1st.

The day was perfect; not a cloud. Our car stood on the side track of the Midland, at an elevation of seven thousand feet, equal to the “Tip-Top House” on Mt. Washington. All were eager to know if the weather was propitious. Hasty toilets enabled us, one and all, to assemble at an early hour and watch for the first rays of the rising sun. We were looking east, when one of the group, a lady, was the first to call out: “There it is”; and, turning to the west, we saw “The Peak,” snow-clad, blushing like a rose. Then “Gog and Magog” caught the rays; then “Cameron’s Cone.” The foot-hills followed, one after another, till all had joined the “Peak” in proclaiming “The sun has risen.” We were charmed by the wonderful and novel scene. “Manitou” lay asleep at our feet. We watched till at last we too were standing in the sunshine.

After an early breakfast our Pullman Hotel, the “Dalmatia,” was taken over the Midland Railroad to Cascade City, passing through eight tunnels in going six miles to ascend about one thousand feet. We left our Pullman at Cascade City, and took carriages with four horses, for a seventeen-mile climb to reach the summit. The carriage road is a marvel of engineering skill. At the half-way house our horses were changed for four sure-footed mules. After leaving the timber line the prospect is wonderful, changing with every turn of the road, and there are eighty turns.

The ascent of Pike’s Peak in time of flowers is a surprise for those who expect to see only the rough boulder and riven rock. “Flowers deck their inclined sides in great blocks of color, and litter their terraces and woodland edges in variegated confusion. There is no difficult pass where they are not found; no dusky glen that does not harbor them; scarcely any height on which their beauty will not appear to gladden him who toils to reach the summits.”

“’Tis legend told of primal days When ‘Manitou,’ like clay, The gray rock mountain shapes did raise To celebrate his sway. He was not pleased. The mountains bare Were bleak and dull and gray. He snatched a rainbow from the air, To use its colors gay. Crumbling its bars, with chanted spell, Their radiant dust he threw, And everywhere a handful fell A million flow’rets grew.”

As the early snow on the mountains had killed the flowers before our visit, a volume of pressed “Wild Flowers from the Rockies” was presented to each one of our party by our host. The flowers were gone but the Autumn tints had painted the grand old mountain, emerald, garnet, and gold.

Miss L. I. S. says:

“One curious fact I remember was, that the pine trees all presented branches on but one side of the trunk, and that the south, for the bleak north winds prove too severe for growth on that side, and instead of growing up, like well regulated trees, the branches all hang down, bended by their weight of snow, presenting a very singular appearance.

“How many times our blood would run cold as we skirted a particularly sharp turn on the edge of a very steep precipice.

“Snow was very plenty about us, and often we would be driving through piles two and three feet deep in some sheltered portion of the road.

“Imagine, ye who were not there, sinking in above the hubs in snow, genuine snow in its pristine beauty, and then you can realize why his lordship, the Peak, looks so white at a distance. And now comes the time for the furs and mittens and lap-robes, and were it not for the bright sun I imagine some noses would have been very blue.

“We had an unusually clear day for our visit, just what our favored party might have expected, for what was there that did not present its most attractive side to us.

“Before we quite reach the summit we get a grand view of the Continental Divide and Snowy Range, and those two white icebergs to the south they tell us are the Spanish Peaks, one hundred and eighty miles away.

“And now we have almost finished our seventeen miles of climbing, and the high mountains that we have come over lie like level plains beneath us, and nothing obstructs our view; we are head and shoulders above the world. Up, up, until the Tip-Top House comes in sight, and we draw up before it and alight cautiously, so as to take the rarefied air by degrees into our lungs.

“The Peak was reached at one o’clock. The sun was shining with mid-day brightness. The moon was also shining, undimmed by the sun’s brighter rays. To the east, “Manitou” and “Colorado Springs” seemed floating in space; to the north and west, Gray’s Peak, and the Snowy Range, and the smoke of the smelters at Leadville, seventy-five miles away; to the south, the “Spanish Peaks,” snow-clad, one hundred and eighty miles off, seemed only a few miles across the mountains. We stood fourteen thousand three hundred and thirty-six feet above New York and Brooklyn.

“At about 2.30 o’clock we stow ourselves in the stages and begin our trip down the mountain, a much easier but more thrilling ride. Mrs. Hadden, I think, voiced the experience of some of the rest when she said she only took two breaths all the way down--one when she started, and another when she stopped. It _was_ exciting to be whirled around the sharp curves, at a rapid gait, especially when an overturned cart told the tale of some poor fellow coming to grief; but it really amused us to picture the antics the little donkey must have gone through in his involuntary tobogganing down the side of the mountain. Several of the turns were marvellous, the road almost returning on itself, and in one spot we could see seven different portions of the road in its serpentine windings.

“Shall this pleasure ever end? Must we come down to every one’s level?

“The sun has just disappeared behind the snow-clad peak. We can still see it shining on Cameron’s Cone and on the peaks to our left.

‘The western waves of ebbing day Rolled o’er the glen their level way; Each purple peak, each flinty spire, Was bathed in floods of living fire. But not a setting beam could glow Within the dark ravines below, Where twined the path in shadow hid, Round many a rocky pyramid, Shooting abruptly from the dell Its thunder-splintered pinnacle; Round many an insulated mass, The native bulwarks of the pass, Huge as the towers which builders vain Presumptuous piled on Shinar’s plain, Their rocky summits, split and rent, Formed turret, dome, or battlement, Or seemed fantastically set With cupola or minaret, Wild crests as pagod ever decked, Or mosque of Eastern architect.’

“At six o’clock we whirl into Cascade. We jump from the stages, and fairly pinch ourselves to see if we are the same people who left there in the morning. Yes, we are the same in outward appearance, but something has entered into our lives, our inner selves, that broadens us out, and will prove a continual feast in coming days.

“It would seem that a climax could hardly be capped, but ours was in a most delightful way. The stages had hardly driven away when up drive four or five carriages, and we are invited to go back to Manitou, by way of the Ute Pass trail, instead of by the railroad. Nothing loath we get in, and settle ourselves for one of the pleasantest of rides. It is a perfect evening, and we have not gone far before the moon comes out and throws a spell of enchantment over the scene. The road is so smooth and hard that our horses’ hoofs make a pleasant ring as we speed along. A merry little stream, whose dashing and dancing have given it the name of “The Fountain that Boils,” accompanies us, and we run a race with it, but own ourselves thoroughly beaten in all respects, when our rival enhances its beauty, redoubles its speed, and makes louder its laughter as it throws itself headlong down the cliff of rocks; and we alight from our carriage to go down the ravine and pay homage to the beauties of Rainbow Falls.

“This brief glimpse in the twilight makes us long for a view by day, and we promise ourselves a longer visit the next time we come.”

As we bowl along we look up at the steep, rocky walls of the cañon, shutting us in from all disturbing thoughts and sights, and the moon floods all with its peaceful light, and all fatigue and disquiet vanishes, and we realize that we are having a fitting ending to a glorious day.

The electric lights at Manitou recall us to ourselves, and we finish a well-rounded day, begun with Pike’s Peak by sunrise, and we leave him sleeping under the watchful eye of the purest moon that ever shone.

Wednesday, October 2d.

Another brilliant day. An early breakfast. Carriages were taken for the most wonderful drive of the trip. First to “Iron Springs” and “Ruxton Glen,” then to the “Garden of the Gods,” more wonderful than can be told; then to “Glen Eyrie”; then the “Messa Road”--who will forget the beauty of its scenery?

We then turned our way to the scene of what was to be the culmination of our journey. As we approached Cheyenne Mountain, memories of (H. H.) Helen Hunt Jackson, arose in every mind. Her solitary grave upon Cheyenne Mountain, selected by herself, is unmarked, except as friendship’s hand has raised a mound of small stones and pieces of marble, an evidence of affection more significant than formal monument could be. It is an illustration of one of her own verses:

“But no decaying Can reach it in this sepulchre, whose stone Our hearts must make! To an exceeding glory grown, This grief outweighing.”

In Cheyenne Cañon where, almost imprisoned by the perpendicular rocks, lunch was eaten with keen relish, and the health of our host drank with cool, foaming “Manitou Spring water,” Wall Street was forgotten. Attention was directed to a prominent Wall Street bank president sitting on a rock enjoying the bountiful collation, with two young ladies acting as waitresses.

After lunch we rambled through the beautiful cañon and visited the Falls, where for 500 feet cascade follows cascade, till in “Seven Falls” they reach the bottom of the cañon.

How reluctantly we entered our carriages, for it was to be our last drive on this delightful journey. The “Pillars of Hercules” from a height of 1,500 feet looked down upon us with approval, and the “Seven Falls” united with us in singing the “Doxology.” We drove back to Colorado Springs and through its principal streets to our inviting quarters in the “Dalmatia,” ever ready to welcome us.

The next morning we were again riding through the fertile fields of Kansas. A brief stop at Hutchinson to say good-bye to Messrs. Burns and Bennett, thence to Topeka, Kansas City, St. Louis, and home, via the Big Four System to Indianapolis and Cleveland, thence by Lake Shore and New York Central, reaching Grand Central Depot on time Saturday evening, October 5th.

Probably no one enjoyed the trip more than Edward Merritt, Esq., President of the Long Island Loan and Trust Company. We had not finished the first day’s travel when, on account of a striking resemblance, Mr. Merritt was recognized by the crowd at the depot as President Harrison. This gave him a _prestige_ and popularity with the party that continued. Should any of us need counsel, we appealed to him. The young ladies always did. Did they fall, Mr. Merritt was expected to help them up. Captain Snow, when accused of sleeping soundly, was delighted to secure his counsel, and from his judgment there was no appeal.

One of the advantages of such a trip is safety. To travel over 4,000 miles involves some risks apparent to all. To have a skilful physician and surgeon at hand in Dr. Frank W. Shaw was duly appreciated. We had not gone 1,000 miles before a spark intruded the sacred precincts of one of the brightest eyes that ever looked upon the wonders of the “Garden of the Gods.” The cry for Dr. Shaw was promptly answered by skilful relief. How often that cry was made and responded to the Doctor’s “Diary” will attest. The youngest and oldest alike shared his skill and watchful care.

At Topeka J. R. Mulvane, Esq., President of the Bank of Topeka, gave me the following statement:

The corn crop this year will be about two hundred and fifty million bushels. (The Secretary of Kansas State Board of Agriculture raises this estimate to 276,541,338 bushels.) The wheat crop forty million bushels; oats fifty million bushels; rye and barley ten million bushels; flax-seed five million bushels; pork, in 1873, the State supplied 67,500 hogs; in 1889, one million eight hundred and seventy thousand (1,870,000).

Mr. Mulvane says, the products of Kansas farms _this year alone_, if applied, would liquidate every dollar of indebtedness. The following lines by Mrs. Sigourney may be very appropriately applied to Kansas.

“The sturdy reapers sing, garnering the corn That feedeth other realms besides their own. Toil lifts his brawny arm, and takes the wealth That makes his children princes; Strange steeds of iron, with their ceaseless freight, Tramp night and day; while the red lightning bears Thy slightest whisper on its wondrous wing.”

While in Denver, Colorado, we visited the Smelting Works, the great industry of that solid and thriving city. Ore is brought direct from some of the larger mines of the State and extensive shipments of ore and copper “matte” are received from Montana, Utah, New Mexico, and other western territories.

The value of the shipments from one of the many smelters this year will be from $3,500,000 to $4,000,000. This is a small fraction of the wealth developed in hard cash by one of the youngest cities of the West. This goes to New York banks to increase their capital and swell their surplus. If all the bank presidents of New York would follow Mr. Knox’s example and visit and personally inspect the solid growth and security the West offers for investments, they would all say with him: “You have grown rich, but we of the East are your co-partners in business, and notwithstanding your riches, we give notice that we do not intend there shall be any dissolution of the co-partnership. So far from that being the case, we give notice that in those branches of business which we find most profitable, we intend from year to year to increase our holdings. Those of us who have been in the habit of visiting the growing West, know its resources and propose, as heretofore, to continue to assist in the development--largely under your management.”

After leaving Albany it was evident that our pleasure-trip would soon terminate and we should be obliged to say “good-bye.” As usual, and without formality, Mr. James was asked to call to order and take the chair. His address was expressive of the feelings of the whole party when he said that one and all wished to express to Mr. Ben Blanchard their sincere appreciation of his cordial courtesy and unlimited hospitality during a two weeks’ trip, upon which every anticipation had been more than realized, and that he was well aware that while we had all been so well cared for, without an anxious thought, the trip had cost Mr. Blanchard severe care and attention. Mr. Knox followed, and said that the two weeks’ vacation had been the most delightful trip he had ever taken. Mr. Merritt joined in acknowledging the enjoyment that had been complete. Mr. Bradley, Captain Snow, Dr. Shaw, and Mr. Hadden all gave expression to the same feelings of appreciation and gratification. The last and best speech came impromptu from the youngest member of the company.

Mr. Blanchard was very evidently pleased with the kind words of appreciation for his hospitality that had been spoken. He said in response:

“My friends, you give me too much credit. I am glad to admit that we have had a happy time; but I could not have made the trip a success without the aid of all of your good offices.

“The railroad officials have contributed their courtesies without stint. The Pullman Company have shown us every attention.

“We have been favored with perfect weather, and saved from accident.

“You have each one joined in making every hour full of brightness, good cheer, and happiness. You have made me indebted to you for the pleasure you have given me. You have honored me with your presence, and I shall ever cherish your kind words, looks, and actions.”