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in the distance on our right; the: Platte
River is, in places, close on the same side,
while between the river and the moun-
tains lies a stretch of fourteen miles of as
beautiful rolling prairie land as one could
wish to see.

Four miles from Denver we pass the pi-
oneer ranche of the country, on the right.
The land which it embraces was taken up
in the spring of 1859, by Mr. Rufus Clark,
who is commonly called by all old settlers
“Potato Clark,” from the fact that Mr.
Clark was the first person in the country
to raise acrop of potatoes. Having sold
most of the crop at prices ranging from 20
to 35 cents per pound, after having cut off
and saved the seed end of each to plant the
next season, he come to make the potato
crop a speciality, to a great extent, and in

the years from 1860 to 1865, often had 250 |

acres of potatoes, which yielded enor-
mously.

Mr. Clark is a man who always buys for
cash, and sells forthe best price the market
will afford, and although he has often been
called close in exacting his due, no person
ever questioned his sterling integrity.

It was along the river, just above, where
gold was first discovered on the Platte in
1859, but the “diggings” were not profitable
and were abandoned.

About one mile further, Bear Creek
comes into the Platte, on the west side, its
junction being marked by trees, houses and
well-cultivated fields. Hight miles from
Denver, we pass

PETERSBURG—an unimportant
track, and two miles further come to

LrrrLeton—This station is composed of
a dozen or more buildings, surrounded by
some fine farms and farm houses; most of
the latter are painted white, and the flow-
ers and shrubbery surrounding them look
as though there was a woman in the family.

Passing on, the bluffs and ravines seem
gradually to close in on our left, and we
roll through numerous cuts, cross the canal
that supplies Denver with water, pass

AcEQuAa—a side-track, and then

PuiumM—another station only in name,
opposite Platte Canyon.

Our course is now to the southeast—up
Plum Creek—which we shall follow for
25 miles. This is arough and very little
cultivated, eee country, but well
adapted to stock-raising, many vast herds
of. cattle appearing thereon.

few miles further, we pass, on the
right, the site of the old Fisher mill of

side-

 

CROFUTT’S NEW OVERLAND TOURIST

 

1860. Opposite this mill, comes down the
old Plum Creek Divide wagon-road, which
left the railroad six miles south of Denver
on the Platte, turning up over the ridge,
via the “Pretty Woman’s Ranche,” of
1860-8, situated at a spring on the southern
slope of the Divide, five miles distant.

Continuing along, we pass, on the right,
Fisher Ranche, and then come to

CasTLE Rook Sratton—32 8-10 miles

from Denver, so named for a huge castella-
ted rock that stands away up on the apex
of a spur of the Divide, that here projects
out into the valley, as though to bar our
way.
At Castle Rock there is a settlement
of about 50 people. Some of the bot
tom land along the creek is cultivated,
and some to the eastward, up a little valley,
but the greater portion depend upon stock
raising. The road from this station turns
to the south 2 6-10 miles to

Dovueuass—a side-track, and a rugged
country, with very little land fit for cultiva-
ting, then 3 2-10 miles to

GLADE—another side-track. It is 3 9-10
miles from here to

HUNTSVILLE—This station was named
after Ex-Governor Hunt, of Colorado, one
of the earliest promoters of the road.

In rolling along up the valley we have
passed the “ Old Mother Coberly Ranche,”
on the opposite side of the valley. A short
distance further, the site of an old saw-
mill appears, and a little further, near this
station the old “Block House,’’ built in
June, 1874, for protection against the
Indians. At that time about 560 people
lived near by, engaged in lumbering and
freighting. ’

Ivan Cracken, the first country residence
of the writer, in 1860, is situated due east
from this station, four miles distant, at the
head of Cherry Creek Canyon. This domi-
cile was constructed at the time “ the rocks
were rent,” and it is thought there has
been little change in the premises during
the last 1800 years.

From our last station the country has
been very bluffy; on the left covered with
some pine and scrub oak trees. Hight
miles further brings us to

LarKspur—but we will not see the
“lark? or the “spur,” unless the latter is
a “cowboy,” and the “cattle on a thousand
hills,” are larks; but one thing is certain,
when the cattle get on a lark it requires a
great deal of spur to overtake them.

-..We are now. opposite Irving Valley,