ee

 

 

32 BOULDER CANON.

as securely as if they were on some broad plateau,
and make leaps across the yawning chasms that would
chill the blood of a beholder. We passed through the
canon too hastily to search for any of them; massive
horns adorn their heads, and their flesh is excellent
for food. As we were gazing at mountain side and
stream, absorbed with the ever-varying changes of
scenery, all at once, as the coach wheeled around a
curve in the way, the great plain stood before us,
sweeping away out of our sight. It was a strange
vision after our six days of mountain experience,
where we had climbed great heights and been shut up
between over-hanging cliffs. It was like the revela-
tion of anew world. I felt as if I had been creeping
through a strange labyrinth of wonders and had come
out into a new state of existence. Just before us lay
the beautiful village of Boulder, with its one or two
thousand inhabitants; beyond were the green wheat-
fields, the artificial lakes in the valley of Boulder creek,
the graceful foliage of the cottonwoods along the
streams. The fine and substantial improvements; the
signs of comfort and thrift; the green soft foot-hills,
rising to the left and right as we came out of the
mouth of the canon and out upon the plains; the Trap
Dyke of Valmont, rising abrupt, and the mounds or
hills, that looked as if they might have been thrown
up by a race of giants ages ago—all this formed a
picture of wonderful beauty, that we caught and fixed
on the canvas of memory as our coach swept rapidly
into Boulder City.”