The Railway Conquest of the World

If one consults a map of the North American continent, it will be observed that the rolling plains, stretching westwards from the shores of the Great Lakes, are fringed on their western edge by a massive, tumbled and lofty wall -- the Rocky Mountains. This is the backbone of the New World, stretching from Mexico in the south to far-away Alaska in the north, on the slopes of which rise the mighty rivers to flow east and west to swell the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific. Their successful conquest by the iron horse on its way from coast to coast contributes some of the most thrilling incidents to railway history.

If the map is consulted closely it will be seen that this range assumes its most broken character in the State of Colorado. Here Nature became unduly playful in her process of molding, and left her handiwork in a badly-finished condition. Beetling peaks crowned with eternal snow are separated by yawning ravines -- mere cracks in the earth's crust -- where the walls are half-a-mile or more in height, and through which rivers foam and tear along tumultuously. Yet the disheveled mass of rock is intersected by steel threads which comprise the respective systems of the famous Denver & Rio Grande, and the Chicago & North-Western railways, the latter being known popularly as the "Moffatt" road, after its originator.

To grasp some idea of the exceptionally mountainous character of Colorado, a comparison with Switzerland may not be amiss. This State is so vast that the playground of Europe might be stowed within its borders six times over, and then there would be several hundred square miles to spare. Among the Alps the number of peaks