ROCKY MOUNTAINS A FIELD FOR SPORTING—GREAT VARIETY AND ABUNDANCE OF
GAME—WILD FRUIT—EXCELLENCE OF CLIMATE IN THE SHOOTING SEASON—HOW THE
MOUNTAINS MAY BE REACHED, AND HOW MUCH SEEN BY THE WAY, IN 15 DAYS
FROM LIVERPOOL—COST OF THE EXPEDITION—THE BEST CAMPING-GROUND IS THE
SOUTH PARK, AT FOOT OF PIKE’S PEAK—THE ROUTE BY CHICAGO AND DENVER
RECOMMENDED—OTHER ROUTE BY ST. LOUIS AND LEAVENWORTH—ROUTE INTO THE
PARK—THE NORTH PARK EASIER WORK—THE MORE ENTERPRISING MAY GO TO
LARAMIE PLAINS—WILL DETERIORATE EVERY YEAR.
[Sidenote: _A Field for Sporting._]
The Rocky Mountains are just at present the best sporting-ground
in the world. They have both feathered and four-footed game, and
fishing sufficient to satisfy the keenest sportsman. I saw the herds
of antelope running about like flocks of sheep. The elk is very
abundant. A few mountain buffalos are to be had: it is a smaller and
darker-coloured variety than that of the plains, and plenty of what is
here called the mountain rabbit, but which is larger than our hare,
and in winter, when I saw it, is nearly white. A bear may occasionally
be met with. The Rocky Mountain sheep is so rare that it must not be
taken into the account. Among vermin there is the wolf, a brute that
will sometimes attack a man. As he sneaks off he looks like a lean and
smoke-begrimed sheep. There is also the cayotte, a smaller animal,
about the size of a jackal, and which makes itself heard a great deal
at night.
As to the feathered game; on lucky days you may get a wild turkey, and
every day you will find plenty of prairie fowl, and quail in still
greater abundance.
The fishing will be confined to the speckled trout; but this is to be
had in any quantity you choose to take out of the water; and wherever
you may be camping out on the mountains, you will always be on the
banks of a stream, or have one near you.
Incredible quantities of small edible fruit are to be found everywhere.
They consist of gooseberries, currants, raspberries, blueberries,
and some other kinds, all of them being called collectively, in the
language of the mountains, berries. I mention them here, because, when
people are camping out, they supply materials for tarts and puddings,
and, if it be required, for dessert.
The next question to that of game is the climate. It is just the most
perfect in the world. In the months of July, August, and September,
the three best for sporting in the Rocky Mountains, it is never known
to rain. This is the experience of the people of Denver, of the mining
districts in the mountains, and of many generations of trappers. And
up on this high ground it is, at this season of the year, neither too
hot nor too cold, but just what one would desire. It is indeed so
pleasant, that it is the common practice of the people in the mountains
and contiguous plains to camp out, as it is called, in the dry months;
and the weather is so certain, that in these camping-out excursions
the ladies accompany the gentlemen. The guns and fishing-rods of the
latter supply the larder, while the former preside over the _cuisine_.
[Sidenote: _A Memorable Fortnight._]
But how are people to get from the other side of the Atlantic to
this sporting-ground, so grand in scenery, so rich in game, and so
delightful in climate? Nothing can be easier. On the fifteenth day
after leaving Liverpool you may dine in the Rocky Mountains on trout
you have yourself caught, venison you have yourself stalked, and
fruit you have yourself gathered. And could a fortnight be spent more
delightfully? It would be a memorable fortnight in any man’s life.
It would include a voyage across the great ocean; a sight of New
York and Chicago; a view of the lakes Erie and Michigan; the passage
of the Mississippi and Missouri; five hundred miles of prairie, and
as many more of the plains up the valley of the Platte; and the
Rocky Mountains, a worthy finale of the whole. Instead, then, of the
getting to the mountains being a difficulty, or any kind of obstacle
to carrying out the plan, it is, if rightly considered, one of the
greatest possible inducements for going. I suppose no other part of the
world could in the same space and time present so many grand and moving
sights; indeed, what greater sights are there in the world, except that
there are some loftier mountain ranges?
The voyage across the Atlantic may be set down at that time of the year
at eleven days. The trains take two days in going from New York to
Chicago, and as many more in going from Chicago to the mountains.
As to the cost, the fare by the Cunard boats is about 25_l._: it may be
reduced to 20_l._ by the Inman line. From New York to Chicago there
are two lines of railway; the ticket of one line costs twenty-two,
and of the other twenty-five dollars; each charges eight dollars for
a berth in a sleeping-car for the two nights, which gives one also a
sofa to one’s self in the day time. From Chicago to the mountains I
cannot say what is precisely the fare, for I took a through ticket
to Denver, which included one hundred and ten miles of coaching; I
believe, however, that it is about forty dollars, which is a high fare
for America. The fare by the steamer includes one’s board. The cost,
therefore, of actually reaching the mountains from Liverpool would be
31_l._, plus your keep during the four days you are passing from New
York to Shyenne, which would not amount to more than four dollars a
day, or sixteen in all, that is, about 2_l._ 10_s._ The whole cost,
therefore, of getting to the mountains would not be more than 35_l._
We may compare this with the alternative of taking a moor in Scotland.
Out and home would cost 70_l._ If one did the thing well, and went
to the best ground, it would be necessary to get, at Denver or
Leavenworth, a span of good mules, with harness, and a double tilted
waggon, fitted up with boxes that just pack close together, each in its
own place. This, complete in everything, would cost about 600 dollars,
or rather less than 100_l._ After three months’ use it would sell for
80_l._; because then the freighting season would be drawing to a close,
and mules and waggon would not be much in request. The mules and waggon
would thus cost 20_l._ Add to this the cost of a man to do the cooking
and look after the mules. I suppose his services might be had for
his board and a dollar a day. This, for ten weeks, would be seventy
dollars for wages—say 100 dollars in all, or 16_l._ This gives, with
the loss on the waggon and mules, 36_l._, which, divided among three
persons, the number the party would probably consist of, would add, in
the case of each, 12_l._ more to the 70_l._, bringing it up to 82_l._
For getting from Shyenne to Denver by coach, and by waggon from Denver
to the camping-ground, for flour, whisky, sugar, and other sundries,
reckon 18_l._ per head. The whole will thus be just 100_l._ But take
50_l._ more in your pocket for contingencies, and to enable you to see
a little of the country on your way out, or on your return, and you
will have had a season in the Rocky Mountains which will not have cost
you so much as it would have done to have hired a moor and forest in
Scotland, and paid a parcel of gillies, and kept house besides for two
or three months; and you will have killed twenty times as much game,
and had much more varied and interesting sport, and have had the choice
of a district larger than the whole of Scotland, and seen some of the
greatest sights the world has to show.
[Sidenote: _What it Costs._]
The best camping and sporting ground is a main point in the question.
The South Park combines every advantage. The weather is sure to be
good. There is plenty of grass, of water, and of game; and there are no
Indians or mosquitoes: for though the latter are found on the ridges
round the park, they are not found in the park itself. It is somewhere
about twenty miles square. It contains also two small settlements,
called Colorado City and Canon (pronounced Canyon) City. The topography
is not given accurately in Appleton’s maps; for instance, Pike’s
Peak, at the foot of which it lies, is represented as standing out on
the plain quite detached, whereas it is only the highest peak in that
part of the range. It is so much higher that from the neighbourhood of
Denver it is the only point visible in that direction, and so becomes
the steering mark for parties bound for the South Park. Colorado City
is also put to the north of the peak, whereas it lies to the west of it.
There are two routes to the South Park, one by way of New York, south
shore of lake Erie, Chicago, Omaha and Shyenne by railway: this is
about 2200 miles; then to Denver by coach, which is 110 miles more;
concluding with a waggon journey to the park, of about 75 miles. This
is the route I would recommend for several reasons. There is far more
to see upon it, and it can be done in less time. Instead of merely
coming down to the mountains on a line at right angles to them, you
would coast along them for nearly two hundred miles. Yon would pass
close under Long’s Peak, and through a very interesting part of the
plain, in the neighbourhood of St. Vrain and Burlington. You might
stop, if you pleased, for a day or two’s fishing at La Porte and Big
Thomson. You would see Denver, which is a place of much interest, and a
good place for getting your waggon, mules, and stores, and the man to
act as cook and waggoner, and where you would find everyone ready to be
helpful in giving information and advice.
[Sidenote: _Routes and Sporting-grounds._]
Or you might reach it in another way, by New York, Harrisburg,
Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and the south branch of the
Pacific Railway, which is now opened from St. Louis, by Kansas
City, Leavenworth, and Lecompton, to a point called Pond Creek. By
this route you would have to get your waggon and span of mules at
Leavenworth, and would reach Pike’s Peak and the South Park by the
Smoky Hill track. In this way you would have to travel a great deal
further by waggon; and though you would pass through a very interesting
country, and see many stirring and busy places, yet in these respects
it cannot compete with the more northerly route. Why, to have seen
Chicago is in itself an education.
Whether you go by the Denver or the Leavenworth route, the best way of
getting into the South Park is to strike the Arkansas River, and follow
it up till you enter the park, in which you will find the head waters
both of this river and of the Platte, separated by a divide of only
five miles.
Or if you wish for something easier than the South Park, and which
would enable you to dispense with waggon, mules, and a man of your own,
you might take the North Park at the foot of Long’s Peak. There is a
good path to it from St. Vrain and Burlington, of forty-five miles;
and I have no doubt but that, at the right season, you might find some
gentleman, or some party, going up into the mountains for some little
camping out, and who would be glad of your company. There is good
shooting and fishing about Long’s Peak, and you can see from the plains
the grassy park at its south side.
Or if you are more adventurously disposed, you may still be suited. The
Pacific Railway is at present opened for traffic as far as Shyenne.
It is, however, completed for thirty miles further, to Forts Sanders
and Halleck. This takes you into the very heart of the mountains. I
had the offer of being carried on to this point, if I wished it, on
a construction train, and I have no doubt but that the engineer or
contractor would grant the same favour to any traveller who requested
it. This would bring you almost upon one of the most celebrated
sporting-grounds of the mountains, the Laramie Plains; or if you could
not manage it in this way, or if you take waggon and mules, it would be
better to leave the rail at Shyenne. You would then start at once from
the present terminus of the railway, and after having kept a course of
north by west for thirty or forty miles, you would find yourself on
the Laramie Plains. This is not a park among the mountains, but a vast
expanse of open table-land. One advantage you would have on this ground
is, that a detachment of the United States army is quartered up here,
and the officers are always ready to give any assistance in their power
to gentlemen who are out on the plain for sporting. What calls for more
enterprise in those who camp out on the Laramie Plains is that they
are still open to Indian raids, and that they are exposed, as might be
expected, to very violent wind-storms.
[Sidenote: _Sporting in the Rocky Mountains._]
This year of 1868 the Rocky Mountains offer a greater combination of
advantages than they have done hitherto, or ever, probably, will again.
Till the opening of the Pacific Railway last year they were not to be
got at; but their having now been rendered so easily accessible will
lead to a great deal of the game being rapidly cleared off, both by
shoals of vacation-ramblers from the old States, who will flock to them
with tents and guns, for their yearly excursion, and by the immediate
establishment of a trade in game between the mountains and the great
cities of the north and east. I suppose that never again, after this
year, will a haunch of antelope venison be retailed in Denver for
seventy-five cents.