personal worker in dissemination of the truths of Christianity.

Mr. Husted is a man of untiring activity, and when he feels the need of recreation or a change of scene he does not seek it in a season spent in indolence at some seaside resort, but in pursuit of the nobler game and fish found in the fastnesses and streams of the far Northwest. An enthusiastic hunter-and a very successful one withal-his home and office walls and

floors are adorned with numerous trophies of his skill as a marksman and perseverance in pursuit of specimens rare and difficult of capture.

Our subject is perhaps more widely known than any other man in his city; and those who know him best speak most enthusiastically of his many good qualities, his business capacity, and his conspicuous success in the career he has chosen. No one doubts his integrity, and his word is literally as good as his bond, which on account of his high commercial standing would be accepted anywhere in the country. He was married in September, 1881, to Miss Jennie L. Thorpe, of Kansas. City.

IT was at 2 o'clock upon the 15th day of November, 1806, when Major Zebulon M. Pike of the old United States Army, first saw the mountain now known by his name. He says in his diary, at that exact time, "I thought I could distinguish a mountain to the right which appeared like a small blue. cloud: viewed it with a spy-glass and was still more confirmed in my conjecture; but in half an hour they appeared in full view before us, when our small party with one accord gave three cheers to the Mexican Mountains."

History tells a pathetic story of Major Pike's sufferings from cold and hunger in endeavoring to ascend the mountain he had discovered; his disappointment and regretful return; his captivity in Mexico; and finally his

death in battle in the war of 1812 at Little York, Canada.

The first white man to ascend the Peak was Dr. Edwin James, botanist of Col. Long's party, accompanied by two others, who reached the top at 4 o'clock in the afternoon of July 20, 1820. Their voices were perhaps the first ever heard upon that silent, stirless, lifeless, summit-the first since the morning stars sang together. They went surely by a path which "no fowl knoweth and which the vulture's eye hath not seen." Every step was an adventurous one-over untrodden ground amidst constant peril,-lest the perturbed rocks should fall on them,lest the lurking Indian or savage beast or reptile should dispute there way.

The thousands that have since stood

unto a deep furrow upon the face of Mother Earth caused by her sufferings. when these mountains were brought forth. Adown this acclivitous chasm plunges and foams Ruxton Creekwater as pure and clear as that described as flowing in the apocalyptic river. Up this declivity winds Pike's Peak trial.

I began to climb the mountain, step by step, October 9, 1889 at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, with the intention of following as closely as possible the survey of this railway; to note the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the way of such a project-the rocks upon rocks which Nature seems to have piled-Ossa upon Pelion- to present such an accomplishment.

From the Half Way House I pursued my journey the next morning, leaving at 8 o'clock and reaching the signal station upon the Peak at 2.30 P.

M.

It was one continuous, laborious climb for seven miles; but the everwidening entrancing view keeps one from succumbing to the wearisome. march. And then there is something so beguiling in the approach to the summit. It seems always just aheadjust above you, yet forever receding, forever evading your pursuit. The disappearance of vegetation-the fact that no timber grows along your trail, is an unheeded warning. The fact that the air becomes insufficient to long support animal life-no bird or beast having a home there does not prevent a presistent endeavor to climb. Even the rocks, overhanging and balanced in air,

forbidding and foreboding-do not deter. Step by step the ascent is made until at last the pinnacle is reached.

Upon reaching the summit I found that my friend, Col. Rosewell E. Briggs, Chief Engineer of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and also Chief Engineer of the Pike's Peak Road, had arrived shortly before me, having ridden. a magnificient horse all the way from Manitou. There I also met Mr. T. F. Richardson, Assistant Engineer who had accompanied Col. Briggs. After a cup of coffee made by a native of the celestial empire-and a brief look around and off-my friend Richardson kindly offered me his horse upon which to return, commiserating my condition, for I was well nigh disabled by my walk. I mounted his sure-footed steed and following my file leader, Col. Briggs, was soon safely down the roughest part of the descent. I have reason to believe that Engineer Richardson will never forget the favor he rendered me, for instead of leaving his horse at Camp No. 1, I did not dismount from his comfortable back until I had reached Camp No. 2, much farther down the mountain. When court-martialed for disobeying orders my answer was that if I had walked, instead of Mr. Richardson, from Camp No. 1 to Camp No. 2, this account of my obligations to the genial and obliging Richardson might not have appeared. Instead of riding one mile I rode twain. That was my offence.

The ride down was rendered enjoyable by Col. Briggs, whose stories

account recently of this railway project from which the following paragraphs were taken :—

A brief history of the rack and pinion or Abt system, might be of interest. From the best authority it would seem that the first cogwheel railroad ever invented was in operation in 1812 from Leeds, England, to the Middleton coal pits, on a maximum ascent of one foot in fifteen. This line was successfully operated for over twenty years when it gave way to the heavy adhesive locomotive and lighter gradients. Ropes and stationary engines for helping trains over heavy grades were a prominent feature in European and United States railroading for some years, but were finally abandoned on account of the expense incident to the system.

In 1847, the first bold attempt to adopt the cogwheel system in the United States, was made on the Madison & Indianopolis railroad for a maximum gradient of one foot in seven, and was partially successful. Besides the regular adhesion device, the locomotives were provided with a stationary engine for operating the cogwheel. Shortly after this some one invented a smooth traction rail for the center of the track to be operated by adhesion, but this was not a success and was never used to any extent. In 1866 Sylvester Marsh broke ground on the construction of the Mount Washington road which was completed in 1869 and has been operated steadily ever since. Mr. Marsh's experiments were closely watched by

the engineers in Europe, who were planning a line up the Alps. Marsh's plans were so simple and successful, that in 1868 it was decided to adopt the rackrail system over the Alps on a grade of one foot rise to every twenty feet of track.

The Mount Washington line has a maximum grade of one foot in 2.67 feet, which is the heaviest grade on any railroad in the world. For this line Mr. Marsh adopted what is known as the ladder-rack, simply two strong wrought iron side-bars, with cross pieces, against which the teeth of the cog could catch. The plan was simple and proven fairly successful, though costly in construction; but to to Mr. Roman Abt of Switzerland is due the honor of having invented the perfect. rack-rail system, which is as simple and cheap as it is perfect. It consists of three rack bars or rails instead of one, bolted together and operated simultaneously as one rail, and the bars are so arranged that, while no two cogs enter the notches simultaneously, several cogs have a bearing at the same time, thus insuring a continuous, easy motion, wtihout jar or noise, and, as each cograil is independent, the breaking of a cog would not interfere in the least with the operation of the others, and thus safety is assured.

One of the first to suggest the Pike's Peak scheme was Major John Hulbert of Manitou Springs, and after persistant effort he has finally succeeded in interesting all the Colorado railroad companies in the scheme, and as a result