of this famous peak was only reached after more than
an hour's arduous struggle. On the lofty plateau the caravans and
pack-trains rested their tired animals. Here, too, the lonely trapper,
when crossing the range in quest of beaver, often chose this lofty
spot on which to kindle his little fire and broil juicy steaks of the
black-tail deer, the finest venison in the world; but before he indulged
in the savoury morsels, if he was in the least superstitious or devout,
or inspired by the sublime scene around him, he lighted his pipe, and
after saluting the elevated ridge on which he sat by the first whiff of
the fragrant kinnikinick, Indian-fashion, he in turn offered homage
in the same manner to the sky above him, the earth beneath, and to
the cardinal points of the compass, and was then prepared to eat his
solitary meal in a spirit of thankfulness.

Far below this magnificent vantage-ground lies the valley of the Rio
Las Animas Perdidas. On the other verge of the great depression rise
the peerless, everlastingly snow-wreathed Spanish Peaks,[75] whose giant
summits are grim sentinels that for untold ages have witnessed hundreds
of sanguinary conflicts between the wily nomads of the vast plains
watered by the silent Arkansas.

All around you snow-clad mountains lift their serrated crowns above
the horizon, dim, white, and indistinct, like icebergs seen at sea by
moonlight; others, nearer, more rugged, naked of verdure, and irregular
in contour, seem to lose their lofty summits in the intense blue of the
sky.

Fisher's Peak, which is in full view from the train, was named from the
following circumstance: Captain Fisher was a German artillery officer
commanding a battery in General Kearney's Army of the West in the
conquest of New Mexico and was encamped at the base of the peak to which
he involuntarily gave his name. He was intently gazing at the lofty
summit wrapped in the early mist, and not being familiar with the
illusory atmospheric effects of the region, he thought that to go there
would be merely a pleasant promenade. So, leaving word that he would
return to breakfast, he struck out at a brisk walk for the crest. That
whole day, the following night, and the succeeding day, dragged their
weary hours on, but no tidings of the commanding officer were received
at the battery, and ill rumours were current of his death by Indians
or bears, when, just as his mess were about to take their seats at the
table for the eveni