John Ward and Ed Crane of the New York team; Capt.

Manning of the Kansas Citys had joined us at Hastings, and when Billy Earle of St.Paul, who had been telegraphed for, met us at Denver, the party was complete, Hengle, Long and Flint leaving us at that point to return to Chicago.
The early morning of the 27th found us speeding over the plains some fifty miles east of Denver.

As we looked out of the car windows while at breakfast that morning we caught glimpses of the snow-capped mountains in the distance, and so near did they seem to be in the rarefied atmosphere that they seemed not more than six or seven miles away, consequently we were much surprised when informed by the conductor that they were forty-eight miles distant.

I have since been told the story of a sleeping-car conductor who had been running into Denver for some time, and who sat in the dining-room at Brown's Palace Hotel one morning looking over toward the foothills, remarked to the steward that the next time he came there he intended to take a little run over there before breakfast.

Asked how far he thought it was he replied, some two or three miles, and was astonished when informed that they were twenty-two miles distant.
We found Denver a really beautiful city and both my wife and myself were astonished by the handsome buildings that were to be seen on every side and by the unmistakable signs of prosperity that surrounded us.