1898 Denver CO by Pen & Picture - Colorado Versus Switzerland

Above: By courtesy of the Jackson-Smith Photo Co.
Mount of the Holy Cross

COLORADO VERSUS SWITZERLAND

Switzerland, "The Playground of Europe," is visited annually by over fifty thousand European and over fifteen thousand American tourists and invalids, its attractions being: (1) Mountain scenery; (2) Good climate; (3) Mineral springs. On all three points Colorado is superior to Switzerland, and has in addition mining, farming, fruit growing, and the finest hunting and fishing. Let us briefly consider these matters seriatim.

MOUNTAIN SCENERY

While the Alps have isolated peaks such as Mont Blanc (15,781 feet), and the Matterhorn (14,836 feet), the mean elevation of the highest Alpine chain is only from 8,000 to 9,000 feet. Colorado possesses more than 120 peaks of over 13,500 feet altitude, of which no fewer than thirty-five peaks range from 14,000 feet upwards. This is about ten times as many as there are in the whole of Europe.

The highest village in Europe is Avers Platz, in Switzerland (7,500 feet); the highest inhabited point in Europe is the Hospice of St. Bernard, in Switzerland (8,200 feet). In Colorado the mining town of Leadville is 10,200 feet above sea, level, and other mining camps are still higher, and some mines are worked at over 12,000 feet altitude.

The highest wagon road in Europe is said to be the Stelvio Road, in Switzerland, (9,170 feet). In Colorado the Denver, Leadville & Gunnison Railway crosses the "Crest of the Continent" at Alpine (11,596 feet), and at Boreas (11,470 feet); the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad at Fremont Pass (11,328 feet), Marshall Pass (10,752 feet); and the Colorado Midland Railway at Hagerman Pass (11,528 feet). Switzerland does not
possess, even in the St. Gothard line, any railroad engineering surpassing, if equalling, the above railroads. There are wagon roads over numerous passes in Colorado ranging from 12,000 feet upwards, the highest being Mosquito Pass (13,700 feet).

Above: Green Lake (Near Georgetown)

In Switzerland the cog railroad from Vitznau to the Summit of the Rigi Kulm (5,900 feet) has a length of four and one-half miles, in which the ascent is 4,072 feet. In Colorado the cog railroad from Manitou to the summit of Pike's Peak (14,147 feet) has a length of eight and three-quarter miles in which the ascent is 8,100 feet, or an average of 846 feet per mile, the maximum grade being 1,320 feet.

One class of Switzerland's finest scenery is along the Via Mala, the Schyn Pass and Urnerloch. In Colorado, on the Union Pacific, Denver & Gulf Railroad, Boulder Canon and Clear Creek Canon, with the famous Loop; on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, the Canon of the Arkansas with the Royal Gorge, the Black Canon of the Gunnison, the Toltec Gorge, the Canon of the Rio de las Animas; on the Colorado Midland Railway, Eleven Mile Canon and Hagerman Pass; and on the Denver, Leadville & Gunnison Railroad, Platte Canon, Quartz Creek Gorge, each traversed by the railroad, are all much longer, quite as grand, and more varied in character than the best in Switzerland.

CLIMATE

In Switzerland 8,500 feet is the usual line of perpetual snow. In Colorado "timber" line" is 11,000 feet.

Davos Platz (5,200 feet), in Switzerland, is unquestionably the most desirable of the high altitude health resorts in Europe. At that place there is a growth of pine trees and dwarf willows; trees and plants of less hardy character requiring careful winter protection, while potatoes and rye mature with difficulty. At Davos Glaris (4,900 feet), in Switzerland, cherry trees blossom but cannot ripen fruit. In Colorado, near Denver, (5,196 feet), there are large and very fruitful orchards and market gardens; grapes, tomatoes and watermelons are a field crop, while in the San Luis Valley (7,500 feet) are hundreds of thousands of acres of cultivated farms producing phenomenal crops of wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, etc.

Above: Torrey's Peak (Visable from Denver)

Colorado, as compared with Davos Platz, has a higher average temperature, much less rainfall and humidity, and about twice the hours of sunshine.

In Colorado, at Denver, in a given period, one month for instance, there will be twenty-eight good days; at Davos only twenty. In Colorado, during the shorter days of winter, the invalid may enjoy eight hours of sunshine; at Davos only four and one-half hours.

In early spring, as soon as the snow begins to melt, invalids are compelled to leave Davos, while at Denver they may remain with benefit throughout the entire year.

Davos, with all its drawbacks, is unquestionably the most desirable of the high altitude resorts in Europe, in the judgment of the leading climatologists, but is much surpassed by Denver and other places in Colorado.

Davos Platz has not the elements of a permanent cure which are, however, found at Denver and other Colorado points.

MINERAL SPRINGS AND RESORTS

The mineral springs of Colorado, as shown by a scientific comparison of the analyses, are wider in range and superior in curative properties than those. of Switzerland, while many of them equal and others surpass some of the most famous of the mineral springs found in France, Germany and Austria, such as are used, under the highest medical advice, by the autocrats and plutocrats of Europe.

For combination of, scenic attractions, climatic advantages and curative mineral waters many of the health resorts of Colorado are superior to Davos, St. Moritz, Ragatz, Leuk, Alveneu, Pfaffers, or any other Swiss health resort, and as the special attractions of Colorado in this respect become better known and realized, the State will increasingly be "The Playground of America."