[Illustration: PILLARS OF HERCULES, CHEYENNE CANON. _Frontispiece._] A TRIP TO THE ROCKIES BY B. R. C. NEW YORK The Knickerbocker Press 1890 The Knickerbocker Press, New York Electrotyped and Printed by G. P. Putnam’s Sons TO THE “DALMATIA” PARTY THE MOST INTELLIGENT AND CONGENIAL COMPANY OF TOURISTS THAT THE “SKY-KISSING CLIFFS AND PRAIRIES PRANKED WITH FLOWERS” EVER WELCOMED WHOSE ASSOCIATION WILL EVER BE CHERISHED AMONG THE “PLEASURES OF MEMORY” THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED Journeys are memoried in light or shade; This one in sunlight, when, by chance, Strangers to most, all ages and all whims, We for a fortnight sojourned far from home; A memory, where the heart and eye Replete, lie still and dream again. God gave the view--a human heart the feast. What star of fortune brought our lives In happy contact? Here we trace The secret of our rare content-- The outline of each happy day. E. H. S. A Trip to the Rockies. For three months--since my first visit to Kansas in June last--the anticipation of another visit had been uppermost in many minds. The writer was authorized by Mr. Blanchard to select a party of bankers and business men of New York and Brooklyn to attend the annual convention of the “American Bankers’ Association,” to be held in Kansas City, September 24th and 25th. To add to the growing interest, already manifested in the trip by the elect, a telegram was received, as follows: “Hutchinson, Kansas, July 23d. Each guest will have a section, and is cordially invited to bring his wife.--Ben Blanchard.” This telegram was the keystone to the arch. Had the Pullman Company been able to furnish a larger car, our number would have been doubled. As the car was too long to go over the B. & O., via Washington, Harper’s Ferry, and Cumberland Gap, on account of the short curves, we went via Pennsylvania through Harrisburg, Johnstown, and Altoona. The ever-watchful reporter was on hand, and the following description from the Brooklyn _Standard-Union_ was a very good report of our car and company as we left Jersey City, September 23d.