region is abundantly watered by creeks flowing towards the southeast, with occasional rivers, like the Canadian, Cimarron and Pecos, intersecting the railroad. On both sides of the road there are numerous knolls, called mesas, and craters long since burned out. The ascent of Raton Pass, sometimes called the “Devil’s Way,” affords many exquisite views, of which the Spanish Peaks, one hundred miles to the north, are chief, for the atmosphere is so clear and rare that they appear as distinct as though the distance were scarcely one-fourth so great. Upon gaining an altitude of 7,700 feet, the road enters a tunnel on the Raton Crest, and after a half-mile run emerges on the New Mexico side, where the sunlight appears to be intensified and the warmth of perpetual summer holds sway. The next considerable town reached after leaving Trinidad is Las Vegas, which reposes on a branch of the Pecos, the center of a great many sheep ranches, and it is wool that gives it chief importance. Six miles north of the place is Las Vegas Hot Springs, a sanitarium of much note, located in a region of considerable beauty. They are at the mouth of a small cañon which leads up to the Spanish Range, and thence joins the Rocky Mountains; the waters range in temperature from boiling hot to almost freezing cold. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: TOLTEC GORGE OF THE LOS PINOS, COL.—This is one of the most inspiring views in all Colorado. It is on the Silverton branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, 309 miles from Denver City. The road traverses the verge of the great chasm, the bottom of which is 1500 feet below. The photograph was taken at the bottom of the cañon, and away up near the top may be seen a passing train, which at so great a height looks like a child’s toy. A little mountain stream meanders through the chasm, gently murmuring and singing as it makes its way over the rocks, but when the snows melt and the rains fall it becomes a mad, roaring, rushing torrent, tearing the sides of the mountain and tossing great boulders about as if they were made of straw. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: CAVE DWELLINGS in the CAÑON DE CHELLY.] [Illustration: A RELIC OF THE CAVE-DWELLERS.]