Although the tunnel takes the bulk of the traffic both summer and winter, the route over Rollins Pass has not been abandoned entirely. The excursion traffic mounts to the 11,600 feet, for from that tremendous altitude the panorama of glistening snow and glacier caps is magnificent. What such a summit means may be grasped better, perhaps, by comparison with the maximum altitudes attained on British railways. The Scottish Highlands railway rises to 1,484 feet above sea-level between Dalwhinnie and Dalnaspiel, while the Great Western climbs to 1,373 feet at Princeton, Dartmoor. Such altitudes are trivial beside the dizzy summits attained on the American continent. Yet the tunnel under the Rollins Pass brought its own benefits. By its provision the town of Vasquez on the western slopes of the Divide was brought 25 miles nearer Denver, the distance being 81 miles by the temporary line over the Pass, and only 56 miles via the tunnel. Such reductions of distances, with easing of grades, count materially in questions of traffic nowadays. CHAPTER XIV THE IRON HORSE IN AUSTRALASIA I Probably owing to its somewhat remote geographical situation in relation to the busy centres of the northern hemisphere but a hazy conception prevails of the great activity that has been, and still is being, maintained in regard to railway conquests in the far southern continent. Although large expanses of its territory still rank as _terra incognita_, the iron horse is tearing the veil from the unknown with amazing rapidity; it is fulfilling the dual role of exploring and colonising force simultaneously. Several imposing feats of engineering have been consummated in the task of wresting the interior stretches of the country from oblivion. As is well known, the island continent is divided into five States, and each has worked out its own salvation by means of an independent railway system, though the practice has been the same in each instance. The early lines were laid through the fringe of settled territory along the coast, and some time passed before the rails ventured inland. As the agricultural, forest and mineralogical wealth of the country became known, however, and attracted large flocks of settlers, the map was rolled back by the railway in the various states. Up to the year 1870 railway expansion developed very leisurely. Then there came a sudden awakening. Railway development went forward with a tremendous rush, and this feverish expansion has been maintained steadily ever since.