In  harmonious  accordance,  then,  with  that  unwritten
law  of  Colorado  that  nothing  which  is  desirable  is  impos-
sible, it  was  realized  that  the  Gunnison  River,  a  powerful
stream  thirty  miles  east  of  the  Uncompahgre,  afforded  an
abundance  of  water  to  reclaim  these  desert  wastes  to  the
traditional  blossoming  of  the  rose.  The  Gunnison  River,
however,  flows  through  a  box  canon  three  thousand  feet
deep.  Were  it  at  the  bottom  of  a  gorge  three  thousand
miles  deep,  that  fact  would  hardly  daunt  the  Colorado  spirit.
Immediately  some  invention,  incomprehensible  to  the  pres-
ent mind  of  man,  would  be  made  by  which  the  desirable  issue
should  be  achieved.  As  has  been  remarked,  failure  is  a


108    THE   LAND   OF  ENCHANTMENT

word  not  included  in  the  vocabulary  of  Colorado.  That
state  has  a  "  revised  version  "  of  its  own  for  the  resources
of  its  language,  laws,  and  literature.  Its  keynote  is  the
invincible.  Ways  and  means  are  mere  matters  of  minor
detail.  If  an  achievement  is  desirable,  it  is  to  be  accom-
plished, of  course.  It-  is  not  even  a  question  for  discussion.
There  is  no  margin  of  debatable  land  in  the  realization  of
every  conceivable  opportunity.
A  stupendous  work  in  development  is  that  of  this  Gun-
nison  Tunnel  under  the  Vernal  Mesa  to  Uncompahgre
Valley,  —  a  desert  waste  whose  area  comprises  some  one
hundred  thousand  acres  of  sand,  sagebrush,  and  stones.
