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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1876)
2 THE WEST SHORE. " March. Observe those fallen trees. Their immense trunks are swathed in elegant blankets of emerald brightness. Sec here, I can tear them off bjr the yard; enough on one tree to carpet a room I Look at that pen dant moss two feet long at least and what a vivid yellow-green ! f ist slcp up a little higher: 1 will show i iu a wonder. Did you ever dream of anything so marvelous as that bank of moss? Six inches high, branching like a fam, yet fine and delicate as that on the calynx of a moss-rose. Here is enough, if preserved, to furnish all the French flower-makers; and glad would they be to gel it. And ferns yes, indeed! Just look at this maidenhair. It is of every itr, from the delicate plant three inches high, to the mature one of fiitccn or eighteen inches. Anil here arc some that iiave stood all Winter in their Autumn dre;s. See how exquisitely they are tinted raw-sienna, for the body color, and such delicate marking in vandykc-brown on every leaf: or gold color, marked with rmrnt-sienna; and all relieved so bcauti fully by the polished black of their slender terns. There are all the other species be sides; but I never pay much attention to the rest, when the daintv maidenhair is present. Hut we must not stop long in this dense ftnd damp shade; there might be an intcr- iiltciir lurking in it for unaccustomed town-folk. I thought I would give you an introduction to the place, and let you pros ecute the acquaintance at your own pleas ure. Hut just note, as we retrace our steps, the great variety of plants, some of them very beautiful, that grow all Winter long in these solitary places. This handsome va riegated leaf comes from a bulbous root, nil bears a lily-shaicd llowcr, I am told; kul being new to me 1 cannot yet classify it. We are still too far from open sunlight In Ik- much among flowering plants, I'.jI directly wc come to occasional open ings, or to higher benches of ground that gel the light and drainage, wc shall sec arlder-longue, Solomon 's-seal, anemone, wild violet, and spring-beamy, putting up their leaves, wailing for sunny days enough to dare to bring out their blossoms. Here too, are two sjiecies of creeping vines, very delicate and graceful, trailing along the ground, with little fresh leaflets already Hrowiug. In April one of them will blos oiji, with dainty, pinkish-white, trumiet-thipi-d flowers, very lovely to behold. The t lUuical names of these trailing plants I tm ignorant of. One is vulgarly called OrtgM Tta, from the spicy flavor of its leaves, winch make an agreeable infusion. . Now we get down to the woods along the river-bank. Ah, here is really a blos- toiumg shrub, the flowering currant. In lisle to brighten the dull March weather with touch of color over the green and Ifrown and purple lints that arc so melan choly under a cloudy sky, the currant docs ot wail to put forth its foliage first, but crimsons all over with thickest flowers, in normes of nearly a finger's length. There re two variciies of the red. and one of the r -How all Iwauliful and ornamental Arubs. In company with this still Icalless rub, is the glossy arbutus (misnamed laurel), with its fresh suit of light and tlit green reflecting every ray of light from its Mlishcd surface. The arbutus iows an viinicr, putting lorth us delicate hoots fiom I'ecemlMT In lir.l. ..l lowering later in tlic Spring, lis cheerful litihl green makes it a rftvt complement to (be red of the curraiu when flowering; d by niH looking at all like an ccr Kici. which it really is. bewilders ihe hc rioVtiv, who sees it growing luxuriantly all lnng the river banks, 'a io ihe time of' '' I 1 1 ore is another elegant slnub that docs I its giowing in the Winter, ami lakes the Ui:i(t dry Summer to rin its fruit and be k-xiilifui in-thc fi.fhri, AmM,i.m or' M r-leaved barberry, commonly known " ,,, Oregon gra. It is looking as fresh and piquant in March as though it liad all of April and May behind it. All around us, on every hand, are plants and shrubs or trees growing. Behold these graceful little yew-trees, two feet high. They look as though they had come up in a day, so delicate and nnu they seem. Ex amine the ends of the fir-boughs; and question the crab-apple, the sallal, and the wild-cherry. Do you see that line of sil ver down under the river bank? That is the glisten of the catkins on the willows (talix scoukriana) that were out in Febru ary. It makes a pretty contrast to the red stems of a smaller species of willow that grows along the very margin of the river, with its roots in the water. I am not cer tain of the variety. There certainly is no lack of interesting things in the woods of early Spring in Oregon. To my eye, with such a variety of green and really growing trees and shrubs, it is a relief to take into the view a group of naked stems, like the straight and light holes of the aspen populut trtmubi tits), the gray trunks of the dogwood (for- nits nutialit), or the rugged, scraggy forms of the water-loving ash (traximut Oregona). Uniform as our climate is, and little as the dropping of the leaves of our deciduous trees affects the general aspect of the land scape, there is yel to the critical observer a sufficiently marked difference in our sea sons to make the study of Spring and Summer and Autumn and Winter, as shown by the vegetation of our magnifi cent forests, profitable and compensalory. It is ttue that you cannot come back from a walk at this time of year laden w ith armfuls of flowering shrubbery, as you may in six weeks from now. You cannot, with safety, stretch yourself on the earth, and indulge in building Spanish castles, as in July weather it is pleasant to do, while birds sing among the branches overhead, the nerqnus little squirrel scolds at you from a'safe" distance, or the only half-confiding quail maintains vigilant picket duly in your vicinity all, as you think, for your grati fication; though in truth you arc regarded by these little residents as an alien and an intruder. The beauties that should invite you now, pass away or lose their freshness with the approach of dry weather. The mosses and lichens will have dried up by midsummer; the ferns can then only be found in the coolest recesses of the woods. The excess of foliage then will close manv beautiful vistas; there will be no more signs of daily growth, no tender tints on the leaflets. The year will be al middl age, round, and perfect, but with the touch ing bloom of its youth forever past. There will be a corresponding diffcrenc in the color of the skies, the shaiic of the clouds, the hues of the water; in every part ol nature. Let the student of nature learn all her pissing moods. There is a wealth of enjoyment in having well trained gyes, and a receptive observation, that no amount of gold can purchase, li depends on the individual. Certain of us never come into our kingdom, which is the king dom wherewith the Creator endowed us " in the bcginniiu;," because we arc too sordid, too indolent, or loo effeminate. Certain others of us are rejoiced to think lhal wc have not wholly missed of it, through either of these faults; and thai en joyment grows with possession. A man may conceal his name, his ace the circumstances of his life, but not his character. That is his moral atmosphere, and U as insepirable from him as the fra grance of the rose from the rose itself. In Ihe glance of the eye. in the tones of the voice, in the mien and gesture, character discloses itself. Education, to be what it ouchi in he should begin in the very dawn of being. its nignest aim and purpose should be to lay Ihe foundation of perfect manhood and womanhood to train and prepare even child for life's duties, its responsibilities and its noblest pleasures. For the West Shore. LAKE MAJESTY. Set in the summit of the Cascade Moun tains, on a line dividing Jackson and Lake counties, in this State, is one of the most remarkable lakelets on this continent, if not on the globe. I said set, and such is literally the fact, for never had gem a richer or more romantic surrounding. It was my good fortune in the Summer of 1867, with a small number of friends, to get a sight of this wonderful sheet of water. The second day out from Jacksonville, about three o'clock in the afternoon, our guide gave the welcome information that from a point two hundred yards further on we would be able to see the lake. We had heard marvelous, stories of the moun tain wonder how that the first sight si lenced the rude jests of the mountaineer and tourist alike. The members of our company determined therefore to give themselves up to the passion of the mo ment. And not to have a single disturb ing care our horses were securely tethered to nature's hitching posts, the trees. This done, we set out, on foot, to complete the remainder of our journey. Our pace, dig nified at first, soon degenerated into a double quick, for each desired to be the first to arrive at the point of observation. Panting we rushed upon the last knoll, and there, not ten yards from our feet, was the bluff edge of that lake, The suddenness of the appearance and the grandeur of the scene completely unmanned us, and with a half exclamation of surprise, and half cry of terror, we stepped back and took sup port by some trees that were at hand. There, far down below us in its basin, scooped out by the hand of some mighty genii, slept the silent and mysterious Lake Majesty, while around, reaching up a thousand feet, stood the gray walls, sur mounted by the somber forest trees, their watch and ward keeping. The silence of the scene was almost oppressive. Our presence was the only evidence of animal life within miles. Tiie surface of the water, so far below us, was of a bluish tint, with ever and anon a darker shade passing over it, caused doubtless by wavelets raised by passing zephyrs. An observation of hall an hour served to so familiarize us with our surroundings, that we were able to begin conversation. It was agreed that a day was barely sufficient for an explora tion, and as night was near at hand wc made camp, not far off, and waited for the light of another day. Lake Majesty is distant from Jackson ville, Jackson county, about seventy-five miles in a noith of easterly direction. The wagon road up Rogue river, thence over the mountains to Fort Klamath, passes within two and a half miles of it. At the time of which I write, the road was in ex cellent condition good for carriages or buggies and I suppose such is yet the case. As before slated, the lake is on Ihe extreme summit of the Cascade range. It is elliptical in shape, and aboul eight miles long by six wide. Near the center is a m.ll lUA -I 1 i:t. - . ....... .o,au siujini iikc a truncated cone. There is no visible outlet 10 the lake, and the surrounding walls arc a thousand, per ils more, feet high in many places al most perpendicular, while in others they area steep inclined plane faced with loose fragments of pumice stone that, when dis turbed in the least, gives way and goes rat tling down and floats away on the fathom less water. In fact the whole country is a bed of pumice stone, enough to polish to brightness the character and reputation of the Credit Mobilia Congressmen, with Boss Tweed and Trade-posts Belknap thrown in. Previous to 1S65, it was thought bv sev eral different parties who had visiil it and so reported by them, that Ihe edge of the water could not be reached, but in that year Captain F. It. Sprague. Co. I, 1st Ore gon Infantry, with a detachment of his company, made a more thorough exami nation, and found one place where it is pos sible to clamber down to the water's edge To Orson Stearns, Orderly Sergeant of Co! I, 1st Oregon Inf. vols., belongs the honor of first dipping his finger in the water of this remarkable lake. Before the visit of Captain Sprague and party, it was known by several names, such as Blue Lake, Deep Lake, etc., out at that time the Captain named it Lake Majesty, and published an account of his trip in the Ortgon Stnlint! at Jacksonville. Attempts have been made to reach bot tom with lead and line. The hight of the walls have never to my knowledge been accurately measured, Our party did not, because of a lack of instruments. Before our visit we had a mistaken idea of the nature of the walls, for we expected to let a line down and thus know the hight to an inch, but a glance caused us to abandon that project. The plan of launching a small boat on the lake has been discussed, and though doubtless practicable, it has not yel been done. No fish have been taken from the lake. I sincerely hope some enterprising party will undertake a thorough survey and exploration of this mountain gem, and thus make known to mankind that we have another piece of scenery in Oregon equal ing in grandeur and majesty the remarka ble things of the Old World. Rich glean ings are to the engineer, geological and artist tourists who shall undertake a thor ough survey of Lake Majesty. G. NOOTSACK VALLEY. Mr. Henry W. Smith, of I.ynden, What com count)', writes as follows to the Bel lingham Bay Mailt I came to this country from old Connec ticut three years ago. I had traveled over twenty-seven different States and Territo ries, including the British Possessions, before I started for this part of the world, and I must say, honestly and truthfully, this is the most desirable part of the country to live in I have found. It is the most healthy place I have ever been in ; and if some of our delicate friends in the East would only come here and enjoy their meals as we all do, theyWuld never regret their long and tedious journey. We have some of the finest timber I have ever seen, with thousands of acres of the best of farm ing land to be had by living on it, and tto good water-privileges (falls) near here. I speak more particularly of township 40, range I cast. But we have about six town ships of choice land, and but a very small share of it claimed as yet. Our soil is of the very best loam and marl, mostly clay subsoil. The largest part of it is beaver dam, alder, bottom and hack-brush land, and very easily brought under cultivation for this part of the country. Our largest timber lies on ridges, and even when that is cleared it proves to be good farming land, which is more than can be said ol most places in a timbered country. We have poor roads as yet, but no man expects to find the best of roads in a new country. We are now building a road to British Columbia to find a better market than on the Sound. Our neighbors, a few miles east, have a road lo Whatcom and Sehome un neiungnam Bay; and we have one in progress from our place that will shorten the distance nearly two-thirds. We have also some neighborhood roads well under way. There are a number of schools in the valley, and we will start one in our dis trict in another summer. And in closing, I will say to those desiring land that I will cheerfully show them our country. Yestekoav the blush of health was upon her cheek, and the light of a happy spirit in her eye. To-day, as she sits apart, look ing as yellow as saffron, and feeling as sul len as a mud-turtle, he asks her tenderly what ails her, and she answers sharply, "Mince pie, you idiotl" Brown being asked what was the firs thing necessary towards winning the love of a woman, answered, "an opportunity."