THE WEST SHORE.
January.
SNOQUALMIE RIVER AND FALLS,
iiv LOU. F.. MUCH.
Away uji tlio Hides of the mountains
Are tint hearts of the bright, tiny streams,
Iturstinji forth from thu icy fountain
'Ncatli the blow flukes' glistening beams.
They rijinle along through the flowers,
And down where the fir tree wares,
Their music ofalmtl pntfl to the powers
Which called them from out frozen graves.
At lat o'er the foothill roaming,
While HI king t heir jiath to the sen,
They Btfti with a rushing aud foaming,
And form the Snoijualmie.
Tfac ttrtftU rinplei on, often turning,
Like MMM fair, youthful Queen in her prlflaa
Though toyat, hhe cannot ho scorning
The MfDirjf no fair on each aide.
Sho turns u she luaies the ateep mountain,
Views thu btftutiM around on each bund,
Laugha idled to the snowHako and fountain,
Kre ahti Imjm o'er the ( ataruct grand
She jnusuii, a sigh for the ocean,
A rippte no sweet, flllx the air.
She think of the- snowbird's devotion,
Ami the II jwer-decked glen, ever fair.
She lo ikl ORM again toward the mountain,
Whoro the deer on the billaidca play,
Sight farewell to the IDOWfl&kfl ami fountain,
An she hinks ninth thu Minding spray.
nil FA U.S.
(J rami, mvful Sood. 1, trembling, viuw
Thy fentliM y foam, and wee, far through
Thy mint, clmnls tipped with ruinliow's hue,
Hung o'er thy stony throne.
The bftWM fan thy oloildl of Bproy,
And OrMUM thy nitty veil away,
Aa near thy bunk 1, fearful, atray,
Thou work ol Hiin unknown.
Slowly thy waters whirl and creep
Down near thy brink, aa if anleep,
Then wiik.-n with a start, and leap
lluwn o'er thu dark abyss.
Down iMpi the roaring, sparkling sheet,
Kurtli tti'inblt us thy waters meet,
Aud wives, btloWi thy l oluuini greet
With sullen, set-thing hiss.
Thy watcm btthi with foam the short:,
And rork npMt thy in u filed roar,
While lemming e.tglus oVr thee soar,
Rfjololng in thu night.
Ths in'k-ryeil fawn and cautious deer,
With mini steps, draw womieritig near.
And at Ihrnigh mint wet leaves they peer,
BN ruiubow ever bright
Then why not mtn Creation' king -
With pUD ll thoUgbU) thy praises ting;'
An 1 nak the mines tottoh raeh string
of adnlnHon'i Ijm y
Could man t mute at such a scene,
Where iparkllng toftuii with diamond ileam
BaMaoti the rainbow'i giistemug n,
Ukl pin and heavenly tro 't
Ab no I the htari unhid - . . i : ".
when in hi hiu ti nohla nam ws dwtll,
Or of lliy gt.nnbur iboold we tell
Although in future years.
Long live thy mim'iL lreh and bright
Thy daufaulnj roar thy shifting light
Thy raiubtiw t iir most gorgeous sight
Thy DroWU i'f dewy tears.
Tbo spray Irotn the entnraet lifting,
As it' iwayad to and u- . by the wind,
Si-enu KiKHpi limb's form, ever shifting,
Catching gllnpuMl of lulls left behind,
lake the ihiiiitms nf Youth, perfect seeming,
With Hint DUBUm fair and grand,
While II , mi the futUN is Warning,
Tltay fade a we OUtatratoh the band.
Smouojiimi Ciiv, V. T.
NOTKS AMI REMINISCENCES,
LA VINA OV1 Mill MTAUMIIIINU rill OLD III
MIQIAM1 KOAtl INTO tOtrrHUN 01 ROOK, IN
rtti VMK 184&
IIV 1 1M.AV AITI ROAl .
1 1 fitin.taf.)
prom rui
l hi: TO fill SPRING IN
1 til; DRSRR r.
( In the morning of July th wa left
our camp on the little creek (now called
Hot creek), unci continued our course
along tin short of Lower Klamath
Lake. This threw us. oil" our coune
considerably, aa the lake extended tome
null's to the southward of our last
e unp, mill we did mU reach the eastern
ihore until the day was Air sin-nt. We
camped on the lake ihore, and the next
morning, July 6th, we ascended a Ugh
rocjiT rklge to the eastward for the
purpose of m ik'in observations, Near
(he DMO of the ridge, on the gaaL was
n largo lake, perbapa twenty mile in
length. Beyond it. to the eastward,
we cotdtl see a limbered butte, appar
ently thirty miles distant, at the baaoof
which there appeared tt be a low pass
through the mountain range which
seemed to encircle the hike basin. It
appearing practicable to reach this pass
by passing around the north end of the
lake, we decided to adopt that route
and began the descent of the ridge, but
we soon found ourselves in the midst
of an extremely rugged country. Short
lava ridges ran in every conceivable
direction, while between them were
caves and crevices into which it seemed
our animals were in danger of falling
headlong. The farther we advanced
thr worcc became the route, so that at
length we decided to retrace our steps
to the smooth country. This was diffi
cult! as our horses had become sep
arated among the rocks, and it was
some time before we could get them
together and return to the open ground.
Then we discovered that one of our
party, David GofT, was missing. While
in the lava field he had discovered a
band of mountain sheep and in pursu
ing them had lost his way. Some of
the party went quite a distance into the
rocks, but could hear nothing of liim.
We decided to proceed to the meadow
country, at the head of the lake, by en
circling the lava beds to the northward,
and encamp until we could find our
comrade. While we were proceeding
to carry out this programme we dis
covered a great number of canoes leav
ing the lake shore, under the bliills,
and making for what appeared to be
an island four or five miles distant.
We could also see a lone horseman
riding leisurely along the lake shore,
approaching us. This soon proved to
he our lost friend. The Modocs hail
discovered him in the lava fields, and
probably supposing that the whole
party was about to assail them from the
rocks, they took to their canoes. He
said that, seeing the Indians retreating,
he concluded he would Ave the rocks
and ride along the lake shore where
the going was good. We uooned in a
beautiful meadow, containing about
two section-;, near the head of the lake.
After spending a couple of hours in
this splendid pasture, We re-packed and
started on our way towards the tim
bered butte, but had not proceeded
more than a mtle before we came sud
denly Upon quite B large stream (Lost
river) coming into the lake. We found
this stream near the lake very deep)
with almost perpendicular banks, so
that we were compelled to turn north
ward, Up the river. Before proceeding
very far we discovered an Indian
crouching under the bank, am) sur
rounding him, made him come out, By
signs, we indicated to him that wc
wanted to cross the river. By mark
ing on hil legs ami pointing up the
river, he gave us to understand that
there was a place above where we
could easily cross. Motioning to him
to advance, he led the way up the river
about a mile and pointed out a place
on our left, and encamped for the night.
After using the alkali water of Lower
Klamath Lake the previous night, the
fresh, cold water of this spring was a
real luxury. There was plenty of dry
wood and an abundance of green grass
for our animals, and we enjoyed the
camp exceedingly. Sitting around our
fire that evening, we discussed the ad
ventures of the past few days in this
new and strange land. The circum
stances of the last day had been partic
ularly interesting. Our adventure in
the rocks; the retreat of the whole
Modoc tribe in a fleet of thirty or forty
canoes across the lake from GofT; the
singularity of the natural bridge; the
vast fields of tide around the lake, and
the fact that the lake was an independ
cut body of water, were subjects of pc
cullar interest and only intensified our
desire to see more of this then wild
land
July 7th, we left the valley of Tule
Lake to pursue our course eastward
over a rocky table land, among scatter
ing juniper trees. We still observed
the timbered butte as our landmark,
land traveled as directly toward It as the
shape of the country would admit.
This butte is near the State line, be
tween Clear lake and Goose lake,
and probably distant fifty miles from
the lava ridge west of Lost river, from
which we first observed it, and suppos
ing it to be about thirty miles away.
In pursuing our course we passed
through the hilly, juniper country be
tween Langell valley and Clear lake
without seeing either the valley or
lake, and at noon arrived at the bed of
a stream where there was but little
water. The course of the stream was
north or northwest, and appearances
indicated that at times quite a volume
of water flowetl in the channel. This
w as evidently the bed of Lost river, a
few miles north of where this singular
stream leaves the Clear lake marsh.
Leaving this place, we pursued our
journey through a similar country to
that passed over dining the forenoon,
anil encamped at a little spring among
the junipers, near the base of the tim
bered hill, and passed a very pleasant
ght.
On the morning of July 8th, we
passed our landmark and traveled nearly
eastward, over a comparatively level
but extremely rocky country, and
nooned in the channel of another
stream, where there was a little water
standing in holes. On leaving this
place wc found the country still quite
level, but exceedingly rocky; for eight
or ten miles almost like a pavement.
Late in the afternoon we came out into"
the basin of a lake (Goose lake), appar
ently forty or fifty miles in length.
Traversing the valley about five miles
along the south end of the lake, we
came to a little stream COmlnff in from
the mountain- to the eastward. The
ood, we en
camped here lor the night. Game
where an immense rock crossed the I grass and water bein
river. J lie sheet of water running i camped here
over tiie i.kk was ahout titteen Inches seemed ntenHfiil. nn.l ,. (lt' ti, .,rt..
deep, while the principal part of the killed a fine deer in the vicinity of the
river seemed to flow under. This WW camp, From a spur of the mountains,
the famous Stone Bridge on Lost river, near our camp, we had a splendid view
so often mentioned after this by trav- of the lake and of the extensive valley
eier. t o: m.tnv war the .vatei- ol borderin
Tide Lake have been gradually rising,
so that now the beautiful meadow on
which we uooned on the day wc dis
covered the bridge is covered by ihc
lake, aud the back water in Lost river
long ago made the river impassable; is
now probably ten feet deep over the
bridge.
After crossing the bridge we made
our pilot some presents, and ull shaking the lake from the mountain chain. A
the north. On the
east, between the lake and mountain
range running nearly north and south,
and which we siipjKiscd to he a spur of
the Sierra Nevadas, was a beautiful
meadow country, narroyv, but many
miles in length, across which the lines
of willows ami scattering pines and cot-1
lonwoods indicated the courses of a
number of little streams comm? into'
nanus w.m mm, leit nun standing on
the river bank. Purnuing our way
along the northern shore of the lake a
few miles, we came to a bc.mtifid
spring, near the base of the mountains
little southeast ol our camn there an.
pcarcd to be a gap in the mountain w all, i
and we decided to try it on the suc
ceeding day.
July oth we moved up the ridge to- 1
wards the gap, and soon entered a little
valley, perhaps containing a hundred
acres, extending to the summit of the
ridge, thus forming an excellent pass.
The ascent was very gradual. The
little valley was fringed with mountain
mahogony trees, giving it quite a pic
turcsque appearance. This shrub,
which is peculiar to the rocky high
lands, is from fifteen to twenty feet
high and in form something like a
cherry tree, so that a grove of moun
tain mahogany strikingly resembles a
cherry orchard. About the center of
the little valley is a spring of cold
water, making it an excellent camping
place, and for many years afterwards it
was the place where the immigrants
were wont to meet and let their ani
mals recuperate after the long, tire
some march across the so-called Amer
ican Desert; for this Sierra ridge sep.
arates the waters of the Pacific from
those of the great basin which extends
from the Blue mountains far southward
towards the Colorado. The little
stream on which wc encamped before
entering this pass is called Lassen
creek, taking its name from Peter Las
sen, who led a small party of immi
grants across the plains in 1S4S, follow
ing our route from the Humboldt
through this pass, thence down Pitt
river to the Sacramento. From the
summit of the ridge we had a splendid
view. Northward the ridge seemed to
widen out, forming several low ranges
of timbered mountains, while south
ward it seemed to rise very high, as we
could sec patches of snow along the
summit in the distance. East and
south of us, at the foot of the ridge, was
a beautiful green valley, twenty or
thirty miles in extent, and containing a
small hike. A number of small streams
flowed from the mountain into and
through the valley, affording an abund
ance of water for the wants of a settle
ment. This fertile valley on the border
of the desert has since been called Sur
prise valley, and now contains quite a
population.
As we stood on the Sierra ridge, we
surveyed the vast desert plains to the
eastward of Surprise valley, apparently
without grass or trees, and marked ly
numerous high rocky ridges running
north and south. After deciding an
our course, wc descended the mountain
ml nnn Minn tn a littlo ifraiim tlip
banks of which were lined with plum
bushes completely loaded with fruit.
There was a grove of pines at hand,
and there we deckled to noon, as the
day was extremely hot. Game scented
plentiful about this rich valley, anil
while wc were nooning a large band
of antelope grazed in sight of us. Spend-
about two hours among these pine,
which were the last wc saw during our
long and weary march on the desert,
we packed up and moved across the
ley eastward. After crossing the
valley we entered a very sandv district.
where the traveling was laborious, and
next ascended to a table land, the sur
face of which was covered with small
eravel. Iiv this time most of our
horses were barefooted, and our prog
ress through the rocky country '
consequcntlv very slow. The country
was so desert-like that we had abo"'
despaired of finding water that night,
but just at dark we unexpectedly can"
to a'little spring. There was but ft
water, but by digging some wc r(
able to get quite enough for otirsebf;
and horses, though it kept us busyunt;
about midnight to get the horse
tered. Although we hail met w-
suiL'ularlv "ood fortune in thus tindWf
water at' the close of the first a'
inarch on the desert, wc could not
ways expect such good luck in the fu
ture; and as we lay down ia
blankets among the "sage-brush l(
night, we could not help
some " oinnv tiir. lini nnr in M'Cii""
the future of our expedition.
(70 bf ".! :'