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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1881)
266 THE WEST SHORE. November, 1881. form the crater it not to be doubted. Al! the cut country for many hundreds 01 p:are milo, bear evidence thnt rurcf nrrl unusiu!!y tui.b'c con vuUion of nature occurred in the past and buried that region to great depth with nshcn, pummice, scoria and vol canic utterance. How terrible thnt eruption wan these silent walla bear witness, for at omo time they have known a tea of molten, teething lava, to flail the bed where the haunted water now repine. There it a singular and most competent witness to thi fact before us, at we look from thin highest elevation out upon the lake. In it midst risct a perfect but extinct volcano, of at leant fifteen lain drcd feet in height, it tidet clothed with a tcant hemlock forest attenuate! by thi elevation. The lava (low from thi once volcano hat made an island in the lake at leant three mile long. The cone ritct perfectly, and there it a dish shape on itt summit that thows where a crater once existed. We look down from our tummit on the mountain and into Itt crater. It it natural to believe that the first great eruption win loiiowed tiy N criKl of reM, when the volcanic forcct again asserted them Klve, throwing up thit miniature volcano a a final effort and then ex piring. Now the dwarfed hemlock trict to dud earth to grow on, to cloth the once fierce lava flood with vcireta tion and hido id ugly fiaturc. What a terrific tccne it mutt have presented When the lirtt great volcano belched forth fire and tcattercd death o'er all the eastern world. The prevailing wiiuu, then at now, iwept from the southwest and northwest and left the wettcm valley untouched by volcanic lury. The Indian view Crater lake and it turroundingt at holy ground and an. proach itt mystic water with reverence and awe. They attach to itt existence the thought that the Orcat Spirit hal. low it by hit pretence. The ancient traditiont of the tribe relate many supernatural event handed down with the mythical lore of the pant. Only medicine men frequented the acred pot, and when one felt called at teacher and healer it wat a feature of hit novitiate to tpend week in fatting, and com munion with the dead and prayer to the Sahullah Tycct, and to become imbued with inspiration to qualify him for hi work. Reside this wonder-shore thev saw vision and dreamed dreams. and when they came down from the mountain mysteries to minrrle with mortal they brought the odor of sanctity with them and were viewed with reverence a having communed with the unknown world. Once upon a time to says tradition some tilhcums who scouted the idea that the luke was haunted by unseen spirits and was not intended to be tampered with by mortals, made a raft or canoe and launching it upon the tilent waters pushed out from shore as hopeful as the searchers for the Golden Fleece set sail of old from Argos. Thev chanted their song and the monotone of their voices went up to companions on the shore who fearfully watched them as they went on, disturbing with their paddle the changing reflections ol the silent sky. They had reached the center of the lake, almost within the shadow of the sleeping volcano, when suddenly they disappeared. The water rippled over them a moment am! then the surface silvered over atrain with reflections of cloud and sky. During the age that have nassed since then the depth have held their own. m ' ami made no sign. Some explain that the sources of many rivers can be iraccu to crater Lake, and believe that whirlpool exist where these fountain. have an outlet and that meeting nn. nf .1 .. . " mete silent maelstrom this venture tome crew of Siwashe came to an un- timely fate. One July day, year before thi. v;t the writer of thi camped one night be' neath a spreading hemlock and .1. the very border of Crater Lake. The nowt nad tinned in crcat m.., v v i VI me edge ot the Crater and were packed by the summer sun on the mountain wall around it. We studied "medicine" by the light of the afternoon sun, by the auiverint? vlm r ,k -:i ' i . .. -: stiver moon, by the glitter of the pale star. ' m.ccieu irom the depth. The night wind moaned woefully in the hemlock bunche. and the arctic touch of that July niirht it not v,t r. . the myt-terietof h' Z cn' ' .? i .cmPhMi- Ghost? of the o umltlincj MW and un,kc l.Vk LETTER ON WASHINGTON TERRITORY BV GOV. WM. A. NEWELL, , I am pleasantly located at the capital of Washington Territory, Olympui, a beautiful city at the head waters of Plinrnt Sriim! eifimtnj.1 1 . . - -'""""i onuiiicu uuuii an cievated peninsula extending downward two miles into the Sound, bordered on either side by an amphitheatrical ele vation covered with evergreen firs. From the capitol, which contains the legislative hall, the executive chambers and the territorial library and which is built upon the highest point, at the center of the semi-circular elevation there can be seen one of the grandest views in the world. The Sound in front stretches towards the Straits, or namented with sail and steam ships, Sound steamers, Indian canoes, the Coast range, Olympic and Cascade mountains, with their Deroetual hues of white, purple and gold, lofty and grand as they may be, dwindled into comparative insignificance by the mon- ster mountain, Rainier, running up into the heavens fourteen thousand five hun dred feet; and at intervals along the Cascades, its companions, St. Helens, Baker, Adams and TeftWenn oil covered with the everlasting snows. .; onuijuuimie anu tne Spokan wa terfalls are equal in beauty, and exceed in height by several hundred feet the falls of the Niagara. T.hese, with the immense forests, make up and const.-, tute a scene unsurpassed in grandeur and extent. The ciiy is arranged in avenues and strata other at right angles; is provided with v , . l"UiM, large and numerous public buildings, and not a few hand some residences. It is the center for the receipt and distribution of productions and merchandise for a large surround ing rctrion which and is destint-d, on account of its com mercial, agricultural, timber, mining and manufacturing advnntarrp. tn b. come a place of large commerce and A wo rumored miles from the sea, all the vcul nf tk ......... i .m on its harbor. A railroad connects the ey with the Northern Pacific from the Sound to the Columbia. Tint T must content my8clf with an abbreviated if l 111,8 &rcat cuntry. Washington Territory borders on Untish Columbia on the north, is HW.1 00 thc 80ulh frm Oregon by the Columbia rvr p.,l .K. f...... -:-.k parallel latitude ; is bounded by Idaho on the east, and the Pacific on the west: contnln. .... .i j miles, making forty-five millions of acres an area rmml ;.. ... . .v.. fate of New York and all the New England states i-nt f.:. i . space two-fifth, eastward from' the sea c me cascade mountains, which run nearly nnrtk , .. .. y .... .,IU uuin, anu ui viae me Terntory into Washington East and