Show LOST RIVE 11 UNITING across the he lavil im desert of the great snake anale river plains ns features of blame blaine aud and bingham counties in idaho as aa seen by a party of henters in quest of the black tail deer when you go hunting bunting on lost loat river idaho your outfitting outwitting out fitting point will naturally be blackfoot it ii if a thriving town of enterprising people they know all about blackfoot and the indian reservation bat but have only a vague tazue idea of the con country 0 j across the aher almost every man you meet will try to dissuade you from going to lost river or any place else tor for a hunt and will do his be bett bet t to send you out to the big butte the blackfoot people are not a heartless mob who wish you any harm or inconvenience but they have an hallucination that the tha bi big butte is a ver veritable hable paradise for hunters they will make you believe that it is a natural menagerie whole animals daily take a run around tho the eutte butte where grizzly bear and wolves and co coyotes votes and deer and antelope and mountain lions gambol on the file hillside unmindful of the presence of murderous man they made some men of our acquaintance believe all allt big this ther oilier day and accordingly in A J day diar r two abter at don alsena isen a spring about emilei from blackfoot a little caravan con consisting asting of a baggage wagon ao and d driver and four well armed we well ll 11 mounted men pushed out across the desert in the direction ol of the big butte from Don alsens alLens they had been told it was waa only a day s ride from one watering wate ill u I 1 place to another and t thit I 1 I 1 i w would 0 U obviate aviate 1 the necessity if f hauling haulin water in bairens as all ex perien ced teamsters do forth went the hunters swift and strong ti ong and all day da long they galloped over the rocky trail N night came on and the big butte looked as far away as ever the stars star s came out one by one so did the coyotes I 1 it was decided to make a dry camp and wait lor for morning the tent was pitched supper eaten and the jug of water all consumed members of the party who hadn haan t taken a drink of water for fi fire ve years were readi read 1 to fight for a drink that night they gulpert it down and swore it avas waa the mot mod delicious beverage in the Y orld before we put them to sleep on the desert let us look at the personnel of the party as they appeared riding over I 1 he deceit they were friends and acquaintances some of whom lived in idaho and some in utah the leader of the party was a lawyer lawer a man who weighed in the neighborhood of in 0 hundred anci fifty pounds he was waa withal a good rider ind and bestrode as tough a pony as the west had bad ever pr pin deuced but his makeup make up lip wa comical lie ile wore inore a great fui fill overcoat as large as a grilly bear on his head was wa a white plug hat of dizzy height swinging on either side of his pony were lii hi massive legs encased in yellow leggins borall for all the world he be looked like a big chief a feather in his hat bat weald hane made the picture all complete across his lap he car lied a long army rifle ready for instant use the schoolmaster his bis brother has as a genuine rustler he was out sarly early of a morning d the cooking oking ro regulated the packing ad un picking found pasture hi for the hoiten droe croie them out late at night and brought them thein in early next morning ife he rode a white horse on oil tho the match march but preferred to hunt on foot I 1 afia fis only weapon nas a colts coils forty five rev olier the next horseman to attract t out oui attention w was a s the judge because lie he v I 1 us as the best mounted mau man in the party ills ilia annual ft a fine mack ware mare it was as NN well ell gaited strong and of excellent bottom ile he was diesend li eseed in a brown hunting suit wore chips chapa and an air of expectation grasped a winchester anaga min biffle and a murderous murde roua looking hunting bunting knife and carried a supply of ammunition and in forina tion he had laid in at blackfoot another member of tile the force forc ewas ivis a snake river rancher ile he wore a pair of chars arid and a full board saw deer where no one vise else could I 1 see bee them arid and occasionally fired off his tun gun to make bis big visions appear rell reil ilis ilia mount wis was an iron gray indian Indi iiii pony with ideas of its ow own and in an expression of countenance which seemed to contradict every ston tor of hairbreadth escape its rider told the only remaining lema ica ining laining character ww the driver lie ile drove the bag gagi wagon fed the horses and did the cooking ile hi liked to hunt but where there was vas no sign of garni gmal was rag Nil willing ling to forgo that plea pleasure ure T us lie was vaa the band that rode forth again next morning full of hope and rheumatism to behold the big eutte butte as far away ap pill pai aly as ever i the horsemen final finally v strung out alone the road in sullen silence thi th ledga ud p fell to mora liing this WA the old oregon thail over will if a so many of tho the argonauts of 49 40 had passed in quest of the golden fleece of th flit pacific coast marv many had falln fallen by the way side sonic some with swollen tongues and bloodshot eyes shrieking for for a drop of water with poisoned arrows quivering ering in their llesh flesh i cached their goal eoal but few did fate permit to touch the gold fleece the trail of f the golden hunter is strewn wile shattered hopes and broken ido now and then a lonely lonell gra gral i upon u pon a babien ban en hillside is 1 6 aured lay by a monument of lava ion piled up out nut of respect for the departed aad fear of the desecration ol of prairie ghouls the dead devout devour ing ny otes the men who milde made th trail accomplished much for their country for civilization a and for humanity they blaed th the wity guv if progress and carried th the toi h b of enterprise into it a lavaga nor d they way may have be been n actu ati at d liy by selliah selfish motives it is true but afie the result of their labois is none the less leas beneficial for all that tilt i took their lives their fortunes in their hands and braved the dadig daners of savage foes and bore thi uffe sufferings rings of exposure hunger and thirst to better their own condition and that of their fellow merit men just here a coyote crossed the artil and cut the reverie in ano th horsemen took after him and once away from the road had a bett belt i opportunity to study the na tun of the country over which they had been traveling than before A brief description might amigh t be appreciated by the reader who has never made its acquaintance the idaho desert lies north and wet or of the snake river extending from its source near the alie yellow atone park along ih course three hundred miles to where wood riter becomes a apart part of the glassy current which bolls lolls in waterfalls and rapids into the grand columbu columbia and on to the mighty ocean this thia stretch of tion I 1 teaches caches lack back from the river a hundred miles mile or more leaving a waste of wild land with an area greater than that of I 1 now new hampshire Verni vermont ont connecticut del delaware a ware and khoda island L T pon poll this ind arid plain not many bentin centimes cen times ice ago there was enacted on oce e of natures Natu ies and mother tailo it seems poured forth her Bc scalding alding tears ni aih froze upon her face the billow billon a of a lava ocean rose and fell as the woulter moulten mass flowed bowed out upon the laud land the air of heaven met the tide I 1 le a bukea its wrath and stayed its course the bur bi irnine nille oce ocean in turned to stone and ami dry au and barren burnt and black seamed and as if its waves were petr petrified iRed in motion there it lies lien as still as aa death is as awful as aa eternity the whole region became b caine a solid rock a shining field of basalt the theeart 3 care ear bi ought changes though and in places along the river the lava has been decomposed by the atmosphere till it has haa crumbled antoan into an excellent soil which le ie to cultivation in a generous manner and even in the desert this process of decomposition is going on till scattered through the denser lavas is the dust of couo lytes and tes growing occasional plots of by the millions and aunch grass everywhere the knovs of winter furnish moisture for the finest grazing glasses in the world which in patches among the ruins and walls of black obsidian stand waist ligh waving in the breeze like a field of ripened cd grain there could be no better richer range for stock than this fame ame desert it it had but lister it has no lake nor pond nor stream of any lind kind and but bat one spring located near big butte boxed up and guarded by the only family in the desert who sell its waters to those A who ho chance to travel over the old oregon trail it t was late in the afternoon of the ccone day when the tha little cavalcade hot and thirsty reached the there is a legend connected with tb this is spring as a of course there should be in the das da 8 when Algo argonauts were racing across rosa the continent blind to obstacles deaf to warnings warn ingi 4 callous to hardships anti and ot danger if a wagon train truck out nut across the desert the guide had bad claimed to know the load but grew bewildered near the butte and acknowledged he waa as lost the company disposed arhim of him after tho the manner of the times find while prospecting around the mountain mount aiu r found the spring in its gravel led bed they found coarse gold but clear cold water in ruch euch a place is much more precious mad and is ia therefore there foie not disturbed there is gold all through the lavas but every drop of water in the tha desert is a sparkling diamond too pure to be defiled in a of baser a er things I 1 the animals if here iser just ejust as glad to reach the oasis as any one on and the way they buried their noses in the watering trough was evidence of that t near e ar the epi bpi ing is ie a low log cabau b i with it two t windows Iain dolve and a dirt roof it was in an old stage station find and is now the home of the owner of the spring in the middle of the desert it stands alone toe only y work of man mail two freight teams of ten horses each were ut pulling out for the salmon river country and others beading to and from blackfoot were making camp in an hour or so the baggage wagon hove in sight and t oon toon the tent iraq ira up and all was ready for the night after supper our friends strolled ocr to the freighters camp tire fire to smoke e the pipe of prevarication and lay in A fresh supply of information concerning the fauna and other myths of the neighborhood one heighter informed them that blaik tail deer were so common in that section there N as no longer any pleasure or elt excitement ement in the chie chi ch tp t P e but that the it blute 1 I te dier deer of the butte is 13 the object of eveia idaho lunter hunter s ambition they anxious to know all about the arid and this ii i what the ti amster told them white deer aidt aister ai oter er cOm common UlOn but ondein onca in a while you hearod hear of em in the he mountains of oregon they haie hoi e a formation growing in them known as a its worth seventy even ty fic dollars and one oae reason I 1 id d like to kill the white deer dian didn t you ever hear of a mad klont antona why its used for snake bites arid and dog bites find and the like it II sucks suck all the puen pien out of the wound then they bile the stone in milk and its as good as eier eer some fellers lave have put in many a day but itin that white doer ive been on his trail several times myself weve all shot hot at him time anti ami agin hat but hes still at 1 l large some feller bit hint him once though in the shoulder and it makes him kinder drag one foot id ku kuony his tracks any where by that A black tail will do me this ibis trip 0 said eaid the lat lawyer ver and ill take the white one when I 1 get better acquainted with the country ry ob ib lie he no tr trick ick cout at all ii t to see ice fro from ten to fifty common deer the first liy lay you are out no matter which direction you go said the teamster tc amiter about Abou how near emu can you ap them as it ft rule asked the J judge who it be intended to waste no DO ammunition on long biot game was so plentiful you go up in the cedars a few lew ill miles res cast of here bere tomorrow and you will be able to run right onto them ia ill bet they s a thousand leers deers in thorn them cedars right now dow said another freighter but no one offered to t take a ke tl the I 1 Is bet and so 60 the evening passed away with a general disc discussion of hunting stae eing and heighling Heigh ting across the desert the teamsters boasting of their wagons horses hories and experience hauling supplies to the miners and aullion hack back to the railroad one had a little roan mare that could start alcad a load housed six horses in drawing another had bad a big horse that was only fit to walk along and pack pac k his clothe cloth eq still another could bitch up a band of wild bronchus and drive them and they all said enough to make the lawyer doubt their hunting stones stone and resolve tu to stay in camp next day bright and early was the camp abair on the ful following lowing morning an and the sight by sunrise wab inspiring the big butte towered above them on the west and south a solitary mountain rising from an almost level plan plain two similar buttes butter stood out in bold bald relief against the eastern sky eky some fifteen or twenty miles away amay these with a few mounds or miniature buttes in the immediate vicinity Y comprised the cult only eclief to the ae level v el stretch par far away to the coith and east and all around N were ere the various mountain chains which enche led the valley if the snake the distance aws morning liht light made them blue and pink and purple far I beyond byod d and above them towered the majestic two hundred and fifty mile the sun was hovering over them as if he started from their snow capped summits on his daily flight fight three tall and slender blender spires robed in white and bathed in sunlight flanked on oil either side by lesi pr pro e tent ious pinnacles la is what in may a y b be e seen of the from the big butte of the lava desert the horses borres nere driven in and fed saddles were reinforced by y ropes and straps strap 6 for bringing ill in the game the morning meal was hastily prepared and the days campaign was planned khile eating the lawyer insisted on oil remaining at the spring the judge and the driver went to the cedars the racher Ilam lier took to the desert and the schoolmaster ascended the butte flom early morn till i lose of day they secured the pla plain irit end hills and mountain worn and weary dearv parched and hungry night found them dealing beating camp without so go much as a jack rabbit not one had seen even the track of a wild ani malof of any kind whatever allate ver the butte was lifeless the cedars bere era uninhabited and the desert was deserted the first days hunt 1 was as a dismal failure that night the hunters made a camp fire by themselves away from the freighters there were two reasons for this to avoid hearing any more falsehoods about the abundance of game and to 0 o have an n 0 opportunity to comment freely on the genera general 1 reputation of idaho and veracity Th the lawyer said he had known them kofold of old and therefore remained in the tent when they told him that deer were falling failing over ea each ch other in their t h air frolics thereabouts the judge declared that eveia thing he had encountered during the whole trip was misleading that the rivers were treacherous the roads unreliable distances din diR deceptive and the wen men |