Show ier THROUGH THE NORTH the immense lava beds and their origin special jorr to the once again within the sound of ahe railway after having gone iho rounds of the vast mineral regions to the west a general resume of what was there seen may not be of place the extent and of the vast mineral belt is such th it mining is destined to become IH and no one who has viewed the prospects can doubt the profitableness of such enterprises the country embraced in the various districts ol 01 challa custer bonanza bay hone kinnikinnick on the salmon river and bellevue ketchum galena and others in wood river are not only vast in extent but it is reasonable lo 10 suppose that much of the inter country is good if not equally aa rich as arc between clieaf districts alie country is occasionally traveled by prospectors over rough trails but ano strikes have all been made in licali ies embracing it adall space of territory to travel from the bonanza country to that of wood river the present route h via stage through Cli allis via abreo areo junction thence back to wood river making nearly TWO MILES when pack animal trails roach ketchum from bonanza in a distance of about sixty miles only beavy work in the construction of wagon roods will in time bring theae sections in closer communications cat ions east of gnellia Gnal lia on the route we pass down big east river skirted on cither side with mountain ranges in which good strikes are reported as having been made during the past few weeks and it is possible that the regions may soon developed dev elope into mining camps from arco to wood river the route lies at the base of mountains skirling the great lave beds and chero d is the same which has been in use as THE OLD EMIGRANT ROAD the past thirty years wilh the early rush of gold hunters to califor nia the route became established down bear river gli soda springs clience across the lava plains of bear river valley over to old fort aall thence across snake river near blackfoot reaching the west side of the great snake river lava plains springs once across this barrier the route winds its way west at the base of the mountains and as the lava flowed up each valley thu requiring teams to travel up one side and down the other to get around THE impassable LAVA the distance Is very materially increased from what it otherwise would be imagire cpr a of mountains extending into the lava field for a distance of one to five miles with valleys between these and that the road must go around these spurs and up and down the valleys and the readers can get an idea of how the road grows in length in comparison with the actual distance gained the blackfoot bonanza and wood river company propose to shorten many places by bridging the chasers leveling the ridges and mouthing moo thing tho way across narrow etries of lava and thus will cut the route from hero to wood river down to about one bundled and twenty miles few persons have an idea ot ahe vast extent of these lava beds and of their desolate character and CONDITI Ot to travel over outsize of tho routes already made and used high ridges yawning e and deep crevices are found all through the plaint which embrace a country averaging forty miles wide and nearly long occasional buttes some small and others assuming proportions of small mountain ranges stand up above the vest expanse as sentinels over the solitary desert some of these buttes are barren ahda others are covered wit timber and small vegetation and are nurtured by springs ef pure water again it is claimed that some of the buttes show signs of once eliav ing been volcanoes but this I very much doubt the lava must have been placed thereby volcanic action but if it had been from elevated craters the mass would have cooled before spreading out to any exten tand would have filled up around the crest of such craters the lava lies in a level position and seems to have settled down ai he slag from a smelling furnace cools in tho slag pot no doubt but the lava was created similar to the creation of slag by the flexing fluxing together of numerous rocks ores and which in a seething liquid state under the earths crust that crust gare vent OP FISSURES through which the mass flowed and filling this great valley flowed outward ilia mountains and up i the canyons between alen coming in contact with iho cold wind the lava became solid and thus built up in form of sloping walls which we now find all around he nm next to these walls As the mass bebau begau to cool the first effect would lie he formation of a surface chuat and then masses would sti kinto the liquid below because of excessive weight thia sinking had the ell act to create valleys when the mass went down while masses were raised on cither ante and left and kroken bridgm when ahe final cooling came the deflect of contraction rent the mass nith fenc ions and opened cavern and crevices which are now dangerous for man and to fall anio ID gome of tarse crevices it is TO ind many an ins gone flown iu lucli by breaking th when crusted over with snow numerous creeks and small rivers enter the lava plains from the west and for a distance of over liea all of these eink and it supposed that the wit numerous springs from chich low oevra into snake river at po ati below here alio of hese springs come out of the moun talo skirting the near abo falls there nu ceroua such iome with how to utah rivers froan the rocks hundreds of feet anil do facend to the biyer below portions of he lava plains aro cov erad with hartli upon which beauty vegetation while other nor thoua aro BS babns oad iio lhing i aen except the sombre hued rok tho bo nan nani i and wood river company have shown energy in equipping and upon the route ucha to odline ns they nowlia ve to do thi hala had to be ade and and etah llred and biting houie proposed hey ro doine hi o well that in a very short will be in the best possible condition the first out from blackfoot ie now conducted by mr J U vance torr of ogden and his house is the act on tho routes with the improvements in roads and other matters soon to be made abo trip through these new mineral regions will bo an agreeable one to make parties have been hero taking measurements ure ments for an iron bridge to super ce the ferry snake river and the bridge will probably be arec led eoon Q BLACKFOOT idaho sept 23 |