Show p IDAHOS SEVEN DEVILS 1I 1 I An Extended Trip Through a Wild I Section of the Great NorthWest I Curious Natural Phenomena Hunters Hunt-ers and Fishermans Paradise II I I I Some of the Resources of Idaho I Ranges of the Cattle Kings I Special Correspondence DEMOCRAT II YmsER Cm mall July 22dThe name Id holis derived from the Indian I I Jeried word edaho which means Gem I of the Mountains No more appropriate name could have been found t represent this vast Territory j for it can truly be said tQ 10 a gem of the mountains relieved by I an occasional valley or sagebrush prairie I and interspersed with lavabeds The I valleys are quite numerous in tle south I era half of the Territory being mostly Fertile though t a great extent sparsely I settled and affording good grazing grounds I for the thousands of cattle and horses that roam them at will The sagebrush I prairies are destitute of water and cannot become productive without the aid of arti Icial irrigation j or in other words immense im-mense canals must he cut along their II highest borders and parts of those rivers I low confined to one stream turned into them Several such canals are now in course of construction and upon completion comple-tion will augment the tide of immigration to this Territory to an extent unprecedented unprece-dented in it annals Canals would not be 1 necessary if the rainfall were equal to that of northwester Oregon or Washington Wash-ington Territory both of these being favored with the mists from the ocean but this not being the t case the rainfail I is inadequate which necessitates the aid of artificial irrigation even in those valleys where the small streams are numerous num-erous TilE LAVA nnns ARE A BARREN WASTE OF IGNEOUS ROCKS Resembling the clinkers or residue of the coal and iron taken from the blacksmiths I black-smiths forge and outside of patches of sagebrush and bunchgrass mostly confined I con-fined to the deep hollows in which lava beds are prolific would not afford living to jackrabbits or sandhill cranes From I the action of water or air the lavab I have become so contorted and filled sflht cellular openings that in some place sit I is impossible to cross them without the aid of planks and ropes Another citri I ous feature is that nearly all the moun lain streams upon entering them find I these underground fissures and disappear entirely from the surface Big Lost River for instance sinks no less than twenty limes in a distance of 150 miles of its course and finally disappears altogether Those places where the streams disappear disap-pear are called sinks and are distin guished by the uneven and Oggy state of the ground and dense growth of reeds < and rank grasses The ponds and small lakes enclosed by these rank mendows are favorite resorts for swans geese ducks and numerous species of snipe and plover j but the hunter needs a spy boat to hunt them successfully The lavabeds extend from near the Three retails in Western Wyoming through Idaho northern Nevada Oregon Tash ington Territory and California and nothing short of the melting down of a large range of mountains could have formed such an extensive deposit I iVAUi RIVER Till LARGEST AND LONOK RIVER IN IDAHO Cuts through the lava from near its source to its confluence with the Column mirand within its length presents Rome grand scenery notably the American alls Twin and Shoshone Falls and the Grand Canyon I I have spent the summer in the vicinity of Grand Canyon prospecting for quartz lines that section being known as the Seven Devils countynamed from a group of badly contorted porphrvtic peak seven in number Our party explored a ortion of country never before visited by white men having in one place spent kventythree days traveling nine miles utting our way through a labyrinth of fallen timber digging trails around huge granite cliffs and building bridges across mountain torrents upon which to cross 0111 packmules Our manner of building a bridge consisted in felling a large tree across the streams dimming the liml > off the upper side and laying smalic trees along each side for the fuil length of I the bridge letting them rest upon the untrimmed branches The smaller trees prevent the animals from slipping off while walking on the round top of the log None hut trained animals can be induced to cross one of those narrow shaky bridges as one misstep would Inn then1 to destruction They seem to realize real-ize the danger and walk very carefully T111 SEvEN DEVILS ARI so j HOUGH AND IKKCllITOUS fhat we were unable to climb to the top of some of thorn At their base on tin east side are six lakes l clear as crystal and of great depth while on the west Snake river winds through Grand canyor with its perpendicular walls thousand of feet in height and looks like a writhing I writh-ing black serpent as it rolls over immense I rapids From the top of Devil No 4 I gazed with silent admiration upon the 1 handiwork of nature displayed strange on every side To the west and over forty miles away were the perpetually snow cad peaks of the Eagle mountains of easter Oregon with their whit tops glistening in the sunshine and a green bordem of vegetation encircling them lower down forming what is known as I the timber line Behind me were the lakes nested among broken peaks and within timbered basins with blocks of iee floating upon their surface and great banks of snow piled up around them j wimile just in front Snake river could only be seen by stretching full length upon the rocks and looking over Those who I never experienced it cannot imagine the tlmrill of undefined dread that seems to pervade the form and paralyze the musrles while looking over a precipice more than a mile in height I is hard to realize tnat your body is still on term firma as your head seems as large as a barrel and your body and the rock upon I whir you are clinging feel a mere atom Facing the north II WJ SEE THE OUT ClKUK IlAMJNE RAilQE n lie dim distance while mountains of I lesser height fill the intervening spare i I broken by huge canyons from which i pour the many tributaries of Salmon river soon to be in confluence with Snake river sixty miles north of our position To the south are rolling hills sheltering I many valleys Nearly all of these valleys have been settled up for a number of i I years and are dotted here and there with line farms and orchards Some of the i unsettled portions though meagre in size seemed as though they would make tle I ligh ful homes for those engaged in pa oral pursuits as the stock range is un limited To the aortheast lies Lon N alley which is conceded to be the largest and most picturesque valley in I Idaho but owing to the extreme depth of snow m winter and frosty nights in I summer it has never been settled although several attempts have been made in that direction and it is more i than likely that it never will be unless D 1 the climate changes It seems a pity I that a valley seventy miles in length and of an average width of ten miles wmth4 excellent soil and natural meadows oh excelent d b hundreds of acres cannot be utilized r either the farmer or stock raiser I RIG PAYETTE LAKE Is situated at the north end of Long Valley and is well known a the haunt of the redfish a species of salmon which inhabit its speces in countless I numbers During the spawning season they are so numerous in the small streams that run into the lake that tthey can be easily killed with clubs or stones The lake is about eight miles in length by one to four miles in width has a dense growth of tamarac red fir and black pine along its borders and is the source of the North I Fork of the Payette river That section I is considered one of the finest game runs in Idaho a veritable paradise in rus factthere being deer bear antelope geese ducks grouse prairie chickens sage hens and an occasional band of elk On the main ridges or back bone of the mountains where the sides of the mountains were too abrupt for deer to travel I saw where they had worn trails into the solid rock over 1 foot in depth by large herds constantly passing over hem One evening I was sitting near a deer trail upon a very sharp ridge making mak-ing a rough map of the country and was so absorbed in my task that I did not notice a herd of deer approaching until they were almost within reach of my land when to my astonishment those in he rear not knowing I was there began ighting those ahead of them and there being > no possible chancy to retreat forced those in the lead to spring p tst mo giving a shrill whistle as they wehh We had camped that day at A DESERTED INDIAN VILLAGE Numbering about twenty lodges situated situa-ted in a black pine park carpeted with pinegrass and dwarf huckleberry bushes and nearly enclosed by limestone walls The following morning a doe and three fawns came into our camp just after daylight day-light and stood looking at us as we lay in bed They did not seem to care for up in the least and sped across theipark and into the canyon beyond without any perceptible signs of fear We never killed any of them unless we wanted the meat though we often saw dozens of them during the dayv That camp pleasedus so well that we stayed therethree days and had fine catchingiimountain tjout from a large stream tn flowed through the canyon Immense flocks of them the-m J fa lbvfowtrknown asWue grouse onihundredHxrftHemjn a flock flew upgn the topmost branches of trees or ran off and hid in the grass a we approached ap-proached There were also numbers of a smaller variety sllb1ing the pheasant which arecalled fool hgns They have received tat name from their not having the least conception of danger being easily killed with a stick in the hand Should you find a hen with a brood of chickens you can 1tch them vjrlthoour hands and the hetf will s om andfy at your legs like a domestic hen in t card c-ard They are handsome little things the male being black speckled with white and brown with a red head the female is i dark blue with black white and brown specks I have not seen them anywhere outside of a higlvmouniinous country Their food consists of pine icedles fir buds and huckleberries j and is man encroaches upon their forest home they retreat farther into the rocky vilderness Grouse are more common much larger and wilder and are not dis iniruished by any blending of rare colors Ou > TIMER |