Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1866-09-13
The Gazette &Gnmet
The Niagara of the West.
THE GREAT sHosHoNEE FALLS

THE GREAT sHosHONEE FALLS. 2ii
[From the Salt Lake (Union) vidette, May 8i.1 >
Away in the wilds Of Idaho, mid ~
way between Salt Lake and Oregon, e 3
the air is laundering and the earth
is rent by cataract as imposing as
Niagara. Situate on the sagebrush 4
plains, which calmly sleep between 4
the Rocky Mountains and the Cas- 9
cade Range, and are alike unten-
anted by Ceres or the god Of gold.
the Great Shoshonee is a world
wonder which for savage scenery 10
and power sublime stands unrivaled !
in America. AS tourists tell, the
cataracts of Southern Asia and the
Falls of the fair Rhine; the Vic
toria Falls, of Zambezi, Africa, as
explored by Livingston, and the =
Falls of Staubach, Switzerland, as
immortalized in Byron's Manfred,
may each have special charms which "
won celebrity for special points; but
as whole, for wildness and for
witchery, for width and volume, this /,
Niagara Of the West" will stand
second to none of all. These falls of
the Snake or Lewis Fork Of the
Columbia, have been but a couple OF
years discovered, and have been ,
seen as yet by scarce as many scores r
of white men; but before few more
years, with steam communication
stretching from Salt Lake to the
Columbia, their shrine is destined to q
have its thousands Of worshipers and
sight-seers every season, from the
travel across the continent, idaho, or /.
the "Gem of the Mountains" which
contains in one of its counties
(Owyhee) perhaps the richest gold !
and silver mines in the Great West,
has been described by ready writers
often in the past few years, but it
would seem that "quartz on the
brain" prevented all Of them, except
Mr.. A. d. Richardson, from even
making mention of the most magnifi-
cent phenomenon to be seen on the
western slope of North America, the
"Great Shoshonee Falls" This ma
iestic masterpiece of natures en-
gineering lies few miles off from
/, the overland stage route running
northwesterly between Salt Lake
and Boise cities, and half way (or
u about 200 miles) from those said
capitals of Idaho and Utah. North
of it and distant fifty miles, though
seeming closely near, the Salmon
Ut River Mountains show their shining
peaks, gray with the cares of count
!, less ages. East and west of it, as
le far as eye can see, the sagebrush
prairie loads the desert air with it's
wild perfume. Southerly, the Great
Salt Lake hundred miles away, is
2 hidden by the Goose Creek Noun
tains, whose water partnership with
p the earth and clouds has caused
them to believe themselves such
Titans that they as
swear their caps OF snow
ofI In very presence Of the regal SUM-"
But here we must make note
: how singular the fact-to the shame
of the American exploration be
it added--that neither Lewis and
Clarke, in their travelings through
8, this country sixty years since, nool
Fremont, Stephens, aud certain 9th
ers of later years, not to speak o.
the emigrants of Oregon and Cali
. fornia from 1S47 to 1853, die
> not discover-even accidentally
this Western queen of cataracts
3. This honor seems to have rested Ii
reserve for parties of the 1st Oregon
cavalry, commanded respectively BY
Col. Steinburger, 1st Washington
Territory infantry, Major Truax'
and Capt. Drake, 1st Oregon cav
airy, while scouting after Indians il
the summer of 1863, through thil
section of Idaho, ON the mail roat
:, between Salt Lake and Boise Basin
70 and at a point about a hundred
miles southwest of old Fort Hall.
Descriptions of this magnlhcen
nv double cataract of the West, which
IR. will in future rank among the grand
est in the world, have appeared from
~, time to time.
est est The river, about two hundred yard
in width, coming slowly from thu
;. southeast, overtowered by perpen
= dicular walls of basaltic rock, owe
eight hundred feet high, suddenly
IN, expands into basin of twice iti
width, and is there divided into 1
half dozen streams, by dark looking
or, or, rocks who raise their gloomy crest'