Tama County Republican. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1867-1872, 1868-10-09
5 Z l. L G I III S CELL Ny
Discovery Of New aad Eeautiful
Tract OF Country.

| lht I1SIcna knlOnt9na) I'0t or An
gust 14th contains several columns
devoted to an account of an explor-
ing expedition under command of
Captain John T.. Mcclellan, along the
eastern base of the Rocky Mountains
from Sun River 10 the British line
Weprint the following extract describ-
Ing hitherto unknown tract of coun
try, remarkable for its natural beauty:
Extensive prospecting in the vicinity
OF St. Nary Lake yielded no golden
results Indeed we could hardly call
The unsuccessful accommodating par
ties that went cut from the man camp,
prospecting expeditions, for it had
ralned almost necessarily since the
gold seekers had first started, and the
streams were all SO swollen that It was
next to impossible to prosecute tie
search for the precious metal in prop
cr manner. Bus, although 10 gold
was discovered, there was opened a
new page in the book Of nature, a page
replete with beauty, and all the more
beautiful because never gazcd upon
by man, at least rot by civilized man.
before. Flowing into Belly River,
It the mouth OF st. Mary's Lakes, is a
stream rs large as sun River its banks
lined with groves Of cottonwood and
It's surroundings Of mountain and prai.
RE sa.li:;ent to cal forth cxciamstions
OF delight even tre.n A resident of Ar
caaia. Up this stream G plain Nc
C.ellan, with single companion, Eli
NJ. jones, proceeded for a distance of
sixty miles, over route where there
were 10 trails, and netting. IN indicate
tha, tllc Indians had visited il; iiae-
ing completed their explorat ons tl,us
far, and just Is they emerged irom a
wide valley, covered 70 a great extent
with timber ANA swamps, they Were
greeted with one of the most beautiful
pieces OF m untan scenery that Amer
lea can boast OF. The walls ola rocky
canyon rising Almost rerpendicu!arly
to height of one and two hundred
feet, guarded the river like castle
towers As it howcl between them,
while through tho gate which thus
seemed TO forbid passage to thc Eden
beyond, the two prospeetors saw, half
Z mile before them, !: succe sion oi'falls
and rapids rising to height OF 4 hund.
red and fifty feet. Passing through
the gate, Captain Mcclellan aud his
companion, led as !, were By cnchant
m n, aad a desire 10 III ,re closely n
speet the recently discovered bcauti,r,
and to explore the country beyond,
proceeded up the right bank Of the
river, to the foot Of the ialls. We can
not more briefly nor more accurately
give an idea OF. these new-iound curl
osities than by describing them as stone
steps. three in number, cut in the sol
i'll rock, aud earpeted with an ever
changing stream; pure As the SHOWS
above, from which as from 3 crystal
woot. the fingers Of the sun had woven
it. and beautiful rs it was pure. Upon
either side rocky banks still arose,
smooth ana water orn, TO = distance
from eight to ten feet, their SUBMITS
cushioned by thtckset groves OF pine
The falls were respectively, commenc-
in ! at the lower one, twenty five, thir
ty-.ive and forty feet i'll height, separa
ted from each other by gentle rapids
one hundred yards in length. The
width ofthe upper fall was about fifty
feet, and Of the lower ones about sew
enty-fve feet. But where did the wa
ter come from, and what was beyond?
A snowy conical peak raised its head
shove the fall as the gold hunters look
ed up to il. hut il seemed to lie ncs