Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1870-11-11

terS, within Kissing distance, 1Of &C.
centric drops would fall upon us.
Here we could look up into the
foaming, furious jaws of the cata-
ract, from whence would shoot out
fierce, crested tongues, rs j. III wra,h
aimed to consume the beh a.r
The view at first is almost tcrrify.
ing, and makes ones knees
knock together in conscious impo-
tcncc. But these watery arrows,
seemingly shot at the bcholdcr, by
a graceful curve bend beneath his
feet to he quenched upon the stony
buckler of the rivers bed. Human
ingenuity could not suggest a better
point of view than is here presented
to gather in at once the beauty, mai
csty and power of all the parts of n
waterfall. The volume of the waters
is great, not equal to Niagara, but
apparently equal To those of the
Missouri at the Great Falls, as |
saw them in October, 1865. The
water is rs clear as crystal, with Il
light tinge of green at some points
OF observation. Below the upper
falls the basin is very wide, and the
river spreads out so that it appears
quite shallow; large, dark, smoo h
hMllcrs cover its bottom, and on
the west side, especially, the hank
is very rocky and hroken; still |
,hink these falls might be approach
cd from helow-none Of us attempt
ed it. Much grander, of course,
but not more beautiful are the Great
Falls letow. Between the two tal =
the river flows quietly IN wide
channel, until the west bank again
protrates mou tain, as il havin
repen,ed of its irrcsolu ION before
Here, as at the upper falls, the ro,k
sides rise perpendicular from the
brink Of the falls, though the ro.k s
formation is more shelly and Of 81
ligit ter yellow tingc about the l.
,aiiS, and can out think that, II;
coming centuries, the force Of the
licrs viii wear away the interv.ii
between the two falls and unite bo,h
in ne. Miles OF thi, canyon below
| has doubtless been thus worn oui
and transported to the Gulf Of Mex
leo. In spite Of the loo>er character
of rock the lower falls are more per
feet in all parts. The plunge OF the
waters is in the direct course OF the
stream; the gateway is wider and
the water on the brink of nearly uni
form depth. If anything it is some
what deeper on the east side. But
from this nearly horizontal shelf.
withou. a break, the united volume
clears its bed at a bound. In an in
slant its clear, greenish mass is
transformed in mid ar to thousands
of jets, shaped like arrow heads, OF
like comet with nucleus and trail
ing coma, following i'll constant sue
| ccssion, and gathered into five rath-
cr prominent and distinct ridges, all
of silvcry whitencss. INTERVENING
with thiS siiyery sheen the golden
Sunbeams weave bow wrcath> OF
rare and radicnt beauty. The basin
below the falls is apparently chiScl-
cd bv watcry hands in regular,
smoothly carved surface from solid
rock. Th4re is no place for the ap-
proach of human footsteps within
the rim of this basin. Along Its
smooth, steep sides are numhcrlcs>
secondary cascades, formed by the
condensation OF spray rom the dis
sipatcd waters. So profound is this
! chasm that the roar Of the water is
stincd, and no sound is perccptible
ut Il little distance back Of the can
yon. The upper level is generally
covered with thick pine timber to
the edge Of the chasm, though at Il
little further distance on the west is
open country, rolling and covegel
with sage brush. Still further back,
about three miles from the river, Is
a pretty meadow, with clear stream
a nice place as we found to camp.
The east side is much more open,
with only small, occasional groves.
The sides Of the canyon from lmmc-
diateIy below the Great Falls are
almost perpendicular for the most
part. In some places lateral "a
vines cut down through these per-
pendicular sides, and render it pos
siblc, bv great care and difficulty to
reach the waters edge. These
sides rise TO the hei yht OF 100 fec
above the river below the falls,
growing higher below from the rap
! id fall OF the river, and where this
canyon cuts through the highest
part OF the mountains, | have no
doubt that the almost perpendicular
sides will stand ,, 50p feet, perhaps
more, above ,he river. One noun
taineer told us that he had approach
cd the river at one point where the
bank was mile above tnc river.
The sides of this canyon are beau
tiiui and grand beyond description.
The general co,or is yellow, an
shows how the river came by It's
name, but in parts this color chan.
cs to Il dazzling white, in others t"
Il bright red, while the river shrinks
to Il crooked thread in the vast
abyss, its general color Of green al
tcrnating with white ut the falls and
rapids. Many Il Dol cliff pro ud 5
from the b.u., banks, ailordIng mag
niIiccnt uoints to view the fails and
the dizzy depths of the canyon. TO
all those points were well worn
paths OF the mountain sheep, and rs
there was no hcrbagc o. any kind
to tempt their adventurous steps, /
concluded these peculiar animals
must be gifted with strong sens
of the sublime and beautiful, which
they come here to indul &c. For my
own part | must confess to an un-
comfortable shrinking and shaking
of limbs that forbade all approach
to the verge of these points except
by crawling at full length extended.
| could thus trust the weight Of my
body to hold my giddy head.
stayed for hours on these points, al
most an entire day, trying to inure
myself to the sights, so as to over
come this feeling Of terror that so
interrupted the enjoyment of the