The Shasta courier., 1872-08-10

Goose LAKE "A correspondent of the
san Frsnciscs Bulletin. writing from Goose
Lake. gives, an interesting account Of the
features of that section of country. The
climate is described as healthful. and much
very good land is still uuoccupied All
common vegetables grow in great perfec.
ton. This year there will be wheat enough
grown for the consumption of settler. -
Over orc. hundred families now reside in
Goose Lake Valley. All the settlements
are on the east side of the lake. for the rea.
son that people have taken up the FIRST land
they ea.De to- and wished to settle near to.
ecther. The surrounding hills are fertile
and less subject to frost than the valley
Mosquitoes are intolersbly bad. Black
crickets are found in considerable numbers
though they have not yet proved destruc
tive to crops The lake itself is partly in
Oregon nd Califo MIA and Is thus describ.
ed:
This is really great inland sea, fifty
miles long and twenty wide. Standing at
the upper end I could not see the shore a,
lower end on clear day. Beneath cloudy
sky the water has singular reddish or
chocolate reflection. as if il were alkaline
but it is not, though it is very little salty
so that cattle prefer it to the purest and
coolest water running out of the mountains
1t yields an abu, dance OF fish called
trout, weighing from one to ten pounds
which is pronounced very deicious-though
judging from the specimens have eaten
here in the eboarding-house at Willow Ranch
it is only moderately good Though Goose
Lake receives many mountain streams
some of theL very respectable creeks-the
water all evaporates or sinks, though it has
risen number Of feet within fifteen years
past A few miles south of Willow Ranch
there is bold bluff or promontry project
ing into the Lake to the east side, and in
1854 the enigrants passed arouno this on
the beach and carved their names on a
smooth rock beside the road but now the
water c3vers road, rocks and names, and
teams are compelled to make an ascent of
about 1000 feet in going over the bluff.
The upper end of the lake is lined with
tuIes and flags. so that the water never roars.
though the billows sometimes beat in al
most as heavy as IN the Pacific; but along
II great portion of the south en- there is a
pretty clean gravel beach. In late Autumn
and early Spring there are Thousands OF
wild geese and ducks on the lake, while the
sand hill cranes and curlews remain all sum-
mer The latter are now rearing their
young in the broad swamps around the mar
:. ! ~ . ha
trudes head in great numbers.
Thos. " C.lvin relates the following
sin. ular fact of Goose Lake: 1t usually
freezes over. (though last winter it did mott
and sometimes the ice is strong enough to
bear horse all the way across. There are
a number of warm springs which bubble mp
along tn, middle of the lake, keeping open
each an air hole in the ice. A year ago
last winter, and, in fact. every winter when
the lake was frozen over, there was curl
GUS rumbling sound occasionally heard by
the settlers living nearest the lake, which
would begin at one end and slowly travel
down the lax !, sounding like the distant
roaring OF a train of cars Some thought
the rumbling was caused by fish, others by
q cracking of the ice but the wisest were
willing to Acknowledge their Inability to
explain the phenomenon Mr.. Colvin and
one of his ueighbo,s went out on the ice
with a fence rail, AMI, lying down across ii
for greater safety, crawlcd out to one OF
these air holes made by warm spring un.
til they could feel the edge of the ice, and
to their surprise, instead of finding that
the ice thinned off gradually to the hole, il
was two or three inches thick on the edge