St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-11-02
A Trip Around Lake willoughby
BARTON, W., July, 1877.

mornings of the season, mountain
coach started from the Crystal Lake
House with party of thirteen ladies
and gentlemen, to view what has been
well pronounced Zone of the most re-
markable places on the continent" The
lake, and the grand mountain cliffs
which enclose it, lie to the southeast of
Barton, beyond a mountain ridge,
which must be crossed to reach it. This
is easily done by good road of not ex-
cessively steep grades, leading through
numerous openings in the forest, which
are coming under cultivation as valu-
able farms. Some of the houses are
rough in construction, now and then
log house adding picturesqueness to the
way. AS we ride along, our careful
driver reins up his horses at our bidding
blooming waysides or to take views of
the panorama of hills and mountains
constantly coming into sight. Many of
the new houses in the openings, short
time ago forest ground, are rough in
exterior, but the crops are of luxurious
growth, and poverty must be stranger
here.
An hour and a-half brings us to the
northern point of the lake, WillOughby,
and the grand mountain gorge which
encloses it soon opens to the view. To
the east is the sublime precipice, known
as Mt. Pisgar, rising 2,300 feet above
the surface of the lake. On the west
rises the counterpart of this, Mt. HOr,
almost perpendicularly to the lake, and
nearly of the same height. 1t appears
as though the two cliffs which now en-
close the lake, were once united, form
ing a continuous mountain ridge, but
by some tremendous cOnvulsiOn it was
rent asunder, the beautiful lake now
bathing the cliffs filling the bottom of
the opening. The apparent matching
of the two sides as they face each other,
seems to favor this theory. Another
theory of this singular formation is,
that the space between the cliffs, half
mile apart at the narrowest point, was
once filed by rock of softer character
than that which remains,-an enormous
vein, perhaps, containing large pro-
portion of pyrites, by the chemical aid
of which the mass became disintegrated
and washed away, leaving the harder
enclosing walls much as they now ap-
pear. Although not satisfied with
either theory concerning this wonderful
feature, we shall by no means presume
to offer further explanation of our own.
On the west side of the lake good
carriage road has been made by work
ing through the debris which has, for
centuries, been breaking off from the
cliff The ride is delightful, Overarch-
ing trees forming deep shade, and
hiding the cliffs till, suddenly, at an
opening, the dizzy craig bursts upon
the sight, ten times the height of Bun
ker Hill monument, almost overhead
We shudder as we gaze, and are lost in
wonder as, slowly proceeding, we get
new views of this mighty work of God.
On our right, within the toss of a peb-
BILE, in the repose of quiet slumber, lies
the silvery lake, its depth almost equal
ing the height of the cliffs which guard
it. A little steamer is skipping about
on its surface, its shrill whistle echoing
with oft-repeated reverberations from
face to face of the rock, as though in
stinct with life.
We stop at beautiful arbor in the
wayside wood, where picnics are often
spread, and the ladies come down from
the contemplation of the lofty heights
to the preparation of a spread of every
day goodies. How often we are re-
minded of our mortal bodies with theil
never-ending wants, even when we
seem almost translated beyond earthly
spheres.
At the foot of the cliffs has beer
gathering a great quantity of debris
over which it is possible for goOC
climbers to ascend to the vertical face
of the rock. Five gentlemen of tht
party started for the ascent, one jolly
fat man from Providence giving out af
ter a short trial. His "arm"-was-
"strong,n but his legs were weak, o.
else the attractions at the arbor-sand
wiches and tarts-were more enchant
ing than the "Garden of Eden" towards
which we were climbing. Up thou
sand feet, over huge fragments of rock
and fallen trees, and we could go NJ
farther. A sheer precipice for 1,2O|
feet fairly over-hanging us And here
amid all this grandeur of rock, is gar
den indeed. Plants, not found else
where for many miles, grow in luxuri
, ance. This little spot, like the famou
natural garden amid the ice-fields o
the Alps, is the wonder of all and tn
delight of botanists. The sun is re
! flected in such way here as to Civ
, the warmth which is the secret of tbi
rare growth. Trees do not grow, TO
: the falling fragments of the cliffs woul
crush them but these humble plant
) do not mind the crushing weight, whic
, leaves them to go laundering down tn
pile below. We sent huge fragment
/ from their nicely poised resting places
| till the valley resounded with the tire
mendous crash of their wild tumble
. Once a half-ton rock, after a frightfr
bound, struck another huge piece, split
/ ing it as neatly as stone-mason coul
e do; but we came near paying dearl
a for our sport, for the cOncussion brOugf
2 lbits from overhead like hail stone
|. about us. 1t startled nest of eagle
e from their eyrie, and they added intel
t est to the scene by wildly screamin
O over our heads. Safe they were frol
a human hands, as the beautiful hart
V bells, that, hundreds of feet above OIL
O heads, looked down upon us with the
Il eyes of blue.
: At our feet, above, around, belo,
J. across the lake, to the wooded side an
J. summit of Mt. HOr, was a picture tt
\ grand. too beautiful, too full of intere
r for our pen to describe. We can b
~ touch it and bid others take it in the
i. journeyings, if so permitted.
IS Reluctantly we left this scene, al