Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-01-23

q anus Aunorooo OF Feet High
" Rocky Isle Alive with Rattlesnakes
n A Sailors Attempt to Scale the Pyr
r mid.
= From the Nevada Enterprise
!. Pyramid Lake is nearly forty miles
e length by from fifteen TO twenty
, width. It is but 1000 feet above Il
s level of the sea, while Lake Tahoe
e 6,2l6 feet above the sea level. It co
l tains many islands, several of whic
near the middle of it, rise to the heigl
of some hundreds of feet, and a
pyramidal in form and light gray
color. One tall spirc, seen far down
, the northward, where the lake seen
T shoreless, Is perfectly white. A lafy
J island, probably the largest, contain
: five or six square miles of comparativel
level ground, and is covered with veg,
tation. Upon this island number {
goats were turned loose some years sine,
and they have increased al wonderful
rate, 50 that they may now be seen feed
ing upon every hill. They need no care
winter or summer, and are about as will
as the goats found by Robinson Cruso
on the island of Juan Fernandez. Th
lake is of immense depth. 1t is said tha
near the center 600 fathoms of lin,
failed to find bottom. The waters o
the lake are brackish, except immedi
ately about the point where the water.
of the Truckee river flow into it.
Owing to the brackishness of its waters
to its great depth, or to both, the LAKE
never freezes
| Although the lake is generally very
rough, owing to its being exposed t.
sweeping westerly winds, the Piute In
dians fearlessly navigate it in all direc
tions and almost at all times on theil
tule RATS. These RATS are often nothing
more than q single bundle of tule; but
when the raft is intended to accommo.
date more than one person, two or three
bundles are lashed together and drawn
into the shape of clumsy boat. Near
shore they generally pole these craft
about, but they frequently hoist sail
made of blanket and fearlessly steer
away so far out upon the lake that only
their sail remains visible. These tule
boats very closely resemble the catama-
rams used by the natives of some of the
islands of the South Pacific. They are
80 buoyant that is impossible to sink
them. Far out in the lake among the
islands they sci their long lines, strung
full of hooks. These tney visit on their
RATS, and sometimes bring in not less
than three hundred pounds of trout at
one trip. The trout are sold at ten cents
pound at the lake; therefore it will be
readily seen that fishing is profitable
business. -
At the north, or lower end of the lake,
are dozen or more islands of rock Of
peculiar and picturesque form. These
are of solid rock, and are from three to
four hundred feet in height. At Il dis
tance they look like monster mushrooms
or eggs standing on stems, such eggs ss
might have been produced by the roc,
that bird of ancient times, one wing of
which, according to Ibn- FL Wardee, was
ten thousand fathoms long.
1t is impossible to climb these rocks,
as, while their stems form perpendicular
wall, it is beyond the power Of man to
ascend those parts where they begin to
swell out in domes. Mr.. Stiles says he
has sounded the lake at the base of these
fantastic islands, and, with the longest
line at his command, was unable to find
the bottom.
One uf the largest of these islands, the
tall white one seen from toward the head
of the lake, is not wholly perpendicular
on all sides. On one of its sides there is
steep slope which it is thought might
be scaled in some way. A story is cur
rent at the lake that John G. Fremont,
the great pathfinder" found path to
the top of this rock. 1t is believed that
he left his field glasses and some other
instruments of value on the summit of
the rock, and many attempts have been
made to climb it in order to secure these
articles.
The last attempt to sea the pyramid
was by a sailor, who nsed long rope,
throwing it upward till it caught upon .
projecting point of rock, then drawing
himself up and again throwing his rope
to rock above. He reached height of
about $50 feet, when he was unable to
find any more projections over which to
throw his rope, and came near never
reaching level ground alive. He was
Obliged TO descend in the same way as he
effected the ascent, and when he finally
got down he was completely exhausted !;
his hands were bleeding, and he was Gu
and scratched from head to foot. The
fishermen have now concluded that the
only way in which the field glasses and
other plunder can be secured is by
attaching line to rock and then firing
it over the top of the pyramid from .
mortar.
One of the small rocky islands of the
lake is alive with rattlesnakes It is
supposed that the first of the stock were
waited to the island on raft Of tules or
driftwood. Doc. Wood, who has visited
the island, says !" there's millions in il. !"
rocks, and live on the eggs and young OF
waterfowl, and upon the dead fish that
are cast ashore ON the island. Mr.. Wood
says that the stories that have been told
of the snakes rushing in a body, kissing
and rattling, to attack any man landing
on the island is untrue. He found thai
whenever they were disturbed they ran
away and concealed themselves in the
crevices of the rocks just as would have
been done by any other snakes.
@-------------
Webster and HAyns.