Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-09-05
THOUSAND ISLANDS.
LOTUS LAND.

l
have found Lotus Land at lsst-the
land of dreamy fOrgetfulness of all the toll
and turmoil and multiplied cares of the
great bustling world, between whose shores
we float and sing, fish and sleep, amid the
wondrOus beauties of this vast archlpela-
go. We forget, among the islands. the
| fretting incidents, the crushing burdens OF
Yesterday; family the thought comes to US
as we write, perched on a jutting rock, at
whose foot the green st. Lawrence waters
gently break, that once We knew other men
and other scenes-almost we have TO pinch
ourselves to realize that there are loved
ones waiting our return, business that will
soon be crying for our care, vulgar dollars
and cents to be cOunted-or scrambled for.
Every day is a separate age; every moment
is tull of calm, delicious Testfulness; every
scene brings new and varied beauties to our
delighted eyes, and every one Of you, dear
readers, will accuse of hyperbOle every mar
rator Of the simple truth concerning these
islands until you have been here and seen
and felt for yourselves.
Many tourists rush through in tue Amer
ican style on q big steamer, drop the morn
ing paper or latest novel just long enough
to glance over the rail at vista of channel
or a coy island home, and think they have
seen the Thousand Islands; just as we
spend fifteen mortal minutes in ''dOing"
the Louvre, or St. Peters or the galleries
at Milan. But whoever does that here
tramples under giddy Of not swine's) foot
the richest pearls which Omnipotenee ever
polished to throw at the feet Of man.
confess to a disappointment in my first
view from the deck of the mail steamer
from Clayton. She rushed along the main
channel past points and coves and islands,
large and small, but too distant to display
their wild and varied beauty. A cold
storm was coming on and / stood shivering
in an overcoat and erosslegged to keep my
knees warm at noon, while the noon before
had trod the hot pavements OF Wall
street mOpping my reeking brows under
dog day skyl That weather was exception
al, however, and while it is never hot-to
us Gothamites-it has been generally about
like early June in New York.
To really know what the Thousand Isl
ands are you must come here for at least
week, put up at a good hotel, hire q boat
for the term of your stay, and then paddle,
paddle, paddle in and out these beautiful
coves and bays, across and through these
winding and rock-bound channels, and
visit island and promontory and cliff; you
must float slowly over this clearest Of all
water, and see the vast aquarium beneath
your keel, where four, six, eight feet down
through the green sparkling river is such
an underwater garden as your widest fan
cy never dared to picture on Gods foot
stool. The flora of the river bed is most
luxuriant and beautiful; now you look
down upon moses of a hundred rich Vari-
cites, now on ferns, again on grasses that
look like coral, and then on tall waving
weeds that reach up almost to the waters
surface and nod a welcome to your oar
blade Just above their heads. Among these
lovely gardens roam countless fish, and in
the high weeds hides the swift pickerel wait
ing the approach of timer fish at whom
he darts and makes a breakfast at one snap
of his wide Jaws. The diversity of scene
ry under water is only equalled by that of
the islands themselves. We have been out
every day for nearly two weeks and seen
something new every time.
THE MAGNIFICENT ARCHIPELAGO
Of the Thousand Islands stretches along
forty miles on the broad bosom of the st.
Lawrence River, which here has an aver
age width of four or FIVE miles. There are
by actual count 2,240 of the Islands, vary
ing in size from half an acre to nine miles
in length. In many places they lie so thick
that neither main shore is visible from the
middle of the river, and in very few places
are both shores in sight at once; the chan
nels are winding in and out between them
most fantastically. Fishing is good and
abundant. Pickerel are caught in i'm
mense numbers, and grace your table fresh
from the river every day. Wellesly Island
is nine miles long and two to four miles
wide, or almost as large as New York City.
At the upper end large tract has been
erected into a camp meeting ground, on
the Ocean Grove plan, and it is called
Thousand Island Park. Here the miserly
thrift Of the association has led them to
impose a contemplate entrance fee of fif-
teen cents. At the foot CT the island and
directly opposite Alexandria Bay lies West
minister Park, by far the best location in
the Thousand Islands. 1t is owned by
Presbyterian association and, like Thou
sand Island Park, excludes the liquor traf-
fic entirely, has no billiard or bar-room,
and thus ensures the absence of a certain
class whom quiet souls love to keep at
respectful distance.
Here is a good hotel-the Park House
kept by a courteous and obliging host, Mr..
R. F. Steele, where you can get board for
ten dollars week, and be under the watch |
full eye Of Kellogg. "Who's Kelloggp
Kellogg is a TarG GUis-a phenomenon |
in the hotel world-a being in daily danger |
of being captured by Barnum, for Kellogg |
is a courteous hotel clerk, and this 1 say |
with full sense of my responsibility to |
society for a proper use of English terms. |
Come in with cracked knee, wet jacket |
or an aching head, wake up in the night |
dreaming that you want something or any /
thing from postage stamp to a rare beef |
steak, and there stands the smiling and /
ubiquitous Kellogg, whose intuition has
anticipated every want and proved him the
man in the gap every time.
Westminster Park can be reached by
boat from Cape Vincent or Clayton to
Alexandria Bay, and thence by ferry. It
is laid out for an extensive park and many
cottages are already erected. 1t is only in
its second year and growing rapidly.
ALAKE WITHIN A RIVER,
And an island within an island are indeed
curious freaks of Mother Nature, but such
a phenomenon exists close to Westminster
Park, where you enter by a narrow chan
mel, girt by high cliffs, into the 'Lake of
tne Island" a lovely sheet Of water some
three miles long and nearly mile wide, in
which are a number of little islands: while
both shores of the lake have densely wooded
hills, interspersed at long intervals with
scrubby little farms. The fora of the bed
of this lake is lovely beyond description,
and is in plain view below your boat over
almost its entire length, so that you are
sailing upon magnificent aqua
rum of miles in extent, whose led has
rarer and more luXuriant combinations Of
beauty than any ever constructed by the
hand of man. Think of such a sightl
Breathes there a man with soul so dead
that it would not burst into enthusiasm
over such an experience? But 1 am not
half through-nay, not hundredth part