The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-10-09
HALF-MOON CANON.
A Wonderful Region. Believed to Contain
Untold Wealth, but Which Every
body Fears to Explore.
lI.ea1yIilo ChronIcle.1

| hbuut Hti0NiU Illleb II0tH Inc famous VIII
| lnknA, which nre tho wonder OF thib continent
IN regard 10 scenery, md perhaps twenty-five
miles from the magic city OF Iendvilis, the
trnveler OH the road 10 tho new mining dis.
trlct surrounding Independence gulth COMES
tn clear, slnuouB little stream known ma
| llalf-Moon creek. IL tenrB down tbs elattlii
slope Of the great divide, through beds OF
SHOWS whose undGrmOst layer hns never felt
| The warm rays Of the sun, md over grassy
| plots whore fragrant and delicious ijOwtifs are
nufsed lii the mountain storms Follow It's
! courses downward mud It will lose itself In
Luke crenk, which feeds tho twins mentioned,
and by following IL IN perhaps IN hours ride
from where tho rohd strikes the creek, IL is
| lost sight Of In Hall. Moon cnnOn, through
whose overhanging pines and cliffs tho SURE
rays mover full to the shadowod waters.
The mouth OF tho canon IL burrel shaped,
and tho entrance over the lirst hundred ynrds
Ia nude by swinging from ono rock To an
other IN the strenm by means Of overhang-
Ing bDuHlis ana branches. At every stop the
sccno becomes moro enchanting, the luxufinut
under growth at times reaching NEARLY to
the Writer'S edge, and again quite shutting
out the view IL few rods to the front. The
enchanted explorer on coming To these plrtB
might readily believe that he had reached
the end. were IL not for the music OF the
wnters, which may be heard seemingly miles
away coursng down through tho Swallowed
cavern, all sound being thrown out through
tho canon to It's mouth. When In about tie
dlstance named the canon opens out twice
the CLIO of that portion OF IL now passed, ana
ON the right bank the Traveller comes to n
troll, which ends nj great boWder here, but |
Ii we'll defined az 1t reaches into the canoD, |
ne II made by the constant tread of an armed |
sentinel whose duty Ii might ha To halt oil I
intruders from below. In this break Ia tho
canon. aud for, perhaps another hundred |
yards, the trail has been followed by tho
god-seekor and hunts,nun, when both IRE
turned back through absolute fear Of what |
may be found beyond. The trail Is all we'll |
benten nj this point, az over ths part passed, |
but aEaia tho ptnos oyarhAng the canon, Tho |
stream wiasna, and tho traveller loses his |
determination 10 see further.
More than one man, processing greater |
courage titan those who had gone before. has |
gained this point, wondered nj what might be |
his steps, congratulating himself that he was |
allowed unmolested to return. SomeBay That |
Ii inhabited only by bcarsand mountain lions, |
and that tho beaten path has boon made by |
them TO the great boulder, where 1t ends, and |
that these wild beasts are now, and perhaps |
always have been, virtual prleoners within |
thaf own grounds.
A gentleman who has lately visited the |
wonderful and unknown canon was inter-
viewed by d reporter for the Chronicle. Like
perhaps Il hundred others. he went to see and |
perhaps discover the unknown beyond, but |
his heart failed him, and he WAS quite suits
fled to hear related the strange stories OF
those who had made bold enough to reach the |
point named. This gentlemen was told that /
miners had brought out quartz picked from |
Tie sides Of the canon, which contained more
gold than rock: that mnny Of them believed |
that It's walls were made of such stuff, yet no
one was bold enough to pass on TO ascertain
the truth, because Of tho stories told In re-
gard to the cauon. One OF these waS to the
effect that some years ago two prospeet0rs, |
lured on by what they had found up to the |
second wall spoken OF above passed on and |
never returned. Our Informant declares that
Ia Etlf cad