The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1879-03-07

n
The "Rocks of Deer Creek" are the great
natural curiosity of Hartford county, Md
Who first discovered them? What was their
condition at the time of discovery? This
question may not be capable of satisfactory
answer A tradition of the distant and I'M
certain past is that the first white man who
visited that locality did not find it as it now is
Instead of the gorge, and the rocks, and the
river running at their base, there was an inn
pact rock ridge, holding against its gigantic
breast the waters of mighty lake. and throw
ing from its summit, three hundred feet in
height, the waters ofDeer Creek The physi-
cal features ofthe ridge andth characteristics
ofthe low lands for at least five miles above it
Justify the conjecture that the Evolutionary lake
and cataract are not myths In the absence
of certain historical information it may be al
lowable to accept the tradition as in accor-
dance substantially with the facts. Of the
name of the first discoverer we have no avail
able knowledge. If his name is recorded it
may be found in some musty volume of some
foreign library. There is a bare possibility
that some advcnturer, associated with the eX-
petition Ofthe celebrated Captain John Smith,
the founder of the colony of jamestown, Vir-
ginia, who in his exploration of the Chesa-
peake Bay and its tributaries, sailed as far as
the mouth of the Susquehanna river, may have
heard, on the arrival of the expedition at that
locality, of the wonders of the not distant will
derness-scarce q days jOurney-and that he
was the first civilized man who gazed upon
those wonderful exhibitions of nature 1t is
probable that to Jesuit father, who had pen
etrated the wilderness in the prosecution Ofhis
sacred mission, the honor ofdiscovery is due
These holy fathers were the earliest explor-
ers of our Western territories and inland
seas and rivers. They were the spiritual
guides and councillors of many of the North
American Indians, and in the furtherance of
their work rescued many wonder of nature
from the gloom of the primeval forest But
even though these conjectures be inadmissable
and we should be left TO the Judgment that at
the discovery of this continent by Columbus
in 1402 the Rocks and the Ridge were essen
TALLY what they are at the present time,
such a conviction does not destroy our faith
| in the existence of the lake and fall at some
more distant period in the past. The testi
mony of the ridge and valleys assure oul
belief We naturally regret that the pent
up waters of Deer Creek eXerted so soOI
| that resistless energy that Glove asundel
q mountain and reduced their volumes tC
the comparatively small stream of to-day
There is beauty in the sinuous Deer Creek
| UITeuulIlS us way DctWccH uDTupt WOOUet
hills and along fertile valleys; also sublimity
in the "Rocks" and rapids as they now are
but how much more of grandeur in the mighty
lake and the lofty cataract, rivalling the fall
of Montmorenci, or those of the Yosemt,
Valley.
An ancient bard, whose name is unknown
sang of the Rocks of Deer Creek
A bare and isolated rock,
On which no tuft of moss has ever grown;
| In front precipice descends far down,
| Where rapid river sweeps along.
Behind, nature has shaped an opening in the elf
| (Which looks with frowning brows upon the scene
To the resemblance of q lovely garden;
| There wild flowers bloom, and scent the evening
breeze;
There birds resort and MARBLE all day long;
| There l0oers meet and aghtsoer tales Of lore.
l have italicized the last line, and for tw
reasons; first, because it is as true of the pre-
sent as the past and second, because it recall
the legend of the Lake and the Rocks, whic
l learned in my youth, from the aged an
venerable hermit Of the Otter Rock.
There once lived on the northern border
of the lake, in the wigwam of her father,
noted chieftain in his day, an Indian Made
of exceeding beauty and rare fascination
This latter statement may be received wit
incredulity by those who have not had ii
opportunity of observing the North America
Indians in their natural state, removed frol
the contamination of civilization. The herm
assured me that it is nevertheless true, and
proceed in his own language to describe Il