The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1888-03-24
The Pictured Rocks of Lake
Siiioeriof


On the Southern shore of LAKE Sd:
perior and some seventy miles west OF
Whitefish Point and i short distance
east OF Muntsing are the famous pic
tured rocks These may be described
as series Of sandstone bluffs. rising
in many places abruptly edt 81 the
water to height varying from fifty to
TWO hundred feet Two features inn
part to the scenery its remarkable APP
.pearance; the one. the strange style Of
the cliff excavations. worn away by the
action Of the lake. and the other the
gu te as strange way in which large
portions OF the surface hate been col:
ored by bahds III brilliant coiofs. To
The first is to be ascribed the name
Giles Portails"} given ID the rocks by
the French to5ageiifss and I'd ths fiiany
h6es which the series Of bluffs hold SO
boldly is TO be traced the Amer can
name of Pictured Rocks. 1t is not
now known when this term was first
appl ed to them. The denuding effects
OF the water upon these cliffs are
shown for distance 6f about five miles
along the shore. There is no beach,
the cliffs rising vertically out of the
water. In visiting the rocks two
ways are taken; by passing them in a
steamer. and in taking boat at some
OF this nearest points, as Muntsing;
Tie steamefs run near enough in good
weather for tourists to obtain a pass
ing view. In going from east to west
we notice few of the most important
objects. The chapel is a vaulted apart
ment in The roekl thirty or forty feet
above The lake level; an arched roof OF
sandstone rests on four columns of
rock so as to leave an apartment about
forty feet in diameter and the
same in length; within are pull
pit aid altar: West; d short distance vi
tile chapel IS the Chapel river. which
falls over d rocky ledge fifteen feet high
into the lake. The Grand Portal Is the
most imposing feature of the series.
1t is 100 feet high by 1873 broad at the
water level. and the cliff it is cut in
rises above the arch, making the whole
height 1873 feet: The great cave. EN-
tered Though tile portal, extends back
In the Simple of tatilted ROOM The
afches of the roof built of yellow lime
stone. and the sides fretted into fantas-
tic shapes by storm-driven waves.
About n mile west is Sail Rock, group
Of detached rocks, which bear reseiii.
blahco tp the tiiaihsa | and jiB Of u sloop;
The Height of this is about forty feet.
NJ ner's Castle. five miles west of the
chapel, and just west of Miners river.
is the western end of the Pictured
Rocks, and resembles nm old turtetBl
castle with an arched portal ;tho height
of the advanced mass in which the
Gothic gateway may be recognized is
seventy feet, and the height of the
main wall form ng the BACKGROUND Is
lac fest III regard to another part of
the Pictured Rocks, a writer says:
In one place there stands majest-
ic profile looking towards the norlh-a
face, the Empress Of Lakes.
It is the pleasure Of her royal ligliness
o visit The rock only by night. Diana
of the New World. In the daytime
search in va n; she will not reveal her
self; but when the low down moon
shines across the water, behold, she APP
pearsi She looks to the north. not sad
"; not stsriiy; like the Old Man of tie
White Mountains. but ben On of aspect
and so beautiful in her rounded wom-
anly curves, that the late watcher falls
into the dream of Endymion; but when
he wakes in the gray down he finds
her gone, and only a shApeless rock
glistens in The rays Of the rising sdtt F"
Boston TYakscri i.