The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1888-03-01
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that its transparency marks a course
in TIE bosom of the greater stream of
which it has become a part. In the
center of the spring the water bubbles
at least foot above the surface, and
through the whole basin the the water
is filled with fern-like grasses, prismat-
ic in color, the whole making a scene of
rare beauty. Platforms have been
built from rock to rock and afford the
visitor a ine chance to watch the way
ing ferns and ponder over the wonders
OF creation. The spring never freezes,
out the rising mist has put an icy gar
ment upon tree and rock.
We now reach what Lewis and Clark
termed "One of the most beautiful OBJ
lects IN nature" Descending the cliff
by the irregular natural steps and solid
artlHclal helps, we come to the river
side and stand upon the brink of a
roaming cauldrOn and gaze upward at
the river leaping fifty feet at a single
Oound-the whole edge so even and
symmetrical that the water is feathery
and gossamer like, as a bridal veil,
melting away in foam and sending a
mist Sky-Ward, which catching the sun
shine makes the rainbow from which
the fall has its name.
A short distance from this scene of
rare and dreamy beauty the river, in
seeming effort to make startling CON
trasts, tumbles over a most irregular
and Jagged ledge of rocks, and well de
serves the name of Crooked Falls. The
three falls Just passed can all be seen
a million horse pOWer-from one eleva-
ton. The walls of the river are so
steep and high that the roar is mufiied
and hemmed in.
The river now flows on quietly and
smoothly, dropping over few cascades
and rapids preparatory to the dizzy
plunge of ninety feet at the Great falls,
where for 300 feet from the south shore
the water descends in an event sheet,
while the remainder to the other shore
passes by rapid current over shelving
rocks into cascades, broken into spray
and foam and spOuting columns by the
projecting points, while in the rising
mist the sun impresseS all the cOlOrs of
the rainbow. After Niagara this is the
greatest cataract in America. Here as
at the other falls the cold has put a
coating of ice on all surrounding
objects.
Within POO yards of the Great fail is
the White sulphur spring, where a
member of the Lewis and Clarke party
found much relief during dangerous
illness. A large volume of water is
thrown out and goes to the river over 4
precipice of thirty feet. The water is
full of gas and after being enclosed in
bottles becomes very efteryescent on
exposure.
The wonders of this locality are not
all in this remarkable series of falls.
Nature has thrown up maryels and
fantastic forms thrOugout all the
region. Passing south through the
coal fields of the Belt mountains. the
visitor can see a natural bridge, of two
arches, by the side of which the one
made historic by Washington is toy.
And near by are natural shafts. hun
dreds of feet deep and perfectly circu-
| lar, the origin of which is unknown.
with caYes in the hillsides, while all
around the winds and rains have cary
ed the rocks into shapes as strange as
any in the Garden of the Gods in Col
OraGO.
For more than hundred miles the
Missouri river presents features ofwild-
ness and beauty in striking contrast
with the meanderings of the muddy
stream through the prairie states. Be
fore reaching the canon of the falls the
water, clear and moves with a gentle
current, bordered to its edges with
meadow lands, while off in the distance
on either side the rocks rise in rugged
front, eliminating in the Bears Tooth
of the Atlantic canon. Ten miles now
of smooth travel, when suddenly the
mountains tower above us, the river
narrOws to 300 feet and passes into the
Gate of the Mountain" For five miles
now the walls of this granite throat
rise often to height of 1900 feet. and
scant foot hold for man or beast is
found in all the terrible cash, turreted
and pinacled so high that the light of
heaven is almost excluded.
To the west is the notable canon of
the Prickly Pear river, through which
the Manitoba railroad runs, and
wagon road of a few miles, which cost
$4,000 to build. The Prickly Pear
joins the Missouri few miles from the
"Gate of the Mountain" From tbe
Gate to the Three Forks, where the
MadisonAGallatin and Jefferson rivers
unite and form the source of the
Missouri, the scenery includes ali
varieties of dizzy, rocky barriers and of
peaceful wales that smile among the
loWlands, Moses FOLSOM.