The Arkansaw traveler., 1888-01-21
The Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior,

The Pictured Rocks of Lake Superior,
 Boston Transcript,
 On the southern shore oi Lake Su- perior and some seventy miles west oi l Whitefish Point and short distance Caa of Muntsing are the famous pie turN>l rocks. These may he described as series of sandstone bluffs, rising in many places abruptly out of the water to height varying from fily to two 1 hundrSd feet, Two features impart to the scenery its remarkable appearance ; the one, the strange style of the oliti excavations, worn away hy the action of tho lake, and the other the quite as strange way in which large portions of the surface have been colored hy bands of brilliant colorS. To the first | Is 10 be ascribed the name (sLes Per- tails'l given to tie rocks hV the French voyageurs, and to tho many hues which the series oi bluffs hold so boldly is to be traced the American name of Pictured Rocks. lt Is not now known when this term was first ap- piled to them. The denuding effects of the water upon these cliffs are shown for distance oi about i've miles along the shorc. There is no beach, the clltls rising vertically out of the water. In visiting the rocks two ways ar taken; hv passing them in steamer, and in taking boat at some of the nearest points, as Mun'. sing. The steamers run near enough In good weather for tourists to obtain a passing view. In going from eas, Ia west we notice few of the most im- portant objects, The chapel Is Il vaulted apartment In the rock, thirty or forty feet above the lake level; an archcd roof of sandstone rests on four columns of rock so us to leave an apart mcnt about forty feet in diameter and the same in length; within are pu'- pit and altar, West, a short distance of the chapel, is Chapel river, which falls over rocky ledge fifteen feet high into the lake. The Grand Portal is the most imposing feature of the series It k 100 feet high by It's broad at tho water level, and the cliil | it is cut in rises above the arch, mak- | ing tho whole height ls5 feet. The yrca, cave. entered through the portal, extends back in the shape ot n vaultcd room. the arches of ,he root built ol yellow limestone, md the sides trcttcd | into fantastic shapes by driven waves. About Il mile west k Sail l Rock. u group of detached rocks, which | bear resemblance to the mainsail and jib of sloop; the height of this k about forty feet Miners Castl', five miles west of the chapel. and just west ot Miners river. Is the western end oi old urrctod castle with an archcd portal; the height of the advanced mass In which the Gothic gateway may be recognized is seventy feet, and the height of the main wall forming ! the ba kground Is li6 feet In regard to another part of the Pictured Rocks a writer says:
 "ln one place there stands n majestic profile looking towards the north n wonan's face, the Empress of Lakes.
 It is the pleasure of her royal high ness to visit the rock only by night, n Diana of the New World, In the day 1 time search Is vain she will not re veal herself; but when the low down moon shines across the water, behold, she appears! She looks to the north, not sadly, not sternly, like the Old ] Man of the White Mountain. but be- nign of aspect. and so bcautiful in her rounded, womanly curves, that the late watcher falls into the dream of Endymion but when he wakes in the gray down ho finds her gone, and only shspelcss rock glI-tens In the rays oi the riaing sun"