, 1889-08-22
SHORES OF CHELAN.
Terribly Scorched by the I'M
precedented Fires of
tho Forests.
Criminals Fleeing From the Sherid
Put the Torch to the
Woods.
Ilrom the senltlo post.1ntelllreneerl

IflOm tne Seultlc IOSt.lntclligencerl
MIR. Alfred Downing has Just returned
10 ihis cry from summer iaUut among
the lofty hills of Okuuogau county.
Leaving Seattle, Ellcnsburg was reached
by train. \ short ltago ride brought
him TO Rock Island Landing, ON the
swift Columbia, between which point
and the mouth Of the Okanogan
steamer plies. Mr.. Downing, who was
accompanied 10y u friend, disembarkcd
to Chelan Landing some twenty-five
miles below the Gkanogan. Lake Che
Ian IS distant four miles from the Col
umbla, and is reached by u
very bad wagon trail. The
walking is fairly good, At the
foot OF the lake Is n little community of
| hnli u doIon families and sawmill.
Here Will he built the city of Chclun,
which /, expected to be a hourishng
| place, the outlet of rich mines and the
| scat OF great numbering industry. Lake
| Chcldn runs in a northwcstpIly dircc-
| ton, having length of seventy miles
and an average width Of two miles, al
though at ono point u narrows to three
| quarters ut Il milc. The water j. very
! deep, and the shores rise pbruptly ram
the water atlording no opportunity for
q irail along The margin. Tho country
Is quilt OF granite, and the hills are well
timbcred to their submits. Parallel
with the lake trend spur, Of tho Cascade
mountains, rising 10 a height o. 1000
feet and more. Some snow yet fingers
in the pines of the peaks.
THE LONG MouNTAIH LAKE.
1--WE left the foot of the lake. said
Mr.. Downing, early in the morning
on q little steamer and reached its
| head ut 10 O'Clock ut night TIE scenery
| during the trip was magnificent. From
l the water back, as far as tho eye could
I reach, were piled the granite hills, iur-
| rowod by the action of water, Misty
| streams dashed down the walls. The
/ looking glass Of the lake bore OH its
l bosom the image Of the rocks and trees
I above. Hero and there little patch of
| level ground intcrvenod between the
/ hills, and u settler had built rough
| cabin beside running water. At the
I head of the lake rises mountain TO the
| height Of GsOO feet.
| THE srEHEKIH RIVER.
"Aniying Mt the upper end of Chelan,
we obtained pack horse and set out to
ascend the Stehckiu river, the main trib.
| tar! of the lake, which rises near the
/ summit of the Cascade range, and whose
/ hcadwaters are near those Of the Cascade
river, on the west side OF the watershed.
There is an old trail from Puget Sound
to the Columbia by following the Skagit
and its tributary, Cascade river, up to
| a high pass, and then descending the
| Stchekin and lake Chclan. | had been
ON the summit OF the pass in lSs2, with
a government survey party, having a..
! ccnded from the Methow, and now
! wanted To reach the same point from the
/ lake. ] had made Il sketch seven years
/ ago, from which was confident OF lUcat-
| ing the old Camp-grOuud.
/ "The Stchekin i!ows through q narrow
| gulch, from the Northwest, like tine lake.
| In 1882 Captain Pierce of the United
] l.
/ self, believing he had discovered new
/ waterway, but the war department re.
/ iectod the nomenclature. The timber
/ along tho stream is dense.
DRIVEN BACK BY FIRE.
1--WE started up the river on the % of
| August. Tho same day the whole
country burst into IL blaze. 1t seems
| that criminals fleeing from the sheriff
| put tue torch to the woods behind them
/ In their race up the Stehrkin aud across
into skagit county, to battle pursuit, and
the fire served them well. We marched
afoot live miles up the hot, smoky can
yon, hoping to get beyond the blaze
I Then our pack horse gave out, the hair
being singed from his legs and his feet
being burned. We turned back and
camped that night on II low bar near the
mouth of the river our horse being
| picketed on the wet sand to police his
burned feet.
Next day we packed our food and
blankets ON our backs and started afoot
up the trail The fired rourcd like
thunder and the air was sitting, Our
path lay among cinders, and oltcn we
were in danger from falling trees. BY
day we could see only a few feet ahead,
] but at might the view was grand and
terrible. The first night our camp mar
rowly escaped burning, and ut the
close of the next day We found we could
go no further, our shoes being badly
burned. We had travelled eighteen
miles and were then twenty-five miles
from the summit, from which point we
could have descended To the Skagit in
six days, SO we went back to tho lake.
TROUT AS BIG As SALMON.
"Therc we tished for day, in compa-
ny with three tourists The five of us
caught eighty pounds of spcCklcd trout.
The largest was twenty-five inches long
and the smallest weighed pound and a
half. We trullcd with spoon Just a.
we would for salmon in Seattle harbor.
We took !Cw specimens back with us
TO the steamboat landing, Ia show Cap
tain Gray how little he knew about the
country when he said there were no fish
i'm the lake. IN trolling from the Chclan
steamer we had no luck, securing only
clubs suckers and graYlings The lire
had driven all the land game fur bacl,
into the mountains, and the settlers are
rather anxious about their winter supply
OF meat. A hunter who had a cabin at
the head of the lake told me that he
would lose $500 which nc expected to
make this winter by killing bears, goats,
deer and other game. We saw only u
single mountain goat.
THE FLAMING Hills.
"When we descended the lake the fire
still ragged lliHously on all the shores,
leaping from hilltop to hilltop, and lick
ing up great trees as If they were but
straw. At night the heavens were red.
and billows OF flame tossed or both sides
ofus. The wind blew tiriously from
the north. How far the dcsolatiou eN-
tended | cannot say, but it seemed Ia
me that FROM August . to August 10.
when left the lake, the fire devoured
more timbcr-cedar, fir and pine-than
all the mills of Washington could cut in
Il year
at was dangerous to run too near the
shore in our boat for great boulclers OF
granite, detached from the parent rock
by the heat, rushed down the mountain
sides and plunged kissing into the bay,
Splashiug the water fifty feet high when
they iell.
oPEN TO ALI SQUARE MrS.
".A settler named Horton has cabin
at the head of Lake Chelan, and sign
hoard over the doorway reads thus
'Horton'S cabin the gateway to the
mines. Our door Is wide open to all
square men; all Others please take due
noticp As Horizons cabin resembles II
small ursncl inside, and being dead
shot, he would in all probability make
IL sultry for those who tried to jump his
claim. Some men broke into his cabin