Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1889-10-11
THE LOST BRACELET.

There is a remarkable story con-
nected with that bit of jewellery"
said gentleman recently to an Alta
reporter, who was examining with
some interest a much worn silver
bracelet, on which with much difficult
ty could be traced the letters
NOMAH, scratched evidently with a
knife. "The bracelet came into nv
possession, said the gentleman, Gin
peculiar manner, and if you don't
mind short story I'll tell you about
it."
The reporter, of course, was anxi-
Gus for the story, and the gentleman,
after lighting II cigar, went on with
his narrative: 81 suppose you know
that some time back l was for sew
eral years connected with the Column
bia river steamboats,, and so was
often thrown among old time steam
boat men, whose pioneer and legen-
Diary knowledge was most profound.
1.-The Columbia river is a magnifi-
cent body of water, and l doubt if
there is any grander scenery in the
world than that along the river
from The Dalles to the Pacific ocean.
1t is at the Cascades, however, that
the country is of the widest descrip-
ton and the mountains are dark with
the gloom of dense forests or rugged
with tremendous cliffs and frightful
preclplces. There iS traditio n
among the few struggling Indians
that one now sees along the river,
which is to the effect that many.
many years ago great arch of rock
spanned the river mt the Cascades
forming a natural bridge of stupen-
dous size. One day the two great
spirits living one on either side of the
river got into a desperate quarrel,
and in their mighty wrath and fury
they tore the bridge asunder, and in
It's fall it choked with huge blocks of
stone the current of the river, thus
forming the Cascades, around which
Uncle Sam is now building a series of
locks at enormous cost. Not only
was the bridge destroyed, but from the
mountain sides the angry spirits
clawed of masses of rock and stone
to hurl at each other. Strangely
enough, the mountains on each side
of the Columbia at the Cascades do
look as if they had been savagely
dealt with in some Titanic struggle,
ar it takes but little stretch of the
t,,,n riro fiA,, 70 Io1 Al.
ton is true so lar as the natural
bridge is concerned.
"But the bracelet" interposed the
reporter.
81 am comming to that, +" continued
the gentleman, as he brushed the
ashes from his cigar.
I'm the mountains around the Cas-.
cades there are numberless lakes I'M
surpassed in beauty, and many of
them that to this day no white man
has ever seen, so rough and terribly
wild is the country though which one
must travel to reach them. Some
OF these lakes are many acres in
extent, the heavy timber coming
right down to the edge of the water.
Clearer than the brightest diamond
tliab CNCl hltd UIlt WalpTS
these lakes. and of unfathomable
depth. In the hottest days of Aug
ust the water is almost at the freezing
point, and, as you can easily imag-
inc, the trout in the lakes are mag
nificent fighters, and take fly with
such savage earnestness that it
makes your blood bound through
your veins with excitement as your
reel whirrs to the first mad rush of
the sturdy fish Many an hour I've
fished in those lakes with halfbreed
boy to paddle my shallow dugout
noiselessly through the water. Curl
GUS. amt 1T, that those trout will
never take n fly unless the wind is
blowing down stream, and as for"-
Haven't heard anything about
the bracelet yet" interrupted the re-
porter.
CHATS so. Well, one day the wind
was blowing stiff down stream, and
as our steamboat was waiting to
tow up a barge loading with rail
road iron, Capt. kow suggested that
we go n fishing to a certain lake some
miles back in the wooks. We knew
that no one had fished there for sew
eral Indians had in bravado gone to
the lake to fish, none of them ever
returned. After a hard tramp we
reached the lake, and in a few min
utes had constructed a rough craft,
pushed out to the center of the lake
and thrown our flies. A fly could
scarcely touch the water before it
was seized by some hungry and keen
eyed trout. Finally, tired of the
sport, we determined to put back to
my fly once more. There was a
slight tug, but to my annoyance
found the fly was caught in a bit OF
drift. We padded up to it, and,
reaching over to free the hook, | saw
that bracelet you have been look.
ing at. At first | did not
notice the letters scratched on it, but
fell to wondering how it got into the
lake, for certainly for twenty wears
past no Indian had been within n
v,,sla nj tbo InI-a