The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-09-22
a SCENE OF WONDERS.
Canyon and Falls Of the Beauti-
full Humptulips River.
EXPLORERS PENETRATE wLDs.
oettIsrs Pourfsg Into the 0Iympics. Not
Single Spies, But I'm Battalions-
Upstream in . Canoe.
Absrdeea Herald.

nuce and extent to the Chchalis river was
The Humptulips; yet, with the exception
81 two white men, there is no knowledge
81 the river ever having been explored
nboye the Canyon, or what is generally
known Is the falls, until the little expedi-
ION undertaken last month by Edward Ly-
can. George H. Wyman and the editor OF
the He,uH traced the west branch Of the
river to its beginning in the Olympic
mountains.
Starting out with our packs, including
everything useful for three weeks camp
fnR-out trip, we took the steamer Wishkah
Chief at Aberdeen and followed the Ho-
ouiam river mp for distance OF ten miles.
= far g 1t was possible to 60. The steamer
wss literally loaded down with those who
we're "eoing in" which IL the settlers ex-
pfessIon for leaving civilization behind for
fhe solitude Of the woods, just rs he speaks
q sscoming OUT on his return journey.
some were bound for the Qniniault coun-
try. some for the township being surveyed.
2l.9 where they had claims studded thick
n With the finest timber that ever stood
out Of doors;" others. like ourselves, with
miners picks, bound to see the country
and Ill that is in it; dogs and guns from
~ hurricane deck to the Storage. and the
inevitable rustler, with his blue print maps,
eoinx up to plat townsite In the unknown
vi1ds: these made up the steamers load,
which disfntegrated as soon as the landing
vas reached, and soon ths greater portion
Ms strung along the county road thatruns
for sixteen miles through heavily tim
bered country TO the Humptulips river.
The road leads across the divide between
xr~ xks.1. vs~
when this country is settled up its princi-
pal outlet viii be by road from Grand
Forks. on the Wishkah, in northwesterly
direction to the county road.
The first night we spent with J. P. Sun
durth. who has made for himself . cosy
home in the wilderness. His little boy,
Barney, has the distinction Of being the
6rst white child born in the Humptulips
country.
All over the cleared and uncultivated
spots at Stevens prairie and round about
suxeest the tropics instead of latitude AZ,
often reaching growth Of six feet and
August Is the month OF months for ca
noeing expedition up the beautiful Hump
tulips. Once comfortably seated in the
long ssshovel-nose" cedar dug-out, with a
determination TO stay there. let the rifles
Il
and with . strong pair of arms for an N
pole and stronger pair for pole, it mat
ters not what the course may be, it is an
uphill pole all the way. On one side the
bottom land, on the other a bluff
dropping straight down to the
waters edge: the bottom covered with the
green Of summer and the bluffs with the
In between, the swift, clear, Geld river
breaks noiselessly over the stony bottom
or rushes along the deep places to catch
the outward-bound ships in the harbor.
The long. heavily-laden cedar canoe
moses her aythrcugh the thick overhang-
ing b0ughs, or PUSHES up close to the side
Of some steep palisade. down which q thin
white sheet OF water may perhaps be fall
Ing. Its cold spray and chilly atmosphere
giving refreshing reminder Of the snowy
0lymplcs few miles beyond.
About five miles above what 10 known as
the Upper Jam, the river makes q sharp
turn and the whole nature of the country
changes. An apparently solid wall of basalt
rises almost perpendicularly to the height
river, we come TO where its cooling waters
are flowing through what, in olden days,
must have been the path OF molten lava
following down some great volcanic action.
The river narrows to twelve feet and deep
ens ct the mouth Of the gorge. And a
short distance above Ii jam that puts an
Il should be called. is filed with bouIders,
over and around which the waters rush in
their rapid falling; but there are no regular
falls in the main stream.
Above the canyon the scenery OF the
river below begins to repeat itself. excep,
that the underbrush begins to grow thin.
ner. the river narrower, and the bottom
lands in the bends less extensive. The
fs0nntrv bAcOmea ruoro mount tai N nus and
the river IL more and moro hemmed in by
the hills that drop straight to the waters
edge. Above the canyon the general course
Of the river ID about true north and south
Seven or eight miles above the canyon
quite large stream flows into the river
from the west. reaching the river with q
fall OF ut least four feet in twenty, and
making noise enough for q stream three
times its size.
No country in the world is more sub
timely beautiful than where the Humptu
lips gathers together its forces for the
charge down the valley. Perhaps the
charm OF new country, and the knowl
edge that we were the first whites to lool
with curious and admiring eyes on one o.
the most beautiful pictures of the Grea
Master. added additional fervor and en-
thusiasm to our admiration. Here at the
fork and beginning of the river the ives
branch tumbles down over large boulder
with steep fall. But the east branch i.
by far the most beautiful. Looking up it
the white foam Of the water comes dowr
in whirling rapid that seethes arount
gigantic rocks before its plunge into tn,
last deep pool, where ii boils and bubbles
es ii full OF wrath over its separation from
Its mountain home and determination neve
to join the westward branch below. Abou
$50 feet above the beginning OF the rapid
narrow, swift stream from off the noun
ND
reaches the rivers brink. makes shee
leap OF twelve or fifteen feet, and strike
the water foaming from its rapid race
Above, through narrow. jagged, precipi
tous rocky seam i'll the mountains, III,
main river tears along like mill-rsce
After its first fall, of four or five feet, i
pauses for an instant, spreads out an,
forms little fall that is as beautiful a
bridal veil woven of spun silver. OF o,
both sides OF the stream, amid all thi
noise Of rushing waters, are cool. dee,
hooks, almost cavernous, in which tn
clear, limpid water lies still, quiet and rest
full, as II it could have no part with tn,
noisy river making such a to do abou
getting under way. Around and above ar
all the steep mountains. standing in soem,
silence, clothed with shaggy green Goa
of scrub spruce and hemlock
As man stands alone in this great soil
tude an overpowering sense of his own in
oignincance comes over him, and with i
the realization that his life is but momen
in the ones that have built up the grea
results about him. He knows that his a r.
the FIRST appreciative eyes that have locke,
upon this beauty. and still, step by step
from dimmest ages, the process has gone OF
with natures perfection. and in spite O
himself their superb indifference to human
applause challenges anew his admiration
they WANT UNIyERsaI sIErp.cr
The Meaning OF tho Great pcmo stratio,
In Brussels ON August 10.
New York Sun.