Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-06-22

be taken in, and which is full Of fish which,
however, have the popularity that they
never take bait. In the Santiam and some
of the other rivers the fishing is elegant, and
the creeks are full Of trout and of crawfish,
which are delicious, and Of which I have
caught as many as hundred in an hour
with three strings and three pieces of beet.
A !aYorite form Of picnicking in Oregon is to
take saucepan and salt, catch few hun
dred of these tender, juicy crawfsh, boil
them and enjoy a feast fit for prelates.
THE RECORD OF RAINFALL.
The rain to which Oregon owes its numer-
Gus rivers and creeks is not as abundant IN
the southern as in the northern part of the
State. There is a gradual transition from
80 inches at Jacksonville to 38 at Salem, So
at Portland and 72 at Astoria. The Rogue
River Valley has been described as ga COM
promise between the droughts of California
and the great rain of the Willamette VAL
ley" Grapes are raised here equal to the
best in California, and the peaches have
been known to fetch higher prices in the
San Francisco markets than the California
varieties. Melons are also raised here in
great abundance.
The large lakes, the Upper and Lower
klamath, will in course of time become the
popular resorts OF Oregonians, and some
miles north of the Upper klamath is Crater
Lake, which, although much smaller, is by
the Oregonian considered the greatest curl
ositT on the Pacific coast, and which used to
De, and still is, regarded as holy ground by
the Indians Of the neighborhood. Local
authorities tell us that Sin the past none but
medicine men visited it, and when one of the
trloe felt called to become teacher, he
spent several weeks at the lake in prayer to
the Shabulah Tyee."
WONDERFUL CRATER LAKE.
Crater Lake lies in the heart of the Cas-
cade Mountains, and at so great an eleva-
tion-6.257 feet-as to be rendered inacces-
slble, except in summer, by the depth of the
snow In the surrounding forests. In the old
er guide books Crater Lake is put down az
Mystic Lake. Mystic it certainly is, but its
present name is preferable, because more
definite, for Crater Lake is really body of
water which, like Tahoe, fills up volcanic
orlbce. And most gigantic crater it was,
for the circumference of the lake is more
than 20 miles. There is only one place where
one can climb down to the water; the rest of
the shore consists of precipitous walls from
900 to 5000 feet in height, which are less
siantlng than they appear in photographs.
these high walls, which are mirrored in
the water with their fringe of trees, effec-
tually shut out the mountain breezes. so
that the water is placid and rarely ruf1ed.
There is something mysterious about this
water, for it has no visible or discoverable
inlet or outlet. and vet it is always clear
and sweet Fish, however, do not inhabit
1t, probably because none have succeeded in
getting there; and even water fowl, it is
said, avoid this solitary silent mountain
lake.
In the middle of the lake stands an island,
about three miles long, of volcanic origin,
rising to point 845 feet high and ending in
a crater 475 feet in diameter.
OF UNFATHoMABLE DEPTH.
There are caves along the shores which
NAV have some connection with the water
supply as current is observable near them.
The depth of the lake has never been ascer-
tanned, but it has been sounded for 1000
feet without reaching bottom. A few years
ago an effort was made to have the Crater
Lake region reserved as the Oregon National
Park, and in 1888 bill to this effect passed
the United States Senate. As there is much
valuable timber in the neighboring noun
tain ranges and much fine grazing land,
there is reason to believe that branch road
will ere long connect Crater Lake with the
Oregon and California Railroad, and when
that is built every visitor to the Pacific
coast will feel that he can no more afford to
miss this lake than the other two scenic
wonders of Oregon, the Columbia river and
Mt. Hood.
wonderful fertility of the Willamette Valley
is what chiefly arrests the attention of tour
lists. Wood being cheaper than coal in this
region, tie train frequently stops to get a
fresh load Of fuel from the huge piles of
timber which at intervals extend along the
road, sometimes quarter of a mile without
a break.
GIANT STALKS OF WHEAT.
During these stops some young man may
be seen running to neighboring wheat field
or oat field to compare height with the stalks
to his disadvantage. But these
rich agricultural lands were all taken up
long ago. and the immigrant with slender
purse and a desire for Government land has
to seek region more remote from the rail
way.
The towns along this route, including
Roseburg, Eugene, Albany, Salem and
Oregon City, have not grown as fast during
the last ten years as Portland, or as the
towns of Washington and California, but
the inhabitants confidently believe that
their day will come when the more sensa-
tional California and Washington towns
have passed through their boom period, and
they modestly claim that they prefer steady
and slow growth to boom which too often
becomes a retrograde boomerang. At
Oregon City, tourists should be on the look
out for the falls of the Willamette, below
which the Indians formerly used to spear
salmon, but which now serve the most
prosaic purpose of furnishing water power
to the wooden mills on the spot and electric
power to Portland, IL miles away.
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