The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1890-11-08

cul6 IIldI lISC Ill VIC pIAlC lOlCoCS Va
Oregon's Blue mountains. Grouped
in silent majesty, grand cloud
piercing peaks watch it's departure
westward. Dazzling ice-bound pin
nacles mark its way. Now dashing
over precipices, rolling through the
gloom of dense forests, now skirting
the rugged mountains of the wild
Teton range, gathering strength as
it runs; now coursing by grass-clad
hills or through cheerless tracks
where burning lava once flowed,
making tremendous jumps, rushing
headlong and foaming through deep,
dark, narrow canyons with upright
walls thousand feet high, winding
in it's course-the mad stream hurls
its waters 200 feet into the air in
one mighty, despairing, awful leap
over the Shoshone falls-equal in
height and volume of water to Nj
agara, and far exceeding Yosemite
in beauty and grandeur. The Ceur
d'Alene, as graceful as a maiden in
it's gentle gliding, is conception
of beauty in every curve. Decked
in its fern-covered banks, in all
the Southland, filled with crystal
streams and sylvan foliage, there
meanders not lovelier river.
"CGur d'Alene, nymph Of beauty,
would WOO thee in my rhyme,
Mldest, brightest, loveliest river,
Of our sunny northern cline!
Swannanoa. they should call thee,
In the mellow Indian tongue;
Beautiful thou art, most truly,
And right worthy to be sung
The Kootenai, St. Joseph, Sal
mon, Weiser, Payette, Boise, Wood.
Blackfoot and Bear, and hundreds
of minor streams are swift, clear
and swarming with trout, salmon
and other fresh water fish. The
Salmon, Clearwater, kootenai and
Payette are as picturesquely beau
tiful as the Juniata, Schuylkill and
Susuuehanna, recognized as the
noblest streams of the Alleghanies
The immense water power Of Idaho
exceeding that of any other state
west of the Missouri, is one of its
great resources, atfording, as it does
ample facilities for irri eating, min,
ing and manufacturing purposes.
Time would fail me to tell of the my
riads of crystal, sparkling springs
bursting from the plains and gurg
ling from the slopes and mountain
sides, that make Idaho land Of
bright waters and green pastures.
Scattered among the plateaus ano
mountain ranges of this Switzerland
of America are counties lakes anc
tarns as beautiful and picturesque
as Lucerne. Kootenai holds within
her borders Ceur d'Alene, Penc
d'Oreille, Kanisku, Cocalalla, anc
numerous smaller lakes. Penc
dOreille, like a broad and widenet
valley among the mountains, filled
to brim with gathered waters, is on
of the loveliest sheets of water il
all America.
Ceur d'Alene is really widen
ing of the Spokane, just as the Sc;
of Galilee is of the red, turbid Jor
dan. With waters as cool and clea
and sweet, fed by gold bearing
streams and nesting among silver
lined hills, with the rabbis, we NIGH
declare of it as they said OF Gen
nesaret: "That of the seven seas o
Canaan, it was the only one which
God had reserved for himself"
AS Idaho is the gem of the noun
tains, surely Tahoma deserves t
be called the gem lake of Idaho
Gathered in a depression of tn
mountains, twenty miles south c
Lewiston, shimmers lovely Wahs
"the ambition of nature" Moth
ing" says a glowing but faithfu
| pen sketch, eve have ever seen ca
exceed the tranquil beauty of thi
sylvan, this truly idylic scene, wit
its mountain solitudes, unbroke
bv a discordant sound, and IT
wealth of charming landscapes an
xanthic skies" Bottomless Payett
is surrounded by mountains an
famous for its trout, red fish an
white fish. No pen can trace !
fitting lines the solitary lovellnes
of Bear lake. The task would (
endless to tell of the numberles
lakes Of sunny Idaho.
, Alternating with and nestliu
among the mountain ranges
Idaho are many valleys, large an
small, affording in the aggrega
, 100000 acres of arabic lands nt
, surpassed in fertility by any on II
globe. Innumerable little wales ar
, cosy parks hidden among the hll
| invite the settler to abide.
The mineral fields Of idaho a
3 among the largest in the world, ar
: they have produced, and are no
/, producing, the richest ores know
: to the history of mining Sin
their first discovery the mines
Idaho have produced the prince
sum of 1857 ,720,962.84. The pr
$ duction of last year amounted
: $17,344,6OO. Of this there was
j. gold, So, ,2O4. 800; silver, 81 ,564 so