The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1891-04-03

we had spent night on q couch or foathery,
fragrant pine needles. l suppose should
be burned for heresy If 1 called them any
thing else, but let me tell you that il you
ever sleep for two weeks on those same
needles you will think them just as fragrant
by name less soft. When we were really
settled, however, we began to believe all
that had been told us of Trout Lake and en-
joy open air life to the utmost
The lake is the centre of a charming
scene. At an elevation of ten thousand
feet above the sea it lies, beautiful sheet
OF water, covering perhaps two hundred
acres in little basin, entirely surrounded
by green hills. For background, it has
great pine forest, black i'm its denseness and
above and beyond, Beattie's Peak, mass
OF bare gray rOcks-a grim Narcissus, ever
admiring its own reflection in the daintiest
of mirrors. Those are kindly rocks though,
for the masses of glittering snow in their
scanned and furrOwed visages, never fail to
feed the exacting little lake with water as
pure and cold as drippings from an iceberg.
It's great depth gives it dark, cool look,
for though its waters are as clear as rock
crystal 1t glows but never sparkles i'm that
scorching Colorado sun.
And there on the banks of this gem, this
aqua marine in native rock setting, we
lived an ideal campers life, fishing, rowing,
swinging in hammOcks and making tours of
investigation and discovery. Those addicted
to the habit, spent much time in gathering
ana chewing the spruce gum which eXudes
from the trees. This gum is very abundant
and very adhesive. If you grow weary and
lean against a tree to rest, you have great
deal of trouble to get away. If you hang
towel in tree (there is no other place to
hang anything) it switches industriously
around the trunk until it gathers all the
sickness possible and when next you use
1t leaves patches of gum all over your hands,
which remain until you scrape the skin off
in trying to remove it. One lady imprO-
vised wardrobe by driving nails into tree
trunk and hanging thereon her own and her
friends extra gowns (Which we took, but
for which we had no use), and another dis
gusted woman told me that she ''had to pull
with both hands and feet" 10 recover her
property.
Most of the fishing was done before sun
rise and after sunset. Did you ever catch
trout in mountain lake? Well, it is worth
getting up at five o'clock in the morning to
catch just one. Put on thick coat for the
mornings are so chilly, and drift or row
slowly about with couple of lines drag
ging from the stern of the little boat. On
all sides Of you are the wary fish in search
or rather in pursuit of a ''f1y" breakfast,
and it is very swift fly that escapes. Some
times ''speckled beauty" springs entirely
out of the water, turning quick somer-
Sault, and every square yard of the surface
of the lake is dimpled by the energy with
which these little fish are earning their flies
by the sweat of their fins. Stay until the sun
struggles up over an immense eastern hill,
take long pull at the oars and go home to
breakfast. You have enjoyed the silent
sport hugely, although if you are woman
your lines have probably dragged to no pur-
pose (wOmen for obvious reasons are not
born fishers) but If perchance you retire
with trophy, study it with your artists
eye, admire the beautiful skin, silver
| sheen over purple and pink and green and
under bright black ''pOlka dots" as regularly
| distributed as If made to Order-and then
go home and eat it, for your appetite will be
so keen that you will be beast enough to eat
| beauty itself.
One of our tramps was to mine in early
stages of development which looked moth
| ing more nor less than hole i'm the hillside,
very deep, but about five by seven feet al
| the mouth. Beside the tunnel were the
miners tent, snug and tidy dOmicile which
gave evidence of good housekeeping, and a
a little forge at which drills and picks were
sharpened. The young men who worked
there were very hOspitable and explained al
| great length their method of opening 9
mine. One was even Obliging enough tC
allow me to do a bit of amateur mining
holding drill for me to strike with an i'm
mense hammer and only smiling gallantly
when knocked the skin nearly all off his
thumb.
Henry Moore (Owosso's Henry wander
ed by, prospecting for views, with tent and
camera on burros back, and fingered will
us few days, making some charming pic
lures of our camp and the lake.
And thus the first few days rolled by al
golden sunshine. 1t was in the rainy sea
son, but the clouds seemed to have taken ;
vacation and the sunlight filtered unob
structed through the ''murmuring pines ant
hemlocks." A large addition to our party
came from town to spend Sunday and thu
camp was in whirl of gaity and time wa
thousand legged. In the evening the mel
built great camp fires and we gathered
round, sitting on logs and boxes and there
recOunted the adventures of the day. Tht
stars shOne down on the dark trees an(
silent tents with brilliancy which they
have nowhere but in that high, dry atmOs
phere. The rythmic dip of oars sent fain
melody up the glen, announcing the return
of the twilight fishers, which we waited witt
as much interest as election returns from
back counties are looked for and after mucl
discussion ascertained who had caught the
largest fish since morning. The evenings
program always ended with concert ant
hot lemonade. Everybody tried to sing
There were a few who really could sing
and one, San Juan nightengale, one of thu
most charming society women of tha
region, whose voice few summer visitors a
Telluride fail to hear and none who heal
ever forget. Those people had come from
many climes and be II said to the credit o
their early moral training, that although
there was but one song they could all sing
that one song was ''Nearer, My God, t
Thee"
When the last batch of visitors had re
turned to town and we had settled down b
the business of camp life, something scenes
to be amiss. We fished industriously al
day now. We rowed and walked regardles
of sun and wind. That was what we ha
come for, but we did not enjoy everythin
as hugely as at first. We bethought us O
the books we had brought, but reading wa
no success. Every day our ranks grey
! thinner. My hostess was, think, the Onl
hannv member of the society for she wa