, 1892-07-09
WONDERFUL LAKES.
What Can be Seen in Stillaguam
ish Country.

Copper Green Water in an EnOr-
nous Crater--CuriOus COIOring
Matter From a Big GIacier--A
Dense FOrest--A beautiful Lake.
A correspondent of the Mining News
writes of trip in the Stillaguamish coun-
try, Snohomish county, Washington, that
nothing whatever was known of the min
eral wealth that this region possessed pre-
yious to the latter part Of July of the past
year, as up to that time the country had
not been explored. 1t was indeed verita-
BILE terra incognita, and its physical feat
ures are not represented on any map in ex-
istence. All the maps Of this county, in
so far as this district is concerned, is
grossly incorrect Rivers and valleys are
represented where mountains should be
and vica versa and two lakes of considsra-
Bile size are not represented at all. One of
these is beautiful expanse of water at the
head of Pritchard river about two miles
and a half in length, and containing about
one thousand acres, and is surrounded on
all sides by a beautiful grassy country,
where 10000 sheep could find abundant
DdSbuEG
other lake is at the head of the Sultan
river 1t is over a mile in length and half
q mile in width, and is remarkable for its
color, which is beautiful copper green.
1t is situated in an enormous crater and
is on all Sides except at its outlet, sur
rounded by almost perpendicular rocky
precipices from 900 to 2,0C0 feet along its
surface. There is, think, good reason for
believing that no mortal eye had eyer
gazed upon it's surface until from rocky
height l looked upon 1t on the 18th day of
June last year. l have lately been told by
some old settlers in the lower Sultan basin
that Indians had told them of a green
lake somewhere in the mountains and that
the fish caught in it could not be eaten on
account of being poisonous. Whether this
is tradition or whether this is the lake re-
ferred to is quite uncertain. What causes
its peculiar green color is a matter of con-
siderable speculation by those who have
since seen it, but / am well satisfied that
the true cause has not yet been discovered.
Whatever the coloring matter may be, it is
evident that it comes from beneath an
enormous glacier at its southwestern end.
The other lake at the head of the Pill
chuck shows no evidence of any kind that
any human being had ever been in Its
neighborhood except myself. There were
some elk, few deer and many mountain
goats in the country around 1T, which
looked like old deserted farms or an i'm
ul6QSb Sn66D IduCu JQdb uhQ DCbu ldbclY
occupied. The reason why a country not
more than forty miles from eiYilazition,
and possesses much mineral wealth and
good agricultural land, should remain as
completely unknown as it would be in the
heart of the African continent does not
readily appear, but all-sutficient reasons
would soon have presented themselves to
any person who would have undertaken the
Journey two years ago through the dense
untracked wilds that then existed. OF
course, had it been known that mineral
wealth existed, some way would have been
found to reach it, but it was not known,
and as game was generally scarce and its
mineral wealth unsuspected, there was
really nothing to induce any one to under
take such a trip; and as carrying heavy
packs, squeezing through brush and crawl
ing under logs is not considered pastime,
particularly when there are forty miles OF
country to be got over in this way, the
reason why the country remained in this
virgin state until almost the present time
can be better understood.