The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-23
A woNpl,RYur EAKE.
A Legend Says the Sea Serpent Lies
In Its Depths.

From the TOcolnu Ledger.
long before mankind ever heard Of this
little earth and started its conquest from
sea monsters, the area that now is dis
tinguished by the name Of Palouse cOun-
try had been subjected TO violent up
heavals and radical changes in topog-
raphy. A great inland sea rested here
/ for many centuries. and the chemical
action Of the water enriched the soil
simultaneously with leveling the sed-
lment in the form of a vast plain.
Internal commissions, whether from
volcanic action or from shriukaRe of
the planet consequent upon the cooling
process then going on-perhaps both com
bmed-raised the submerged plain high
and dry, with a steep decline TO the west
ward. The rushing food cut the land
into ridges and ravines, high bluffs and
lonely rocks being scattered promiscu-
Ously in living evidence of the revolution.
The suface thus presents broken and
picturesque scene. Chief among the won
derful products of these prehistoric con-
WILSON'S and .deluges is a canon over in
the northwestern partof Whitman county
containing Rock lake a sheet Of water
twelve miles long by about 100 rods wide,
bOrdered by cliffs ascending perpendicu-
larly to a height of LOO to $500 feet.
The cannon of Rock Lake runs east to
west. 1t is deep hole in plateau Of
solid rock, and the bottom never has been
sounded by man The eastward extrem-
ity falls abruptly from the bed of small
creek, down and down 500 feet, over a
cascade, down another plunge of 600 feet,
and of finally over a second cascade 300
feet TO the bottom. Above the land rolls
away in small heaps of stone and barren
slopes for five miles on either side Down
at the bottom is valley, one by three
mil c in n no
prettiest coat of tropical foliage TO be
found anywhere. The climate in this de-
clivity is as tropical and delightful as
that which gives Hawaii an envied fame
all the world over. The tempera-
ture seldom falls below 60
Fahrenheit and rarely goes above
go The cold of winter is seemingly un-
able to reach the level of the valley, ow-
ing to the internal warmth naturally be-
longing to hole so deep. The heat of
summer is tempered by the cooling in
fiueuces of the lake adjoining. The west
end of this little garden of Eden jumps
abruptly over pFecipice 100 feet into
Rock Lake and the western end of the
lake, twenty miles farther on, finds an
outlet through a narrow passageway be-
tween hills sloping sharply and soon
breaking into disemembered pyramids of
basalt rock.
The surface of Rock Lake is not much
above sea level, and the unfathomable
depth of the water, clear as crystal, con-
nected with weird surroundings, affords a
theme for philosophic meditation not sur
passed by the sublime ruggedness of the
Alps.
An Indian legend of this remarkable
lake makes it the home of a monstrous
sea serpent. The remnants of the red
tribes which used to frequent its shores
tell their white neighbors that no Indian
can venture into the water either for
bath or pleasure trip in a canoe without
being swallowed whole by the hideous
reptile, and to this day the aborigines
look upon Rock Lake with the same ap-
prehension that an old-time orthodox
pondcrs over the terrors of purgatory.
Their legand declares that an entire
tribe was dashed to destruction and eaten
not many centuries ago, all to satisfy the
greed of this very monster. At another
time, during the outbreaks quelled by
by Col Steptoe in 1853, a band of noble
red men. in their efforts TO escape the
vigilance of Uncle Sans blue coats, tried
to conceal themselves above the lake in
the little paradise, but We're overtaken
by the great fish, the legend avows, and
sent to eternity.