St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-11-03
ITS DEPTHS UNsOUNDED.

IA Northwestern Lake With Its
Indian Legend Of a Serpent.
Tacoma Ledger.
Long before mankind ever started it's
conquest of this earth from sea monsters
the area that is now distinguished by
the name of Palouse country had been
subjected to violent upheavals and rad
zeal changes in topography. A great
inland sea rested here for many
centuries, and the chemical ac-
ton of the water enriched the
SOIL simultaneously with leveling
the sediment in the form of a vast plain.
internal commissions, whether from
volcanic action or from shrinkage of the
planet consequent npon the cooling
process then going on-perhaps both
comblned-raised the submerged plain
hlgh II dry. with a steep decline to
the westward. The rushing flood cut
the land into ridges and ravines, high
bluffs and lonely rocks being scattered
promiscuously in living evidence of the
revolution.
n surface thus presents a broken
n picturesque scene. Chief among
the wonderful products of these prehis-
torlc commissions and deluges is a
canyon over in the northwestern part
OF Whitman county containing Rock
lake. a sheet of water twelve miles
long by about 100 rods wide, boarded by
clltfs ascending perpendlcularly to a
height of 1,700 to $500 feet. The can
yon OF Rock lax run east to west.
II Is a deep hole in a plateau of solid
rock, and the bottom has been
sounded by man. The westward ex-
tremity falls abruptly from the bed of
a small creek down and down 500 feet,
over a cascade. down another plunge
OF 600 feet and off finally over a second
cascade 800 rect 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 q
valley, one by three miles in extent and
covered with the prettiest coat of trop-
lcal foliage to be seen anywhere.
The climate in this declivity is as
tropical and delightful as that which
gives Hawaii an envied, fame all the
world over. The temperature seldom
falls below 60 deg Fahrenheit, and
rarely goes above 80 deg. The cold of
winter is seemingly unable to reach the
level OF the valley, owing to the internal
warmth naturally belonging to a hole so
deep. The heat of summer is tempered
by the cooling influences of the lake adj
joining. The west end of this Garden of
Eden Jumps abruptly over a preci-
pIce 100 feet into Red lake. and the
western end of the lake, twenty miles
further on, finds an outlet through a
narrow passageway between hills slop-
ing sharply and soon breaking into dis
membered pyramids of basalt rock.
The surface of Rock lake is not much
ABOVE sea level, and the u~nfathomable
depth of the water, clear as crystal,
connected with weird surroundings, af-
fords a theme for philosophic meditation
not surpassed by the sublime rugged
ness of the Alps.
An Indian legend of this remarkable
a K 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 a
bath or a pleasure trip in a canoe with
out being swallowed whole by the hide
Gus reptile. and to this day the alb
origlnes look upon Rock lake with the
same apprehension that an old-time
orthodox pOnders over the terrors
of p~urgatory. Their legend declares
that an entire tribe was dashed to de-
struction and eaten not many centuries
ago, all to satisfy the greed of this very
monster. At another time, during the
outbreak quelled by Col. Steptoe in
1853, a band of noble red men, in their
efforts to escape the vigilance of Uncle
Sans blueeoats, tried 10 conceal them
selves above this lake in the little para
disc, but were overtaken by the great
fish, the legend avows, and Sent to
eternity.