The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-12-29
TOLD OF CRATER
Wonders Witnessed by q Noun.
tain Explorer.
Indian Legends Of . Famous Extinct Vol.
csno In tire West - Strange AMI
mails Found in the Subtsr.
raneon CAvernS.

Indian Legends Of . Famous Extinct Vol
cano In tire West - Strange AMI
naIs Found in the subtsr-
ranean Caverns.
Crater mountain is one of the Una
tilla Indians great spook depots from
ancient time, says the Baker City Dem
ocrat. Bucks that are now white witt
the hoary frosts of many winters rec
| ollect hanging In the trees tightly
| strapped to their nursing boards, while
their mothers roamed the forests IL
search of game for the lords of crea
ton or wood for the tepee, and from
infancy love to relate how the great
spirit spoke to them with the awful
voice Of terrific thunder in the bowels
of the earth. Many are the stories and
legends of Indian lore told of Crater
mountain. One of the favorite ones is
told Of a great war between the
Shoshones and Umatillas. When the
Umatillas had conquered their foes
they proceeded to slaughter old and
young, regardless of sex One beauti-
full Shoshone maiden, seeing that
death was inevitable from her pursu-
ing foes, plunged headlong into the
burning crater. and instantly the vol
canic eruption ceased, much to the
CONSERVATION Of her pursuers, who on
the following day found, on looking
down the chasm of inky darkness, a
Respondent light with the form of the
Shoshone maiden in the midst of the
apparition. They told it to their dusky
warriors-and to this day Crater noun
tain is looked upon with reverence
from an Indian point of view.
The following is from the diary Of j.
A. Wright: Crater mountain is located
some eleven miles from the Camp Of
Corlucopia, on the south side Of the
range whose caps are tipped with
eternal snow. Many chasrns and fs-
sures have in the misty past cleft the
mountains and left them in the most
fantastic shapes. Vegetation ceases to
grow after a certain height is reached,
and close under the base of one of tho
great peaks is the famous extinct vol
cano. Ashes and lava are found in
great profusion and in such indescrib-
dDlc LldSScS tildt IL IlldhCo taC dSSChG
one of peril and great difficulty. How
ever, once at the top. peek down into
the blank, fathomless abyss supplies the
most morbid minds with all the sensa-
tionalism necessary for lifetime. A
favorite amusement was to throw rocks
down and listen to the sounds as they
struck on the projecting sides Of the
~. oh ,,nft ha dc raA
away, leaving nothing but for the
mystifed explorer to guess it had
reached the bottom"
Many have been the stories circu-
lated of the wonderful cavern that ex-
tended from the sides of the great
chimney. A stout cable was provided
and a basket swung from pulley.
Hon. Joseph, with camera and note
book, was carefully lowered some
three hundred and seventy-eight feet,
when he noticed an aperture in the
side of the chimney, and, by signals
agreed upon, a halt was called in his
downward career, and he crawled
through cleft in the great chimney,
and the work Of exploration began.
The first sight that met his astonished
gaze was a most stupendous chamber,
from whose mighty dome hung stalac-
tiles of great beauty, which were en-
HANGED by the light of the candle, and
fairly struck terror to his heart, as the
candle seemed to possess the
power of some unseen hand that made
millions of the brilliant stalactites
dance in respondent beauty. A great
snowy owl blinked at the astonished
Joseph.
The explorer CROPPED his way to the
far end of the chamber, where he
he heard the sounds Of falling
was he mistaken, for
himself through an opening
he found himself in another chamber |
of great beauty, with a stream of hot |
sulphur water running into the earth. |
The incrustation from the sulphur |
water had transformed the cavern into /
a coral-lilke substance and left it in 1
such fantastic shapes. He found in the |
water some lively little lizards and /
some frogs that change color on the
slightest provocation and two large /
rats, who eyed the explorer with a GU
riosity that seemed to bode no good
and he longed for his little gun.
g New Terror for Freneh ConvIcta
E-z-ol, |