The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1894-12-29
wonders of Crater Mountain.



From the Baker City Democrat
Crater Mountain is one of the Umatilla
Indians great spook depots from ancient
times. Bucks that are now white with
the hoary frosts of many winters recolleet
hanging in the trees tightly strapped to
their nursing boards while their mothers
roamed the forests in search Of game for
the lords of creation 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 leg
ends of Indian lore told of Crater Noun
tain.
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 beautiful
Shoshone maiden, seeing that death was
inevitable from her pursuing foes, plunged
headlong into the burning crater, and IN
stantly the volcanic eruption ceased, much
TO the CONSERVATION of her pursuers, who
on the following day found on looking down
the chasm of inky darkness 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 Mountain is looked upon with rev
erence from an Indian point Of view.
The following is from the diary of the
Hon. J. A. Wright Crater Mountain
is located some eleven miles from the camp
of Cornucopia, on the south side of the
range whose caps are tipped with eternal
snow. Many chasms and assures have in
the misty past cleft the mountains and left
them in the most fantastic shapes. Vege-
tation ceases to grow after certain height
is reached and close under the base of one
of the great peaks is the famous extinct
volcano. Ashes and lava are found in
great profusion and in such understandable
masses that it makes the ascent one OF
peril and great difficulty. However, once
at the top, a peep down into the blank,
fathomless abyss supplies the most morbid
minds with all the sensationalism 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 dark chimney until the sounds
died away leaving nothing but for the mys-
tilted explorer to guess it had reached the
bottom.
Many have been the stories circulated Of
the wonderful cavern that extended from
the sides of the great chimney. A stout
cable was provided and basket swung
from a pulley. The Hon. Joseph with
camera and note book was carefully lowered
some 37S feet when he noticed an aperture
in the side of the chimney, and by signals
agreed upon halt was called in his down
ward career. and he crawled through cleft
in the great chimney, and the work of ex-
ploration begun The first sight that met
his astonished gaze was a most stupendous
chamber from whose mighty dome hung
stalactites of great beauty, which was en-
HANGED by the light of the candle, and
fairly struck terror to his heart, as the
Pickering candle seemed to possess the
power of some unseen hand that made mil
lions of the brilliant stalactites dance in re-
splendent beauty. A great snowy owl
blinked at the astonished Joseph.
The explorer CROPPED his way to the far
end of the chamber, where he thought he
heard sounds of falling water; nor was he
mistaken, for, squeezing 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 coral
like substance and left it in 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
curiosity that seemed to bode no good and
he longed for his little gun.