Alpena argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1893-1909, 1894-01-31

there is nothing to brighten the most
timid. The peaceful influence is so
powerful that we hush our voices
as we look down.
In some awful convulsion of ma
ture these grim mountains were
heaved up from the bowels of the
earth-grim, sterile, desolate-land
marks of mighty conflict of ele-
ments. At the same time nature
created this valley as an offset. On
the mountain is desolation and des-
pair; here is beauty and content
ment.
Look therem
Away up among the dark hills we
see black cloud rising up into the
clear skies. But for it's blackness
one might believe it a signal smoke
made by the Indians. 1t is cloud
trying to lift itself over the noun
tain from the east. 1t began form
ing 50 miles away, and it has tray
eled slowly and followed the
windings of the rivers and creeks
and exalted tributes from ponds and
lakes-drops, gills, quarts, barrels,
tons of water have been absorbed
and lifted up as the clouds travelled,
and the desolate mountains were
magnets which attracted it from
its first formation.
The cloud lifts itself up and up,
and in its struggles it sways like a
balloon. AS it nears the mountains
the vapors are condensed and be-
come heavier, and as the weight in
creases the struggle becomes fercer,
there is no byplay of thunder and
lighting; only a black menacing
cloud fighting itself.
Up! Up! Up!
All! Heaven help them! There
is nothing but animal life in the
valley so far as we can see, but
every onlooker utters a groan of
despair as he sees the cloud suddenly
fall out of sight behind the peaks.
What does that signify? 1t means
that the cloud cannot lift itself
high enough to clear the mountain,
and that when its lower edge hit
that tall peak on a line with us
there came cloud burst. The tons
of water held in that big cloud fell
to earth with force you can hardly
conceive. Trees were made into
matchwood. Rocks weighing a
thousand tons were whirled about.
Boulders which q hundred horses
could not pull from their beds were
sent flying down the mountain side
like marbles. Every handful of
earth, every tree, shrub, vine, flower,
every stone, rock and boulder which
could not have been moved by the
blast of hundred pounds of pow
der is swept in one awful avalanch
into the mouth of the valley.
We hear the crash. We feel the
mountain culver under us. We are
warned of what is coming. Every
living thing below us has heard the
crash and felt the culver. Instinct
tells them what has happened and
warns them to flee. In ten seconds
every living thing in sight in the
valley is rushing down its length.
Here and there deer turns to right
or left and finds a place where he
can ascend, and big wolf scrambles
up the almost perpendicular bank
at our feet and there lies crouching
and whining in terror.
Look up the valley. No man
will ever see such sight twice in
his lifetime. There is wall across
the valley-a wall of roaring, tum-
bling, seething, foaming waters.
Its height is eight or ten feet and
its speed is that of railroad train.
The buffaloes were the furthest up
the valley. Watch them coming.
The heard numbers about so, and
every animal runs for his life. Now
buffalo, deer, wolf, horse and hare
are coming in wild mobs, and close
behind that foam-crested wave of
death. As it tears along the sides
of the valley great rocks are loosen
ed and carried along.
The rush is led by sorrel horse
his new coat shining like velvet
his ears laid fat back. He is 200
feet ahead of everything, and we
wave out hats and cheer him as he
passes us.
Roll! Tumble! Foam! The wa
tiers are Uttered with trunk and
branch and bush. The noise is deaf
ening. The power is so great that