St. Paul daily globe., 1895-06-02
the sunlight till its top peeped over

the sunlight till it's top peeped over
the wall.
Halfway up on a projecting ledge a
gigantic pine rested it's immense roots
twining around the rocks and sinking
deep into a fissure at the bottom. A red
squirrel frisked up it's rough, black boIe,
stopping at a safe distance to hang
head downward and look at us with
bright saucy eyes, and from some
where among the branches came the
CHEEKY croak of a sociable tree toad.
Along a narrow ridge where nat
ural parapet of rock gave to the dizzy
height appearance of security we went
to see the Devils stoveDipe, coffee
pot and foot print.
The latter is in a high cliff rising
precipitously many feet above the
deep water that boils against the east
ern side of the dalles. 1t is Titanic in
size and well proportioned. The in
dentation for the heel sinks ten inches
lower than the rest of the foot. An
impression in the rock just back of it
suggests that a slide of twelve inches
was taken before making a stand.
The legend is that, after causing the
upheaval that gave to this corner Af
Internal regions, his Satanic Majesty
! paused for a moment on the brink of
the precipice to rest, and with grim
satisfaction survey his work before
taking his final plunge into the lower
world.
A single heavy plank spanned a deep
chaSm; we crossed over it and went
up to Echo Rock, which is at the ex-
~. 9
the dalles, and rises high above the
water.
Our volatile little guide laughed.
sang and shouted, and from the yellow
cliffs across the river came back the
mocking echo with startling distinct
ness.
On the abrupt. high-walled Wiscon-
sin side natures sculptor has used
mallet and chisel with rare effect The
Sphinx of the Dalles, or, as it is more
generally called, the DEVILS Head,
looks sternly at us from the gray rock
walls of which it is a part
Farther down the river, and half
way up the side of the canon, a dis
tinct Maltese cross may be seen. The
dusky voyager as he padded past in
his frail bark canoe may have looked
upon it as the emblem of a higher
power and worshiped it in his ignorant
superstitious way.
To the white explorer, far from his
native land, with all it's sacred and
tender associations, this cross in the
wilderness must have seemed a symbol
of faith and hope, linking the present
with the distant past
On our way out of the tangle of
rocks. gorges and treacherous wells,
we ascended two flights of stairs to
a high point of rock almost in the
center Of the dalles. from which
bird 'S-eye view of them may be OBJ
tanned.
A short distance farther down the
! river and very near the shore is the
Devils Chair. which is one of the
greatest wonders of this wonderful re-
gion. 1t is a column of trap-rock ris-
ing in single vertical shaft $50 feet
on the river front.
1t is extremely difficult of access,
being situated on the almost perpen-
dicular side of a high bluff. To reach
it one must descend by a steep an&
dangerous path, or climb laboriously
over broken fragments of trap-tuff.
The chair is provided with an ample,
and capacious foot rest. If it had
been found on the side of Mount Olyn1o
pus the ancient Greeks would have
seen in it the resting place of a deity
and named it the Throne of Zeus."
For natural grandeur of scenery no
more beautiful location could have
been chosen for the interstate park OF
Minnesota and Wisconsin than the
dalles of the st. Croix.