Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1895-10-18
ONG'S POND OGRES
Awful Experiences of a Party Of
Campers Out.
THE INDIANS FIRE THE BOAT
Sounds Like Discharging Revolvers, and
Wonderful Pyrotechnic
Display.

Three weeks ago group of campers
were sitting on the shore of ongs
Pond, one night, says the Mays Land
ing IN. j. correspondent of the st.
Louis Glebe-Democrat. 1t was quite
late. The sky was clear and the lake
unusually calm. The attention of the
campers was called to what appeared
to be cloud of mist rising about half
mile from shore. 1t moved toward the
land, and as 1t approached it took the
form of three canoes, in which were
seated half dozen human figures
which appeared to be Indians
The canoes were propelled with pad
dies and they moved noise1essly toward
the shore. Three of the campers con-
ceived the idea of inspecting the can
oes and their occupants il they came to
the shore, and they hurried down to the
spot for which they were headed.
The paddlers paid no attention to
them, but kept on pushing the canoes
toward the shore. They finally landed,
| and. springing out, walked toward the
| trees. One of the campers, holder than
the others, reached out and attempted
to grasp one of the Indians, but his
hand found nothing more substantial
| than the air, and, paralyzed with
| amazement, the men stood looking after
the ghostly figures until they passed
out of sight among the trees.
The campers returned to their COM
panions and sat down to discuss the
| strange occurrence. They had been
there about a half hour when the six
shadowy forms were seen to emerge
from the woods, walk down to the shore.
shove off the canoes and move away
toward the spot in the lake where they
were first seen. At that point they fad
ed from sight.
About quarter of a mile back from
the lake, in the direction taken by the
six CHASTITY figures, is an ancient In
dian burying ground, and the belief is
that the strange visitants from the lake
went here for some purpose best known
to themselves.
A few days after the Indians had
been seen Charles Brockway and Elias
Hedges went out on the lake for
sail in the evening. They stayed
on the water several hours. 1t was
about midnight when they began to
think about returning to camp. They
got within half mile of the landing,
when they were startled by sounds
like the rapid discharge of revolvers,
and the same minute the surface of the
water became dotted with little points
Of fire that f1ickered like the flame OF
a candle in drift of air.
The explosions continued and the
points of fire increased in number until
the boat was completely surrounded
by them. The men who were in the boat
say that what appeared to be large
bubbles came up on the water and
burst with sharp report. After the
explosion the flame appeared.
In a short time the whole lake be-
came covered with these points of fire,
and becoming alarmed at the posi-
bility Of their boat being burned, the
men pulled for shore. They had not
gone far when 1t was noticed that the
craft was ablaze near the stern. Hedges
dropped his oar, and while Brockway
rowed for dear life, he dashed water on
the flames, extinguishing them.
1t became hard struggle before the
boat reached the shore to keep it from
burning, but the men finally managed
to safely land. This peculiar phenome-
non lasted for two hours, when the last
flame point went out. That night, and
for several days after this, the air in
the vicinity of the lake seemed to be
heavily charged with sulphur, and on
|
dead bodies of hundreds of strange fish
that were thrown on the shore at the
time the lake had a boiling fit on.
One night last week the campers were
aroused by a peculiar moaning sound
that seemed to come from the lake.
Everybody got out to see what new
freak had struck the eccentric body of
water, and they found 1t swaying as
if rocked in cradle. The water would
rise on the shore six feet or so and then
recede. The surface of the lake was
calm, and there was no apparent cause
for Its action, but it kept 1t up, and
rising from 1t was a continued moaning
sound.
This peculiar demonstration had a
pronounced effect on the nerves OF
several of the campers, and they hur-
} riedly packed their traps and departed
J The lake kept up its swaying and moan
ing two days, then suddenly became
| motionless and noiseleSs.