The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1897-08-28
DOWN In A CRATER.
Wonders Witnessed by q Noun.
tain Explorer.
Indian Legends of y Famous Extinct vol-
oano In the West - Strange Ant
mails Found In the 6ubtef-
r1neAn Caverns.

tilla Indians great spook depots from
ancient time, says the Baker City Dem
ocrat. Bucks that are now white with
the hoary frosts of many winters rec
cllect hanging in the trees tightly
strapped to their nursing boards, while
their mothers roamed the forests in
search of game for the lords of crea-
tion 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 tho 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
consternation of her pursuers, who on
the following day found, on looking
down the chasm of inky darkness, a
resplendent light with the form of the
Shoshone maiden in the midst of the
apparitioD. 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 ].
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 fis-
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 the
great peaks is the famous extinct vol
cano. Ashes aud lava are found in
great profusion and in such indescrib-
able masses that it makes the ascent
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
dark chimney until the sounds died
away, leaving nothing but for the
mystified explorer to guess 1t had
reached the bottom"
Many have been the stories circu-
lated of the wonderful cavern that ex-
tended from the sides of the great
~ o6
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, halt was called in his
downward career, and he crawled
through cleft in the great chimney
md the work of exploration began.
The first sight that met his astonisheo
raze was a most stupendous chamber
from whose mighty dome hung stalac
tites of great beauty, which were en-
HANGED by the light Of the candle, and
fairly struck terror TO his heart, as the
fickering candle seemed to possess the
nover of some unseen hand that made
millions of the brilliant stalactitel
dance in resplendent beauty. A grea
snowy owl blinked at the astonlshet
Joseph. -,
The explorer groped his way to thu
far end of the chamber, where n
thonpht he heard the sounds OF falling
water-nor was he mistaken, To-
squeezing himself through an openins
he found himself in another chambe
of great beauty, with a stream OF no
sulphur water running into the earth
The incrustation from the sulphur
water had transformed the cavern int
a coral-like substance and left 1t II
such fantastic shapes. He found in th'
water some lively little lizards ant
some frogs that change color on th'
slightest provocation and two larg'
rats, who eyed the explorer with Gu
riosity that seemed to bode no gooo
and he longed for his little gun.