Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-11-10
Che Story Of GALLEY SbAt-1ii.
Where the Ruins of Desolate Cottage
Rest on the Spot of Happy Home.
THE Valley Shut-In is secluded from
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THE Valley Shut-In is secluded from
sight or sound of men, for it is hid
den among wooded hills in the widest,
most inaccessible part of the Arcadian
mountains. Its charm is unknown to
many, and only score or more of aged
men and women give feeting thought
to the homes of their childhood in Val
lev Shut-In. No one ever visits the lone
ly spot but those who till the meagcr
soil, and no one views the ruins of
Desolate Cottage, once Happy Home,
that lie therein.
Flowing through the Valley Shut-In
is a shallow river that gurgles plain
lively through a wilderness of forest;
an unknown stretch OF river, for it turns
abruptly away from the valley road and
a noisier smaller tributary two miles
or more away; turns at such en- obtuse
angle, hid with trees, that few travellers
notice where it leaves them, and won
der later where the river turned its
flood another way; but we who love the
shallow stream always watch for the
turning, and when we view it our fancy
travels wishfully along that unknown
path, impossible, they say, except in
the driest season, and we wonder
where the turnings, where the deep,
dark pools and glancing shadows,
what the flowers and birds along its
winding way.
But ere long it reaches the Valley
Shut-In and energies again, unsad-
dened by the loneliness there, to ripple
down through many a forest and
meadow to the greater river and the
sea.
frown down upon it, and the trees on
either side bend lovingly down to drink
of its flood, and SO no one on the hill
side sees the stream, only listens to its
drowsy murmur in the summer days.
or a louder, wilder song when its wa
tiers come plunging down.
On the eastern side of the valley the
trees crowd thickly up the hillside, and
on the other alternate with brown pas
ture land and rugged lodges.
One reaches Valley Shut-In from this
western side through a forest where
rare ferns grow and orchids hide and
no one finds them, through a wild wood
road that is lined with the flowers that
nature loves. and is carpeted with moss
and sweet-smelling chips, dropped here
from the winter shedding; path trav-
eled oftenest by timid denizens of the
forest and things that creep and crawl
in lowly ways.
We leave the path moment just be-
fore it dips steeply down the hill to-
ward Desolate Cottage, once the road
to Happy Home, leave the path and fol-
low ledge that lies at right angles
with it, and creeping under the under
brush a little way suddenly find our
selves standing on the brink of preci- !
pice, where giant trees growing at its |
base 60 feet below rest their topmost
leafy branches gently on the rocks
above.
Below US are yawning cracks where
great slabs of rocks threaten to fall |
away, and then in places are narrow.
gloomy caves, and an echo that living
here guards all living things and tells
them in many reverberating, oft-re- |
peating voices when 4 human being |
or ruder spirit stands in natures home. |
Many years ago some fortune hunter |
quarried N the ledge, and the ragged |
aperture thus made frowns in its side, |
though its frown is almost hidden by |
the filmy lace of vines that creep low
ingly across its furrowed checks and |
the delicate rock ferns that have found |
q foothold in its wrinkles, and close |
by q fragment yet unbroken by geolo-
gist's hammer fingers to tell the story.
For some strange freak on natures /
part filed the lc6ge with streaks of |
feldspar, in the coarser granite rock.
and in places flung bright bits of mica
in, and in others crowded it with crys-
tails of green tourmafine, brittle. yet
tantalizing. as they protrude their
pentagonai sides from the lighter
rocks. and then again vein of smoky
or yellow quartz peers out from the |
stone. /