Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1899-06-21

lnr1ce fortunate, however, was the
writer who came here as guest of
United States Senator Wellington, who,
although statesman of sagacity and
politician of power, is also an enter
tanning gentleman whose friendship is
wealth. Thrice fortunate again was
the writer in having also the company
of the senator's wife. AS boy and girl,
young man and woman, they joined
hearts and hands in Cumberland, and
their lives have blended in harmony, so
that they twain are one flesh. They
knew everybody here, and everybody
knows them and holds them in high es-
TEEN.
Cumberland, the "Queen City of the
Alleghenies," is environed by scenes of
picturesque beauty and grandeur which
are perhaps not appreciated to their
fullest extent by the people who live
their lives amid these scenes and are
accustomed to mountain heights and
streams; but the visitor and stranger
cannot fail to be deeply impressed
by the splendid views which greet
the eye on the every side, varying from
the quiet dell and the placid flow
of the Potomac's waters to the rugged
magnificence of the "Narrows," through
which flows Wills creek, in the chan
mel made thousands of years ago by
natures self. 1t is a notable place.
Once seen it will not be forgotten. On
either side rise the rugged rocks to an
altitude which justly entities it to the
flattering description given it by the
great English novelist, William Make
peace Thackeray, in the ''Virginians."
One of the characters of this famous
book, George Warrington, in his story
of captivity among the French and In
dams, after Braddock's defeat, in de-
scribing his escape and homeward
Journey, says: "The last days march
of my trusty guide and myself took US
down that wild magnificent pass of
Wills creek, valley lying between
cliffs nearly q thousand feet high
bald, white and broken into towers like
huge Notifications, with eagles wheel
ing around the SUBMITS of the rocks
/ and watching their nests among the
crags. And hence we descended to
Cumberland, whence we had marched
in the year before, and where there
was a considerable garrison of our peo-
pie. Oh, you may think it was well
come day when 1 saw English colors
again on the banks of our native Po-
tomac."
The picture is well drawn, and the
century and half of years which have
backward rolled into the past since
then have not lessened the natural
beauty of the scene. The eagles have
disappeared and so has the English flag,
but the wild magnificence of the cas-
tellated rocks remains. Through the
narrow defile below them the march of
civilization to the westward has con-
tinued even until now. Around and
about it linger legend and story of the
old town by the creek and riverside; of
the savages who dwelt there, of their
loves and hates; of the coming of the
''pale face" and the gradual disappears
ance of the Indian race; of the leap of
the savage lover for the sake of the
maiden of his choice; of the Indian
chieftain, "Will," and many kindred
themes. The Indian and his struggles
against the "pale face" are but men,
cries now, and the white man has taken
possession; the region has developed,
and the hidden treasures of coal, with
which the mountains above are rich,
have made Cumberland and the
Georges Creek valley populous terri
tory.
The "Narrows," Wills creek and
Wills mountain have ever had attrac-
ton to some people in every generation,
bearing near the verge of veneration.
Especially may this be said of that part
of the scene lying to the right as we
stand at the entrance of the ''Narrows''
looking westward, and which bears the
name of Willis mountain, or as it has
been named of late, "Baehr's heights
Many OF those who are not at LIES