The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1901-07-04

deep content. Not far from the
station series OF round topped hills
rise regularly to the height of the
inclosing mountains Afar of,
through notch in the summit is
seen the snowy head of one of the
Seven Devils, as if looking out
curiously upon the rapid approach of
an enterprising civilization 20 his an
cient domain.
Had that valley been known and
accessible in the old days when men
we're building great monasteries, some
St. Bernard might have led a colony
of monks to that place. and have
titled many fertile field around
their stately pile. There the world
would have been shut out, ard the
ennobling scenery about them would
have helped them to lift US their
thoughts In holy meditations.
And the scene is just as tempting
to one who is we'll content to be q
simple citizen of Idaho in the year
1901 There is fertile soil for the
farmer, ranges for the stockman, trees
for the lumberman and minerals for
the miner. And what is there for
the pleasure seeker? 1t IL q place
to gladden. his heartl What better
place for a tent than under those
grand old trees where he can hear
every voice that Hiawatha ever
heard among his pine trees. He can
listen to the music OF the clear, cold,
plunging streams, or he can go up
and down their banks and fill his
basket with the speckled trout He
Can sit listlessly, and with his book
closed beside him, watch the whole
clouds dapple the plain and hillside,
until, their mission of beauty ended,
they cross the range and are Lost TO
sight, 1t Was matter of keen re-
gret to me that l had no time for
any of these pleasure, yet it is a sat
isfactlon to have such pictures in
the memory.
| was sorry that | was not able to
60 to the Payette lake, that l could
have reached by stage that evening.
Breakfast ut Weiser, dinner at Coun-
Gil and supper ut the lake is some
thing very different from the trip of
three days that was unavoidable
} only short time ago. But l did
| not have time even for that.
OF the Payette Lakes, Judge j.
H. Richards, now Mayor of Bois,
has written the following beautifu
description:
: "Lying about one hundred miles
, northerly from Weiser, there ha
2 been resting, through the centuries
f amid the solitude Of the wilderness
: the Pay ette lake. 1t has had n
n guiding hand but the mountain ali,
e storm through which it has smile
= and frowned at intervals, ever sine
r the hills were born. As it has bee
s the friend of the Red Man in hi
r search for food, SO will it. be til
e support Of the white man, in bring
e ing the resurrection morn to til
o vital forces sleeping in the withere
!. breast of the plain, for it is III
e reserve supply in the hour of emeI
1t gency to the river carrying mcistul
'e to the parched valley below.
e. "It has rested there through til
Is ages, wholly unconscious of its pu
l. pose or it's mission, lashed into
,e rage by the storm or rejecting bac
s the images mirrored there. TIL
Is lake, like "a smile of the Gre
'e Spirit, greets you with sinceri,
er that can be felt by the soul mo
~ than seen with the eye. What Q
20 inspiration comes to the weary at
I'd dust laden traveller as he goes dan
n ing in canoe over the waves,
ey they lift their heads and clap The
G, hands in hearty greeting, while bea
nd ing him like feather between Il
nd two mountains that frOwn down up
ks him from either side, for his insOle
a intrusion into the presence Of ii
th daughter of the mountain and stor
sr. AS you glide across the lake, y
he see mirrored there in its crystal bl,
'ut the overhanging rocks, the tr'
ng that clothe the mountain in perpet'
Ter green, and the blue dome above
he in all the perfection that sunlil
are and water can produce. Mounts
ter and gorges, forests and gleDs, sk
is ing its miles Of glistening surfs
On. all blending in harmonious grand
ing form picture that will live in
ses mind of the beholder forever -
res
are =.