New-York tribune., 1903-08-23
FIT TO BE NATION'S PARK.
Beauties Of Lake Mcdonald Region
Seen by Fee.

In the northwestern part of the State of Mon
tana there lies a combination of natures won
rs-mOuntanS and lakes and glaciers-as
worthy of being made a national park any
bit of territory a country ever owned. 1t is gen
orally known as the Lake Mcdonald region, and,
While many have heard of its wondrous beauty.
only a few thousands have seen it.
If Lake Mcdonald, Avalanche Basin and the
glacier region which surrounds them were any
where else they would have been discovered"
long ago. But the West is full of beautiful
s,erery. and it is a long way from the appre-
ciative East. Then, too until the Great North
ern Railway was pushed through to the coast
the country impossible of access except
for trappers and prospectors. In year or two,
now, the country will be as easily reached as
the Yosemite or the Yellowstone. Each year
sees an increase in the number of visitors, and
visit TO the Alps is no more talked about after
ward
In this Montana region. too there are peaks
which man has never climbed and mountain
basins yet unvisited 1t is of the few bits
o. the continent remaining absolutely unex-
plored The peaks and valleys seem to brstle
With taunts of defiance and hold out bantering
Invitations One easily climbs the inner slopes
about Avalanche Basin, reaching a height of
AGD or even 10000 feet and then looks above
ard beyond and wonders what may be there
There is still a chance for the pathfinder" in
spite of the fact that pioneers have been max
,ns paths and blazing trails the West for
nearly hundred years.
Some cne has called Lake Mcdonald the mir
Tor OF the Rockies and the beautiful country
still higher up "the crown of the continent"
Iae.e never was a lake in which the reflection
Was stronger, and any continent would be proud
OF the beauty of this Montana crown.
The lower end of this twelve miles of lake is
only three miles from the main line of the
Cleat Northern at Bolton. 1t is 5000 feet
above sea level Mountains frame it on every
see. At the southern end they are low and
covered with green forests to the very tops, but
TO the north they rise hundreds of feet above the
snoW line, and their tops are always white.
No one, it is said. has yet been able to find
bottom to Lake Mcdonald. Guides say they
have lowered 1.SO0 feet of rope without result.
There is not island, reef sandbar from
end to the other, and no sort of rushes or
other vegetation. 1t is a lake of blue ice water,
nothing more.
Last year a party of young people who were
visiting at Kaspell Mont, camped Lake
Mcdonald and made trip to Sperry Glacier
and Avalanche Basin.
We started out from Glacier House, a plain
but comfortable cabin of two stories at the
north end of the lake." said Yale man who
told about it. We had a guide who could
swear faster and longer than any other man in
the mountains. AS each chap had his best girl
along this swearing not exactly attrac-
tion and the chaperop had several fits. But
persuaded them that the oaths meant moth
ing, and that the guide would have been
deacon in a church had his lines fallen in East
ern places so they pretended not to listen and
the expedition proceeded.
We rode pack horses over Cameau's Pass,
which brought to the southern edge of Sperry
Glacier The girls had to ride astride. for the