New-York tribune., 1903-04-12
ID4HO'S QUEER SPRINGS.
Remarkable Feature Of Snake RiUer
Cannon.
Canyon.

Glorious country, this exclaimed an old
traveller as the Oregon Short Line train came
to a halt out on the plains of the Snake River
in Southern Idaho.
Glorious country indeedr' declared his seat
mate who was West for his lungs, and for the
first time Man. are you joking or just crazy?
1t is nothing but a repellent desert, all grim
and brown and dead"
They looked upon the plain under d gray
wintry sky, which shows it at its worst unless
if is more terrible when one looks at it under
a midsummer noontide- But the man who loved
the desert did not retreat or even modify his ao-
mration.
II have ridden for weeks-months, eVen-oNer
this eaerningIv boundless surface he sald'
sleeping at night beneath the stars IN the
glare of the unclouded summer sun the plans
are featureless, or perhaps their expression Is
distorted and grotesque, rendered meaningless
by the deceptive mirage.
In the clear side lights of early morning.
however all uncertainty and undehnlleleSS
vanish. The fat land has details everywhere
on its surface The mountains stand boIuly
forth as sculptured forms OF amethyst and sap
phire every line of their deeply engraved SLOPES
although leagues distant. distinctly visible,
The man who had travelled continued with a
-rs.t deal more in the same strain. He knew
-ba+ Ia was talking about, too, for he was
Israel G. Russell of The United States GeoloS-
zeal Survey. He came East and wrote oul
technical report on the country II was u'S'
after the fashion of government reports pu'
the spirit of the country could not be kept en-
+ira11y down and it crops out III paragraphs
like this: G.. nv
"yVhen the approaching dawn Is hrsl pc
cefved. the sun seemingly a great hre oehehI IL
the distant edge of the plain, curtarhi quickly
Iirpj picture
gestive Of the view a mariner sometimes mas on
er,.,roacbinp a bold coast while the actual shore
49, :. e+iu below the horizon. The distant
mountains rising range above range ana Gull
,oinating in some farotf sun kissed peak, are Vi
the most delicate blue while all below is darK
and shadowy. AS the sun mounts hisher 'He
colors deepen becoming violet and purple u d
strength and purity never seen "here ram -
frac,,ert Purple in all its rich and varied
shades is the prevailing color impaired to ARD
lands when the is low in the heaEehS- 40
the dawn passes and the light becomes strohseI
+ta rich hues fade the mountains recede and
perhaps vanish in the all pervadlns maze, uetai'S
bacorne obscure even in the immediate fore
,,,5 a,,si the eve is paired by the penetrating
lipbt The shadows. if canyon walls are near
are sharply outlined and appear black IN con-
tras+ with the intense light reflected from the
sun bathed surfaces"
These Snake River plains are a veritable mu-
scum Of natures wonders. There are volcanoes
seemingly extinct, with their vast bed OF ancient
lava their craters and their cinder buttes
There are a score of lost rivers and creeks, hid
den canyons, magnificent waterfalls, and won
derful series OF springs.
No more remarkable springs exist than those
of the Snake River Canyon. In great abundance
they pour out from its northern wall during
AIO- nd
when the Snake River becomes a sickly stream
their combined volume is said TO be greater
than that Of the river itself where 1t passes over
ShoshoT Falls.
Some day the springs Of this Snake River