Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1906-09-26


without avail The rain came down
in torrents, and we were wet through,
it was cold in the high altitude,
there was no place to camp, and we
were forty miles or more from anyone
and it seemed, any place. One of the
| bright moments of this search for
the trail was when we rapidly rode
| up to what we afterwards found to
| be the edge of the rim rock, and
TO our amazement and ecstacy was
unfolded a natural panorama of grand
uer and scenic beauty so magnificent
that EXPLANATIONS of delight came
from the lips OF the entire party.
Standing on the edge of the noun
tain, as it were, we looked down upon
| twelve beautiful lakes almost at our
feet, nesting among the trees and
hills like sparkling jewels in setting
| of gold, and ON down the mountain
side beautiful foaming streams bound
ed and rebounded from rock to rock,
losing themselves in the river which
flowed along the valley, where were
fertile fields, orchards, and small
towns, upon which the sun was shin
ing peacefully. and on the other side
in all directions as far as eye could see
the country gradually rose from the
valley in plains and plateaus, until
far in the distance, perhaps two hun
| dred miles away to the southwest, the
now.capped peaks of the Ouray noun
tains overlooked the scene, standing
as mighty sentinels, guarding the por-
| tails Of nature. To the south and east
were other mountain peaks, great
canyons and gulches, in all natural
panorama of such surprising beauty
about us did not deter us from spend
ing some little time looking upon it,
We were told by Mr.. Barber that we
were looking down the valley into the
Delta country, where Hotchkiss, the
home of A. ". Grow, is situated,
and we imagined we could see the
town, some seventy.five or eighty
miles away.
We rode about for another hour or
more, and were just about on the
point Of becoming discouraged of
| finding the trail, at least that day.
We stopped quite while under the
trees while the rain poured down,
and then returned to the point from
which we started after lunch, and to
the JOY Of us all we discovered the
trail, recognizing signs which Mr..
and Mrs. Barber knew to be the ones
we were seeking, and although it
was then about five O'Clock, we
decided to push on, and follow the
trail marked by blazed trees down
the mountain side to our destination.
We struck government trail and
had no difficulty finding our way to
lake from which mountain trout
are seined by the government and
| distributed to streams throughout the
state.
The descent over the rim rock on
the other side was even more difficult
than che ascent, but we dismounted
and by going little ways at a time
and then resting, succeeded in getting
down this cliff without accident. For
another hour we rode along without
particular incident, the trail taking a
downward course past several lakes,
| near one of which we came very near
losing two OF our horses by getting
them mired in the soft earth. Then
the trail assembled the mountain side
again, but the course was gradually
downward. AT one time the trail
went directly into lake and ended,
and we had the greatest difficulty
cutting our way along the mountain
side, jumping over great logs piled
in all directions. Everything was
wet, the mud was deep, and it seemed
almost impossible to make progress
1t was evident that it had been some
time since anyone had been over the
trail. Our horses climbed over two
or three hundred feet of large rocks,
piled ur on the side of the mountain,
evidently deposited there by an
earthquake, and we expected every
moment that they would break their
legs in crossing. 1t grew dark, huge
snow drifts INSTRUCTED our passage,
which we climbed through, and it
seemed that we would never get to
Bucks Lake, but finally, about nine
O'Clock in the evening, when we were
so exhausted that we felt that it was
impossible to go further, we spied
an old deserted, dilapidated log cabin
by the side of beautiful lake, sur
rounded on all sides by mountain
cliffs 1900 to 1900 feet in heighth, and
this was our camping place.
1t did not take Us long to unpack,
hobble the horses, get bite to eat
and roll up in blankets on the floor of
the cabin, and nothing transpired to
interrupt our deep sleep save the
bowling of the mountain lion or some
other animal on the mountain near
the cabin. The next morning we
fpa no