East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-07-10
One of Natures Gems.

lOOh uoMA upon tnelr mlrrOred images
below.
One of Natures Gems.
When you are out on the lake you
need only take in your oars and let
the waters become still about your
boat to see the skys reflection. So
perfect is the image that you might
well wonder whether you were afloat
in the blue of the waters or adrift in
the blue of the skies. The imaged
green of the hills, the darker green
of the firs and pines, the grays and
blacks and browns of the mountains,
the white of the snow-filled gorges on
the mountains sides come and go
upon the surface of the waters.
Now a breath of air from the valley
steals across the lake and with its soft
caress makes the lake respond with a
myriad of dimpled smiles. The
whitened trunks of the dead trees,
standing tall and ghostly by the wa
ter's edge; the reddish trunks of the
rough-ba frs cast their length
ened reflections in the still water, and
as the rippes from your oar travel
shoreward their mirrored images are
bent into wavy lines. They look like
| huge snakes swimming with sinuous
movement shoreward. Here upon the
waters the silent shadows are dancing
| ghost dance. The floating reflec-
| tons of the tree-fringed, grass bor-
dered shore, with softened and spiritu-
allied colors are ever blending and
/ ;pt
schemes.
As the sunkissed waves caress the
shore you hear their soft tapping
subdued, yet insistent, like the unfor.
getable memory of loves first warm
kisses echoing on memory's silent
shore. The waves are all a-tremhlc
where the departing sun makes acros.
the waters a FURNISHED trail of gold
| The trunks of the trees. with theil
| limbs and twigs which you see sc
| clearly lying upon the bottom of thI
| lake, and which seem but a few feet
| below the surface, are submerged AZ
| to so feet. Toward the center ol
the lake you must pay out 2S5 feet Of
! line before your lead touches bottom
| length. 1t seems never quite the
same-by sunrise, by daylight, lasheC
with storm, calm and untroubled
shimmering like molten silver in tht
moonlight-it is a creature of as man,
! moods as woman. But with all IT.
moods, with its calm and tempest, IL
sunshine and shadow. 1t is as deep al
woman's heart and as constant al
her love.
In winter 1t freezes over, and TO
| five miles one may hear the ring o
steel on ice as he speeds from shor,
to shore like winged Mercury.
a Land of Lakes.
| From the lake flows Walowa river
a clear, swift stream, wherein thu
deep pools and below the rapids lurl
the wary trout. ever alert for prey.
Back from the lake one can fint
rugged grandeur among the noun
tains. There, begirt by high peaks ol
all sides, nestles little basin which
in an area of six miles or less, has g.
lakes which range in size from fey
acres to a mile or more in length. II
the south of this basin rises loft,
Eagle Cap, dominating with its heigh
the whole scene. To the north, Saw
tooth rears its jagged outline agains
the sky. Southeast of Lake Basil
rises Red mountain. From a juttin
shelf on the mountain side one ma
see the gleam of more than a scor
Of lakes in the basin below as well a
the sources of most of the principa
| OF In,
the headwaters of Wallowa river, o
the wild and picturesque Minam, o
Eagle creek, Hurricane creek, and o
the Imnaha.
Climb further. Up, up, until yo
come to Summit lake. Now stop an
look around and below you. Near a