The news=record. [volume] (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon) 1907-1910, 1908-09-03
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| on the beautiful Grande Ronde. and
then from where the rim rock breaks
sheer 1000 feet, the way into the
west fork of Waliowa canon. purple
deep and whispering with all the
thousand voices of the wind-swepl
pines must be essayei.
The road leads winding down. cut
boldly in the sheer that frowns
| above. The brake shoes scream
upon the wheels, the tires grow hot
the horses gallop down the last long
slope and thea the portals of the
canon proper rise in buttressed
strength.
A long low bridge spans brawling
waters there, the road leads in among
The pines, and then beneath a sheer
iplift of somber height a tiny sta
tion in a tiny clearing dares the will.
ierness. One long, lone pine lifts
Up like some Gargantuan plume
above the house.
The horses, knowing well that they
have reached the end of their days
work, neigh shrilly and with bang
md clatter the stage sweeps grandly
Up and stops. The driver, autocrat
Of fleeting time and story oft retold,
descends and mingles with the com
mon throng, and then all you have
heard, all you have dreamed. of din
ner at the Canon House comes true.
The valley where the fierce old
chief exacted tribute that was paid
by white mans blood is peaceful now.
The Powder river mountains wall IL
to the south. Piled peaks lift pointed
up and rise in serrated battlements
that grow until one towers over all
the mountains of oregon, out tops
Mount Hood.
The roadway to the lake is ever
up. The lake itself is hid until one
tops the hills that girdle it and when
the view breaks forth it mirrors al
'he glories of the hills beyond, the
peaks that rise above, striped black
by canons, patched by lurking SHOWS.
The water, cold as ice, is clear as
crystal lense. The blush waters O
Avalon are not as clean. No boats
With framed plates OF glass are
needed to look down into Wallowa's
depths. There is no water vegeta
tion there. The rocky bottom SO feel
below looks five.
The faintest splash of oars comes
magnifled by echoes from the fal
hllisides and at the southern end
mere Is a roaring as a waterfall
comes down from where the SHOWS
lie deep but yield before the ardol
of the sun.
Beyond the waterfall that foams
through tangled thickets to the lake
the mountains rise. Peaks in per
Spective stretch dwindling on TIC
eastward lift the Seven Devils in con
torted piles. To south the chain O.
oiCdho anu IOTIlS frame
Tor two vast peaks that pinnacle the
SKY and pierce the clouds. The place
is one of beauty, little known be
cause of difficulty of access and IFS
people lovingly with something o
The soft accent of Dixieland call !,
Willow"
The sunrise on the lake is gray
ana grand and pink. The evening is
a glory of the west. The shadows
creep out from the shores and stripe
the peaks reflected on the bosom q
the lake. The night comes on and
all the thousand whisperings of the
wood, the coming and the goings ot
the little people of the wild begin.
IL Is paradise untouched as vet nm.
marred by man. but when the rail
road comes its glories still will be
and one who finds himself at La
urande, where Grande Ronde valley
hes below the hills, can do no bette,
than to visit Switzerland in Oregon
10 Journey into Wallowa-"Wullow.
the vale of peace.