East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1908-08-26

DtHullIul uesCIlpliOH VI NdllONd a
canyon, lake and valley for the Sep
tember number OF Sunset Magazine:
In northeast Oregon there is val
ley peaceful. The mountains lift
around II on all sides and through 1t,
whispering, tinkling. clear and cool,
there winds ribbon Of river born
of SHOWS that whlrls and bubbles into
pools where lurk the salmon and the
trout. There is no clang of steel
shod wheel on steel-laid ties, no
scream of locomotive yet to echo and
re-echo through the purple canyon
depths but day by day swarm Of
human ants, industrious, implacable,
unthinking. toiling only for the weary
wages OF the day, builds up, tears
down and smooths pathway there
that commerce may be served with
steam and Steel
peaceful fields lie broad spread un-
derneath a summer sky that rivals
Naples In it's blue. Along its length
dot tiny settlements with houses neat
and new and through It runs a mere
thread OF a road where once each
day, each way there swings a six
horse stage from Joseph into Elgin
and the world. Far at the valleys
eastern end and cuddled by the
Powder river mountains lies a lake.
Its waters are OF crystal. cold as ice;
its surface mirrors all the peaks that
lift around: its depths hold spotted
trout that wait the lure. Sixty miles
east in Idaho the Seven Devils noun
tains lift. grotesque, satanic, serrated,
suggestive OF the pictures that Dore
drew for the place where souls are
damned.
And at the lake is Joseph, named
for the famous old Nez Perce chief
tain. Joseph who made his last stand
there before the whites. The valley,
vailed in by its lift of peaks. was his
until sow-moving prairie schooners
that had crawled across the plains to
barrier mountains found the pass,
and the Anglo-Saxon, lord of all the
world, laid claim to IT, baptized 1t
with his blood and took IT, might his
right, for his children and the chill
dren Of his children to build upon
and make the west that is to be.
At Elgin is the end OF steam. A
branch road OF the oregon Railway
& Navigation company threads
through the Grande Ronde valley
from La Grande and there yields to
the stage that yields unwillingly. for
day by day the silver-ribbond stretch
of ties goes on and on, until before
the early SHOWS begin to crown the
highest peaks the way of the Wal
Iowa stage will go to history and all
the little furred and feathered people
of purple-shadowed canon and en-
erald hill will shlver at the shrek OF
some new demon born of man that
shrills their wild From Elgin the
stage way climbs a hill for seeming
endless miles. Behind, below, the
Grand Ronde valley, hamlet, ,flecked'
spreads out diminuendo until It seems
the playground of some fairy people
that have clustered there and built
their tiny homes. {
with mail in boot and women with
the driver. place aux danes the
stage has right of way and takes 1t
grandly. swinging past slow freight
ers with their jangling mountain
bells. Four horse, six horse and
eight horse teams, two. wagons cou-
MED. loaded with the goods and wares
of all the world, climb weary grades
slide down the slopes creep slowly
on until the darkness makes them
camp. but past them all the stage
svinps on until the curtain drops up
on the beautiful Grande Ronde, and
then from where the rim rock
breaks n sheer 1000 feet, the way In
TO the west fork of Wallowa canon,
purple. deep and whispering with all
the thousand voices of the wind
swept pines must be essayed.
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 I
gallon down the last long slope and
then the portals of the canon prop
er rise in buttressed strength
A long low bridge spans brawling
waters there, the road leads in among
the pines, and then beneath a sheer
uplift of somber height a tiny sta
tion in a tiny clearing dares the will
dernessS One long, lone pine lifts 7
UP like some Gargantuan plume above
tho house.
The horses, knowing well that they
have reached the end Of their days
work. neigh shrilly and with bang $
and clatter the. stage sweeps grandly