The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1919-07-03
LOST LAKE
IS FOUND
H. R. G. P. A. MAKES 1T AVAILABLE
Organization Promotes Highway TO Scenic
Point Lake Cams Name Be-
cause Of lDacceSSlbility

Old Mother Earth has ever been fond
of tucking away in inaccessible quar-
ters Of her deep bosom her precious
metals and most beautiful Jewels. And
Nature. too, has hidden from the eyes
OF the children of men many Of her most
a0pealing creations. The barricades
Of folds of ranges. jutting down from
Mount Hood, mother of streams in the
Oregon Case AIDES. and the ramparts of
endless forests of fir and cedar, may
have been part of the plans of the
Jealous old Mother TO keep as long as
S could for her very own an emerald
green lakelet at the northwest base OF
the snow park. She succeeded well.
Oregon pioneers had wrougt for many
ears in their development of the vir-
gin valleys of promise before explorers
ghmpsed the comparatively small tri-
angular shaped body of water. Its re-
moteness and inaccessibility gave To
Lost Lake, soon to be added to the list
0 scenic attractions available to mo-
I rists touring the mid-Columbia cas-
c 4des. its name.
Lost Lake. so far as the chronicles
Of local pioneer historians record, was
first seen by the eyes Of white men
from the summit of Mount Hood.
eaded by John Divers, pioneer eX-
liorer party scaled Hood IN the early
sixties. On their return to the valley
they reported sighting two beautiful
: nall lakes off to the west of the sum
nit. One of these, known today as
huh Run. furnishes Portland with Il
lpply of pure water. The other is
Lost Lake.
Succeeding parties. successful in
reaching the top of Mount Hood. con.
tnued to bring in their stories of the
beautiful little emerald lakes. But
nearly quarter Of century elapsed
before white men set ther feet on the
shores Of the lake and caught from its
Gepths gamey trout SO firm and sweet
and appetizing.
Two or three early trappers visited
the lakes in the late seventies. In lSot
party composed of the following mer
set out from sere to find the lakelet
Ir. T. l.. Eliot and his two sons,
Chauncey and Edgar Eliot just gradu-
ated from Harvard University, j. II.
Ferguson, Prof. l.. F. Henderson. Ly-
man Smith and his son, William, New
ton Clark, M. d. Odell, j. T. Hud-
son and 4. l.. Smith. The last named
explorer says that DR.. Eliot was first
to suggest that the beautiful body of
water be formally known AS Lost Lake.
But" declares Mr.. Smith, "the
circumstances of our early adventure
really led to the christening. We ex-
pected to reach the lake on the third
afternoon out from town, but we made
a mistake and on reaching the spur OF
range on the headwaters of the West
Fork Of Hood river we turned to the
left instead Of to the right. The sky
was filled with one of those mean au-
tumntime hazes. We found that we
were lost. But around campfire that
night, in our joking over the matter,
we all agreed that it was not ourselves
but the lake that was lost The next
day we did some of the most strenuous
hiking over rough ranges and through
the tangles of forest underbrush have
ever experienced. We reached the top
Of range, but on every side the smoky
haze obscured our vision. We were on
the point of giving up. when some
member OF the party, looking down IN
the depression to the west, exclaimed
Look, that isn't smoke, it's water
Shlmmering
Sure enough it was. We were
right atop of the lake. less than half a
mile away. Down we rushed. Some
of us were thirsty. We drank from
the cool depths, changed from blue tc
crystal clearness on closer approach.
Balboa, when he discovered the Pacific,
was no happier than we. y
Like all the denizens Of such bodies
of water, the trout of Lost Lake have
their eccentriclties. 1t takes patience
to learn their ways, but catch OF
them is worth the expenditure of much
time.
"Of course, the first thing we did
after setting down our packs, con
tinued Mr.. Smith, 'was to begin fish
ing. But our. efforts were in vain. We
came to the conclusion that reports OF
trout taken from the lake were errone
Gus. During the afternoon, however
we came to the inlet, where the water
bubbed and rippled the surface.
knew if any fish were there we woulc
get them at sunset. Prof. Henderson
and set about building raft. Wher
we had finished we pushed off into the
ripples of the inlet, and never have
experienced more enjoyable fishing.
believe we were happier than Balboa
History doesn't record that he had
mountain lake trout for supper after
he had discovered the Pacific.
Since the days of its discovery com
paratively few people have lookeC
across the surface of Lost Lake at tn,
gigantic peak of Mount Hood. The
mountain from the northwest shore OF
the lake, on a clear day, when The
wind has died. and the lake makes {
huge natural mirror, seems more mas
sive than from other viewpoints. AnC
every man and woman who has pene
trated the 80 mile distance from HooC
River has returned to tell of the won
drous beauty. For years these few
have boasted of the charm of Los
Like.
About Is years ago the Commercial
Club raised subscription and a rough
wagon road was cut through the for
es to the shores of the lake. But ii
those days automobiles were an eXcep
ton rather than the rule of today II
fact, there were no automobiles in The
valley until two or three years later
The journey, by wagon and team
through the forest area, was long anC
tedious, and trips to Lost Lake wer,
limited to the more hardy and enthusi
astic vacationsts. Windstorms feIleC
trees across the old road, never mucl