The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-10-07
Frederick-Haskln' Letter
fspsdaI Correspondence
Thousand Islands and Then Some.
Especial Correspondents OF The

Alexandria Bay, N Y, Oct. g.
| Gilbert K. Chesterton in his talk or
ignorance of the. educated might
| have used the Thousand Islands a:
, an apt illustration of his text: "lg'
norance is not SO much what peo'
gple don't know as it is their know
ing so many things that aren't So
Thousand Islands are to mos
people a group of approximately
900 dots of land in the st. Law
. renee river A native of this place
who has lived in or near the is
, lands all her life says that there
are exactly 1000 islands in the
group" And her tone implied: II
you doubt it, count 'em yourself.
Yet the fact is that the Thousand
Islands number close to 1850. The
early French explorers sailed
through the maze of islands and
dubbed them with the name they
still carry. Thousand is euphon-
ious name, suggestive of romance,
and the history Of the islands has
run accordingly.
The romance of the French days
was Indian tradition. The Iroquois
had a picturesque tale to account
for the origin of this long stretch of
islands in the ST. Lawrence.
The Great Spirit, they said, want
ed peace on earth. So he gave to
the ST Lawrence region as a sign
an island shaped like a peace pipe.
This island, called Calumet, is still
pointed out near Clayton. Some
where near there was the garden of
the Great Spirit. But when his peo-
pie ignored the peace pipe and
brought war into the land, the Great
Spirit in disappointment seized his
garden up in a blanket to leave the
place The blanket tore, and the
garden, falling into the ST. Law
renee river, broke into a thousand
islands that lay on the surface of
the water. This origin, the story
says, accounts for the beauty Of the
islands.
The region, too, is claimed by
some students of Indian lore as the
scene of the Hiawatha story, as it
actually occurred in Indian history.
HIaWatha, according to these au-
thorities, was the Onondaga hero.
Michabou, Great Hare, whose wis
dom and proWess set him forever in
Indian affairs as the great leader
and example.
Today, Indian souvenirs in the
shops are the only signs left to re-
mind the people who dart about the
waters in motor boats of the times
when Indian canoes dotted the st. !
Lawrence.
A Modern Romance.
The romance for today is sup
piled by modern stories. Just |
across from Alexandria Bay, for in !
stance, is Heart Island with its
novel history. A beautiful castle |
stands on this island, a typical mil |
lionaire's residence. But the win |
doWs are suffered. The doors are !
boarded.
Eighteen years ago, they tell you, |
a millionaire planned this castle /
for his wife. There were so rooms |
and so baths, and other details on !
the same scale. An underground |
to the castle from the dock /
was constructed for freight. Even
the power house down on the. wa
-er's edge was built like a cluster |
Of towers. a million dollars was
put into the building, and unlimited |
and affection. Hearts
we're painted into the decorations or
he ceiling and cut in the carvings
If the stone.
But before it was finished the
mistress of the castle died. The
ordered WORK suspended
1t once. Crates of furniture were
eft unpacked in the rooms.
Later, visitors to the islands were
permitted by the caretakers to see
he castle, but so many brought pen
lnives and carved their names on