Vashon Island news-record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1919-1954, 1922-02-10
REDINGToN GAP
A Story of the Foot, hills


OF course our little Betty
knew what the foothills were,
for she could see them from
the windows any day She call.
ed them mountains, and so they
We're, real mountains OF rock and
earth heaped up ever 50 high,
Some Of them were long shape
like a loaf of mother S spice cake
which had dubbed up along the
top, making rough edges and
deep cracks, but all were fasten.
ed together along the bottom
and up to half way of then
height in some places, making
a chain that lay across the
prairie, This little cham grew
smaller and smaller as it neared
the Platte river, until it was. only
rough sand hills. But up the
other way they grew to be very
large indeed until they joined
the great, monster big, Rocky
Mountains. SO that was why
they were called foothills. Be.
cause you see they were just
like little feet creeping out from
under the shadows of the great
mother mountain.
1t was several miles to the
nearest peak, which was called
Hay Stack Mountain, because il
looked for all the world like a
stack Of hay. An awfully large
one though, as Betty's. father
said it was nearly five hundred
feet high. Bonnie thought il
was about twice as high as that
after he had climbed it. We
are going to tell about that in
another story some time.
There were deep ravmes OF
canyons along the base OF the
foothills and it was in these
that Bonnie and his father went
to cut the pine trees and red
cedar for fire wood. Now when,
ever they went to Camp Clark
for the mail they had to &c
through the foothills, The trail
or narrow road over which they
had to pass was very rough. 1t
wound in and out among the
great rocks. 1t climbed steep
slopes, and around narrow iedges
where rock walls rose high on
one side and on the other there
just wasn't any rock or anything
at all. 1t just went down, down
ever so far, and it made you
feel dizzy to look over. There
was very strange thing about
this mountain pass. When you
were coming to it from the Platte
river side you would have said
How ever shall we get oVel
those mountains?
There was a great wall of rock
at the foot of the range where
the road was supposed to entel
the pass. There were no tracks
to lead the traveller up to The
right spot, for there was nc
earth, only rock, smooth rocl,
just like a floor. But if We
were driving along this road tn,
ponies would just jog along
without taking any notice of the
wall. Then suddenly we woult
turn sharply and disappear from
sight-that is, if any one were
following who did not know Tho
way, and they would think the
fairies had changed us into birds
and we had flown away. And
that is just what the indians
thought about the man who USED
to fight them and then disappear
into the pass. His name was Mr.
Redington and he came to the
country where Betty's nome was
built, many years before. He
brought cattle and horses to start
big ranch with, but the indians
stole his cattle and horses and
tried to kill him and his COW
boys. Mr.. Redmgton would chase
the savages, and fighting them
would drive them up the Platte
river then running swiftly back
he would vanish INTO the pass
The other men who came TO make
cattle ranches called Mr.. Reding