Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1924-06-19

falls. | have crossed the oHdhe
river which is spanned by suspen-
sion bridge, which is 315 feet from
the bottom of the canyon. 1t is
wonderful to stand on the edge OF
the cliff and gaze down, down into
the gray-green waters rushing swift
ly along. From the cliff the river
appears to be nothing more than
small stream hemmed in by those
grim, many colored walls. Never
theless this same unbridled stream
has worn its way ever downward in
to that seemingly invincible rock.
If you wish to be thrilled, take
four mile hike across the sage COW
cred desert, from Dietrich; ascend
short. steep hill, and in a few min
utes you are confronted by crater.
Before reaching this great depres-
sion. you have no suspicion of what
YOU will suddenly discover; it looks
as if the earth had suddenly drop
ped away from your feet. ThIs
crater is three-fourths of mile
across, about 200 feet deep, and CON
tains nearly 800 acres. 1t is bowl
shaped In the fall, when | visited
it, the floor of the crater was cover
ed with tall yellow grass. From the
rim the floor of the crater appeared
to be covered with very short yellow
grass, merging into purple in the
center. The distance caused the
grass to assume the purplish hue.
The sides of the crater are thlckly
strewn with large boulders. These
are of many different colors. There
are only two ways of access, down
which horses may be ridden.
Two miles from my uncle's home
is a lake called Star Lake. The
wild, weird beauty of this desolate
stretch of land is wonderful. An
old Indian trail winds in and out
among the rocks and sagebrush. 1t
leads you to a lake which is hemmed
in by great jutting boulders. There
is no water in the lake this year,
but during years when there is suf-
ficient snow and rainfall, it would
float d large sized ship.
Mountains in three states can be
seen; Utah, Nevada and Idaho 1t
is certainly grand sight to see
them raising their hoary heads
along the horizon 1t is upon these
mountains that farmer depends
for his yearly supply Of water. The
all-important topic is, How much
snow on the mountains" Many
years the crops are worthless, be-
cause of the lack of water during
the ripening months. The water IS
stored in a large reservoir, its capac-
ity being 100000 feet. During the
spring and summer months the wa
ter is sparingly distributed along
the main canal which leads from the
reservoir to the farms.
Two important industries are po-
tato growing and sheep raising.
Bands of sheep numbering from
1000 to 5000 head TO the band, pass
through the sage-brush on their way
to the mountains. Their bleating
may be heard great distance on a
still night The small lambs enemy
is the coyote; an animal the size of
a collie dog. Coyotes will kill dogs
if they venture far from civilization.
However they will not harm persons
unless you meet one which has the
rabies
This country is noted for its po-
tatoes. Some Of them are SO large
that one would make meal for a
medium sized family. One farmer
on the Dietrich tract raised 5000
bushels, last year. Everyone can
have potatoes This winter they
were sold from the stores as cheap
as one cent a pound. Five potatoes
for five cents. Much fruit is also
raised. Last fall many bushels OF
apples were left unpicked Train
loads Of head lettuce were shipped
from this state. White clover seed
brings a larger income than any
other product.
Taken as a whole, Idaho is rapid
ly growing into prominence Violet
L. Wilson,. Dietrich, Idaho.