31 THE ]\rOUNTAINEER 



every time an elevation was reached above timber, were Goblin Canyon 

 and si^iis of an old Indian vill^^e on Semple Platean. 



Goblin Gates. The so-called (Joblin (iates are ledges of projectinij: slate 

 where the Elwha is crowded through a narrow portal about twelve feet 

 wide into a canyon with rock walls hundreds of feet hioh, Avhich seems to 

 swallow the river down its gloomy depts. 



Signs of Former Inhabitants. While exploring for a ti-ail up Elwha 

 Pass the first evidences of old Indian tribes were discovered. This was 

 a spruce, and the blazes were evidently made when it was a sapling. The 

 wood and bark had almost grown over the blaze. 



They concluded from the condition of the blazes, the size and rate of 

 growth of the spruce in such a locality, that the blaze must have been made 

 over 200 j^ears ago. 



Not far from this tree they found an old wringing post, used by the 

 Indians in dressing skins. After this, while in the Elwha region, other old 

 trails were discovered, also other of the wringing posts. 



Capt. Barnes suggests that this region would probably well repay in- 

 vestigation, yielding interesting traces of the old Indian tribes once living 

 here. It lies between Geyser Valley and the entrance of the Lillian River. 



A blaze discovered later in the vicinity of Mt. Fitten, had grown with 

 the tree, and was about ten feet long. When cut into, 210 rings of growth 

 were counted covering the edge of the blaze. 



Semple Plateau lies on the west side of the Ehvha and north of the 

 Goldie River. 



Capt. Barnes describes it as a level plateau one and one-half miles long 

 and three-quarters of a mile wide, rectangular in form. It is covered with 

 a thin soil over white gravelly sand. The trees are mountain fir, spruce 

 and Douglas pine, all small, in marked contrast with the trees all around 

 the plateau, which are very large. 



Upon the plateau great numbers of the trees are blazed and otherwise 

 injured, undoubtedly by the hand of man. All these scars are old. A cir- 

 cular mound, evidently artificial, was found on the plateau. There was 

 no fallen timber. 



The conclusion from these signs and from the situation of the plateau, 

 three sides sloping steeply and the fourth an inaccessible moun'.ain side, 

 that it was the site of an ancient Indian village. There was no water on 

 the plateau, but springs on all sides, just below the margin. 



Avalanches. Avalanches are said to be uncommon except in the Bailey 

 range. The mountains, even where very steep, are heavily timbered, and 

 very few avalanche tracks are seen through the timber. 



Geysers. Geyser Valley was so called because of noises heard there 

 and believed to be geyser eruptions. The geysers were suspected of being 

 in the canyon below the mouth of Lillian River, but could not i)e certainly 

 located. 



A second geyser, if geysers caused the noise, was heard on the Quin- 

 iault River between the east fork, or Crumback River, and Lake Quiniault. 



Capt. Barnes describes the sounds as beginning slowly, like the click- 

 ing of a ratchet on a cog-wheel, gradually increasing in rapidity until at 

 the end they are too rapid to be distinguished, and ceasing abruptly at the 

 end of eight seconds. The interval between reports Avas four seconds. 

 As near as could be determined the intervals between times of activity' was 

 three days. 



