THE FRONTIER ONCE MORE 213 



the early fur trappers, when Mr. Miller of the 

 Astor Fur Company and his companions 

 trapped beaver, only to be robbed by Indians 

 and set afoot naked and without arms in the 

 unknown wilderness, and rescued later by Mr. 

 Stuart, who found them in a most pitiable con- 

 dition on the banks of the Snake River; when 

 Captain Bonneville spent a winter here living 

 in plenty, with thousands upon thousands of 

 buffalo feeding about him; when Kit Carson 

 and his companions trapped beaver along Bear 

 River, and chased Indians into the mountains. 

 The valley lies at a mean altitude of 6,500 feet 

 above sea level. Its climate is, therefore, too 

 cold for successful fruit culture or general 

 farming, and to this, no doubt, is due its tardy 

 development. 



One of the most delightful surprises of my 

 journey met me just before emerging from 

 Laketown Canon, when suddenly, at a turn of 

 the road, Bear Lake, stretching away between 

 rugged mountains as far as eye could reach, 

 and the little settlement on the lake shore in the 

 foreground, surrounded by green and framed 

 by canon walls, flashed up before me as sud- 

 denly as a lantern view appears upon the can- 

 vas. 



There is a road on either side of the lake. 



