THE GLACIEK LAKES 111 



than two thirds of its original area is now dry land, 

 covered with meadow-grasses and groves of pine 

 and fir, and the level bed of alluvium stretching 

 across from wall to wall at the head is evidently 

 growing out all along its lake ward margin, and will 

 at length close the lake forever. 



Every lover of fine wildness would delight to 

 saunter on a summer day through the flowery 

 groves now occupying the filled-up portion of the 

 basin. The curving shore is clearly traced by a 

 ribbon of white sand upon which the ripples play ; 

 then comes a belt of broad-leafed sedges, inter 

 rupted here and there by impenetrable tangles of 

 willows ; beyond this there are groves of trembling 

 aspen; then a dark, shadowy belt of Two-leaved 

 Pine, with here and there a round carex meadow 

 ensconced nest-like in its midst ; and lastly, a nar 

 row outer margin of majestic Silver Fir 200 feet 

 high. The ground beneath the trees is covered 

 with a luxuriant crop of grasses, chiefly triticum, 

 bromus, and calamagrostis, with purple spikes and 

 panicles arching to one's shoulders ; while the open 

 meadow patches glow throughout the summer with 

 showy flowers, heleniums, goldenrods, erigerons, 

 lupines, castilleias, and lilies, and form favorite hid 

 ing- and feeding-grounds for bears and deer. 



The rugged south wall is feathered darkly along 

 the top with an imposing array of spirey Silver Firs, 

 while the rifted precipices all the way down to the 

 water's edge are adorned with picturesque old juni 

 pers, their cinnamon-colored bark showing finely 

 upon the neutral gray of the granite. These, with 

 a few venturesome Dwarf Pines and Spruces, lean 



