382 HISTORY OF PASADENA. 



"Then comes the great fall, 105 feet high in a single plunge, as seen 

 from below, besides about 100 feet more above but flowing in a somewhat 

 tortuous course and hence hidden from view by rock walls and growing 

 shrubs. The portion seen from below is elegantly festooned with mosses of 

 richest green ; and at its foot there is a semicone of spray upon which a 

 rainbow rests when the sun shines slantwise into it. Mrs. Reid and myself 

 saw this rainbow, vivid and bright, from 4 o'clock until 5:30 p.m. on July 29. 

 This is really the grandest and finest all-the-year-round waterfall in all this 

 range of mountains, and the only one known to produce a rainbow. And I 

 have named it ' Leontine Falls, ' in honor of Mrs. Prof. Lowe, who has 

 earnestly sympathized with and sustained her husband in his most arduous 

 and complex task of projecting, planning, superintending, pushing ahead, 

 and paying for, the wonderful utilization and mastery of nature's resources 

 which we here behold,- — the grandest enterprise which has been undertaken 

 in Southern California since the transcontinental railroads were built. 

 ' lycontine ' is Mrs. Lowe's christened name ; and by the same token I hereby 

 christen this perennial queen of the mountain falls, and give you its 

 Natalia or birthday legend : 



The Legend of Leontine Falls. 



Saint Peter was holding a banquet 



In honor of souls who had poured 

 Their lives out for human uplifting, 



And found their lives richly restored. 



Bright angels in radiant garments 



Served forth the memorial feast 

 With plates of seraphic devising, 



And pitchers like stars in the East. 



The viands were those of the Spirit — 



The exquisite essence of Truth, 

 Of Love and all Heavenly virtues 



For nurturing immortal youth. 



The-d^iflk was empyreal nectar 



Of rivers from life-source that flow ; 

 God's bounty for beings celestial — 



His bounty for creatures below. 



One angel by chance broke her pitcher. 

 And its clear crystal sheen poured down 



O'er the Falls of Rubio Canj'on — 

 The " Leontine Falls " of renown. 



The angel's quick tears for her pitcher, 



Falling down the aerial sphere, 

 Were sprent into beams iridescent 



Tliat form yet a bright rainbow here. 



The first photographic view ever taken of this waterfall was by W. H. 

 Hill of Pasadena, November 10, 1891. And the first woman who ever 

 achieved the climb into its mountain-hidden dell was Dr. Rachel F. Reid, 

 July 25, 1893. Still above lycontine Falls the water company has two tun- 

 nels. This canyon follows rapidly down from the summit to the foot of the 

 front range in a line almost due south. 



Echo Canyon is a large branch of Rubio, coming in from the west, 



