STEEP TRAILS 



The forest trees press forward to the water 

 around all the windings of the shores in most 

 imposing array, as if they were courting their 

 fate, coming down from the mountains far 

 and near to offer themselves to the axe, thus 

 making the place a perfect paradise for the 

 lumberman. To the lover of nature the scene 

 is enchanting. Water and sky, mountain and 

 forest, clad in sunshine and clouds, are com- 

 posed in landscapes sublime in magnitude, yet 

 exquisitely fine and fresh, and full of glad, 

 rejoicing life. The shining waters stretch away 

 into the leafy wilderness, now like the reaches 

 of some majestic river and again expanding 

 into broad roomy spaces like mountain lakes, 

 their farther edges fading gradually and blend- 

 ing with the pale blue of the sky. The wooded 

 shores with an outer fringe of flowering bushes 

 sweep onward in beautiful curves around bays, 

 and capes, and jutting promontories innumer- 

 able; while the islands, with soft, waving out- 

 lines, lavishly adorned with spruces and cedars, 

 thicken and enrich the beauty of the waters; 

 and the white spirit mountains looking down 

 from the sky keep watch and ward over all, 

 faithful and changeless as the stars. 



All the way from the Strait of Juan de Fuca 

 up to Olympia, a hopeful town situated at the 

 head of one of the farthest-reaching of the 



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