86 The Shoshone Island. 



feet above the muddy masses that once formed 

 its bed. From this Kern Creek hill we are 

 looking eastward into the very depths of that 

 old lake bed that once swept around the west- 

 ern spur of our Shoshone island. 



And now, if after an hour's enjoyment of 

 this grand geological landscape and carefully 

 noting the varied shades of the picture, we 

 examine more minutely the surface features, 

 we may easily observe three or four drainage 

 depressions through which as many creeks 

 have carved their beds and through which 

 they now empty northward into the John 

 Day river. The nearest of these, and almost 

 at the foot of the descent before us, is the de- 

 pression of Kern creek. Beyond this, a like 

 irregular depression almost concealed by the 

 hills it has carved, lies the bed of Cherry 

 creek. 



All this is simply a vast system of carving 

 done by these streams in the muddy sediments 

 of one of these old lake beds, and now turned 

 up to the light of study. 



