CHAPTER VI 



DOWN THE ROGUE RIVER 



IN southwestern Oregon, in the lower part of 

 Des Chutes Valley, like a sapphire in a set- 

 ting of emerald, lies one of the real wonders of 

 the world a vast and perfect crater filled with 

 pure, limpid water. In the immediate vicinity 

 are the Calapooia Mountains, of which Crater 

 Lake occupies a peak, and here are some beauti- 

 ful canons filled with verdure. Much of the coun- 

 try from here to Shasta and beyond is volcanic, 

 and in places the earth is covered with lava balls 

 which were sent whirling into the air ages ago, 

 to fall back and bombard the shrinking earth. 

 But everywhere Nature is trying to cover this. 

 Splendid forests have arisen, streams have cut 

 down, forming canons, and a wealth of fern and 

 fragrant verdure has burst forth, concealing the 

 evidence of a thousand tragedies, draping the 

 hard lava with tapestries of moss, and convert- 

 ing the rifts in the face of the earth into glens 

 of radiant beauty. 



One of these gulches has been made by a little 

 river that rises near the slopes of the crater and 



doubtless derives some of its water from it. It 



9 6 



