A SUBMERGED FOREST. 



liK ANY years ago, even so far back 

 /yi that the traditions of the old- 

 J_ \ est Siwash extend not there- 

 to, there was some vast up- 

 heaval of mother earth on the shores 

 of Lake Samamish that sent a portion 

 of the big Newcastle hill sliding down 

 into the lake, with its tall evergreen 

 forest intact, and there it is to this day. 

 About this time of the year the waters 

 of the lake are at their lowest, and then 

 the tops of the tallest of these big sub- 

 merged trees are out of the water, but 

 never more than ten or twelve inches. 

 Unfortunately for the curiosity seeker 

 and traveling public generally the sub- 

 merged forest is on the opposite side 

 of the lake from the railroad and the 

 station of Monohon, and very few peo- 

 ple ever see the phenomenon unless 

 they take the time and pains necessary 

 to reach it. 



Sam Coombs, the pioneer, has just 

 been over to view the submerged for- 

 est, and he is very enthusiastic con- 

 cerning its beauties and mystery. He 

 talks Chinook fluently, but with all his 

 quizzing of the red-skinned inhabitants 

 he has never learned anything that will 

 throw any light on the history of the 

 forest under water. The waters of the 

 lake are very deep, and the bluffs back 

 of the beach very precipitous, so that 

 the only explanation of the freak is 

 that either by an earthquake or some 

 other means a great slide has been 

 started in early times, and it went 

 down as a mass until it found lodg- 

 ment at the bottom of the lake. At 

 this time one can see down into the 

 glassy, mirror-like depths of the lake 

 for thirty feet or more. Near the 

 banks the forest trees are interlaced 

 at various angles and in confusion, but 

 further out in the deep water they 

 stand straight, erect, and limbless and 

 barkless, lOO feet tall. They are not 

 petrified in the sense of being turned 

 to stone, but they are preserved and 



appear to have stood there for ages. 

 They are three feet through, some of 

 them, and so firm in texture as to be 

 scarcely affected by a knife blade. 

 The great slide extended for some dis- 

 tance, and it would now be a danger- 

 ous piece of work for a steamer to at- 

 tempt passage over the tops of these 

 tall trees. Even now the water along 

 shore is very deep, and a ten-foot pole 

 would sink perpendicularly out of sight 

 ten feet from shore line. 



All over this country are found strata 

 of blue clay, which in the winter sea- 

 son are very treacherous, and, given 

 the least bit of opportunity will slide 

 away, carrying everything above with 

 them. This is the theory of the sub- 

 merged forest of Lake Samamish. It 

 probably was growing above one of 

 these blue earth strata, and heavy 

 rains, or probably an earthquake, set 

 it moving. The quantity of earth car- 

 ried down was so great that the posi- 

 tions of the trees on the portion car- 

 ried away were little affected. It is 

 hardly to be believed that the earth 

 suddenly sank down at this point and 

 became a portion of the beautiful lake. 



Few such places exist. There is a 

 place in the famous Tumwater Canon, 

 on the line of the Great Northern, near 

 Leavenworth, which is in some re- 

 spects similar. At some early time a 

 portion of the great mountain side 

 came rushing down and buried itself 

 at the bottom of the canon. Now 

 there is a considerable lake, and in the 

 center stand tall, limbless trees, differ- 

 ent in species from those growing along 

 the canon. 



At Green Lake, near Georgetown, 

 Colo. — a lake which is io,ooo feet 

 above sea level — is a submerged forest 

 of pine trees, some hundred feet tall, 

 but not so numerous as in Lake Sama- 

 mish. This same theory explains their 

 presence as given above. 



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