290 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY 
A quarter of a mile below the old dam, on the east side of the river, the sand- 
stone forms a mural escarpment, of thirty-five feet in height, in strata of from two 
to eight feet thick. On the west bank, opposite this section of sandstone, the most 
southerly exposure of crystalline rocks on this river rises to the height of six feet 
above the water, and is composed of a quartzose granite, containing magnetic oxide 
of iron. 
October 13. At one o'clock we reached Petenwell Peak, thirty-two miles below 
Whitney’s Rapids. The country between these two points resembles, in almost 
every respect, that seen below the Dalles of the Chippewa River. The river winds 
through sands, rising forty and sixty feet above its level, and presenting in its bends 
extensive slides, from a quarter to half a mile in length. It is very crooked, and 
the channel is rendered somewhat intricate by the great number of sandbars, which 
change their position with every rise and fall of the river. Like the region alluded 
to on the Chippewa, the country is a succession of sand-plains, rising in low terraces, 
covered with a short, coarse grass, and having a few small pines and shrubby oaks 
scattered over it. 
About half a mile before reaching Petenwell Peak, that huge mass of rock sud- 
denly presented itself down a reach of the river, rising above the level sands to the 
height of two hundred feet, or more, and presenting, in every respect, the semblance 
of a work of human hands, now dilapidated and in ruins. It required no excited 
imagination to see, in this extraordinary mass of rock, the remains of some ancient 
stronghold. There were the massive walls, defined and regular in their outline, 
battlements, towers, buttresses, surmounted by towering pinnacles, deep, dark win- 
dows, and, in short, everything necessary to render the delusion perfect. 
The base of the peak is an oval, about three hundred yards in the long, and one 
hundred yards in the short, diameter. On the east side, the rock is almost perpen- 
dicular, and is washed at its base by the river. On the north side, a small creek 
comes in from the west, close to the rock. On the south and west sides, there is a 
very abrupt slope from two-thirds the height of the rock to the general level. This 
slope is made up of sand and huge fragments of stone, with small pines scattered 
among them. The upper third is a perpendicular wall of rock, split into towers 
and turrets, and which I did not ascend. The prospect from the point which I 
reached is very extensive, embracing an expanse of country probably from forty to 
fifty miles in diameter. 
The general appearance of the country from this elevation is that of a level or 
gently undulating plain, dotted here and there with groves of small oak and pine. 
But on every side, as far as vision can reach, other isolated peaks are seen rising 
from the plain. One towards the northeast, and distant probably twelve or fifteen 
miles, is apparently higher than Petenwell; and others, in different directions, from 
their appearance in the distance, no doubt equal it in height. To the southwest, 
on the verge of the horizon, there appears to be a connected chain of hills. In no 
other direction, however, is there the slightest appearance of connexion between 
the elevated masses, each one standing “solitary and alone,” and miles from its 
fellows. 
The rock is a light-coloured, coarse-grained sandstone, made up of perfectly 
