718 
FOREST AND STREAM 
June 8, 1912 
dering why nature should select any one spot, 
and wdiy this district was especially chosen for 
her particular attentions for such unusual prodi¬ 
gality. Away, hidden in some most inaccessible 
part, she conceals her most priceless gems as 
though her innate modesty forbade her reveal¬ 
ing them in haunts more conspicuous, where 
lurked the eye of the inappreciative. In her se¬ 
clusion she gloats over her treasures and reserves 
them for the lucky ones wdio discover her while 
this mood lasts. 
Here a lovely tree-fringed bay or inlet; there 
some bold promontory and charming waterway, 
w'hile from somewhere in close proximity comes 
the sweetest of music across the fragrant in¬ 
vigorating air, of some swollen hill stream or 
purling brooklet in the waters of w'hich many 
an unsuspecting trout is ready for the fly. Sure¬ 
ly, it was mid some such scenes as these that 
Tennyson conceived his daintiest of poems, “The 
Biook,” and as we pause at the foot of that de¬ 
clivity. and w'atch the murmuring stream trickle 
lazily, at our feet, we find ourselves, unconsciously 
repeating the familiar lines: 
“I come from haunts of coot and hern 
I make a sudden sally. 
And sparkle out among the fern, 
To bicker down a valle 3 H”* 
While memory is further aw'akened by the grace¬ 
ful serpentine movement in some spot deeper 
than the rest, which has its counterpart in the 
lines: 
“I wind about, and in and out, 
A\*ith here a blossom sailing. 
And here and there a lusty trout, 
And here and there a grayling.” 
“I slip, I slide, I gloom, T glance 
; Among my skimming swallows; 
I make the netted sunbeam dance 
Against my sandy shallows.” 
* * * * Jj: Jj: 
‘‘And out again I curve and flow, 
To j*oin the brimming river, 
For men may come and men may go, 
Rut T go on for ever.” 
As we leave the deck of the steamer at Por¬ 
tage, it is small W'onder if the scriptural allusion 
to commencing proceedings with the best comes 
to mind, and then, “when men have w^ell drunk,” 
having recourse to “that which is worse.” 
There is a cunningness about the above method 
which has no place here. Despite the fact, how¬ 
ever, that Fairy River and Fairy Lake are per¬ 
meated with a charm which is hard to describe, 
it cannot be said that either the above system or 
the reverse has been adopted. These waters of 
“Fairy-Land” grow on one, begetting an enthu¬ 
siasm which, in every sense of the word, is justi¬ 
fiable, and by the time the magnificent southern 
hostelry is reached, not one soul can lay the 
charge that the Lake of Bays is one whit inferior 
to her less pretentious northern rival. 
The shores of this lake speak of its growing 
popularity as a holiday resort, and the charming- 
spots on her shores draw attention to a host of 
delights which cannot be compassed within the 
limits of a few weeks. On many a future holi¬ 
day, however, shall we avail ourselves of their 
proffered hospitality and temptations to “stay a 
while and rest.” 
A brief sketch is manifestly not the place in 
which to look for details, and the intending 
visitor, that loyal one who, imbued with the para¬ 
mount claims of his own country, will be able 
from official circles to obtain all the information 
necessary. 
Seen at night from the beautiful wooded banks, 
these delightful lakes are particularh- fascinat¬ 
ing. In and out, among the headlands and hays, 
glide like huge illumined swans gayly lighted 
boats, while the banks are shrouded in the silent 
solemnity of the summer night. A merry laugh, 
a lusty call, only add an impressiveness to their 
charm, wffiile the touching, appealing voice raised 
in the renderin.g of some well-known old-time 
melody, the refrain of which is agreeably taken 
up by an invisible chorus far across the placid, 
nature's playground. 
darkened waters, creates an impression that will 
remain long afterward, reminding the visitor in 
some far-off clime perchance of the pathos, in¬ 
termingled with the unspeakable pleasure of a 
night in this “Fairy-Land” of the North. 
If the scenery necessary for the full enjoyment 
of a summer holiday could be regulated or meas¬ 
ured by quantity or quality, there is surely suf¬ 
ficient in this one district of these Highlands of 
Ontario alone for the perfect delectation of a 
whole continent. 
More than one has compared these tranquil 
waters, and their environment, to the beautiful 
Sydney Harbor in Australia, deemed by many 
to be peerless. The one conspicuous difference, 
however, felt by all those familiar with the grand¬ 
est and most picturesque of all sea harbors, is 
the e.xhilaration, the new life, given gladly and 
freel.v,- sleeping and waking, to all -w'ho render 
an affirmative response to the appeal of this 
Northern EHsium. 
A Volcano that Became a Lake. 
L^nique among the natural wonders of 
America is the lake in Crater Lake National 
Park, in Oregon, which is described in a publi¬ 
cation entitled, “Geological History of Crater 
Lake,” just issued by the Department of the In¬ 
terior. The traveler who, from the rocky 
rim of the lake, looks across its limpid waters 
to the cliffs beyond stands where once the 
molten lava of Mount Mazama boiled and 
seethed in its efforts to find an outlet, for 
Crater Lake is all that remains of a great vol¬ 
cano that ages ago reared its lofty summit high 
above the crest of the Cascade Range. 
Before the Cascade Range existed the 
region now included in the State of Oregon 
was a great lava plateau that extended from the 
Rocky Mountains to the present Coast Range. 
Gradually mountain-making forces became oper¬ 
ative; the surface of the plateau was arched and 
there rose the great mountain system which is 
now known as the Cascade Range. With the 
hardening of the crust the centers of eruptions 
became fewer until they were confined to a few 
high mountains that were built up by the flows 
of molten lava. In this way were created Hood, 
Rainier and Mazama, from whose sides and 
lofty summits streams of lava poured across a 
desolate land. Hood and Rainer still lift their 
snowy caps to the clouds and fling a defiant 
challenge to the mountaineer to scale their 
steep, ice-covered slopes. Mazama alone is 
gone, engulfed in the earth from which it came. 
In what is left of its caldera lies Crater Lake. 
' Mount Mazama in its prime rose to a height 
of over 14,000 feet above the sea. Mount Scott, 
which towers above Crater Lake on the east, ■ 
was only a minor cone on the slope of Mount 
Mazama. The portion of the mountain that 
has been destroyed was equal in size to Mount 
M'ashington in New Hampshire and had a vol¬ 
ume of seventeen cubic miles. 
From the crest of the rim surrounding the 
lake the traveler beholds twenty miles of un¬ 
broken cliffs which range from 500 to nearly 
2.000 feet in height. The clear waters of the 
lake reflect the vivid colors of the surrounding 
walls, and w-hether in the soft glow of early 
morning, in the glare of the noonday sun, or in 
the rosy hues of the dying day, the view is one 
of awe-inspiring grandeur and beauty. 
