The Columbia River: Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery, Its CommerceLyman, William Denison
History
The Columbia River: Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery, Its Commerce
Lyman, William Denison
Columbia River; Columbia River -- Description and travel; Columbia River -- History
At the mouth of the Horseshoe Creek, lodged on a little rocky island, is a
shattered cabin. We camp near this, and while we are engaged in preparing
an appetising meal of fish and venison, a grizzled prospector appears
coming down the trail. After the manner of the mountains, he makes himself
at home and camps with us for the night. In the course of his conversation
he narrates many stories of this wild region and of the prospecting and
hunting adventures that have happened in it. Finally he tells us the story
of the lost cabin, a story that certainly contains all the elements of a
romance. It appears that some years ago two young fellows from the East,
cousins, had come to the Stehekin to prospect. The old man who told us the
story was then the only prospector in the canyon, and he soon made friends
with the two adventurers. From broken pieces of conversation and finally
some confidences on the part of one of the boys, he learned something of
their story. They had been bosom friends all their lives, but had fallen
in love with the same girl. The poor girl, not knowing which she did like
best, told them that the only thing was for both to leave her for two
years, and at the end of the time she would decide in favour of the one
that had showed himself the braver and more successful man. Each kept his
destination a perfect secret, but to their astonishment, within a month
after, they found each other in Spokane. They concluded that it was the
appointment of fate, and so went together to the wild country of Chelan,
to seek a fortune.
After they had been there a short time they found a mutual distrust
springing up, and finally, by the advice of the old man, they agreed to
separate. George was to stay below. He was the more sullen and selfish of
the two, and it was due to him that they had fallen out. Harry was of a
frank and generous nature, and when it became evident that they must part
he insisted that he should help build a cabin for George. And the cabin
that they built was the very one that we now saw lodged against the rocks.
Harry went up the canyon toward the Skagit Pass, and there in the lonely
grandeur of the glaciers he plied his pick and shovel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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