OCR Text |
Show 104 THE DEAD SEA amusement of the saint, and to the gratification of his feel ings of revenge for the cursing he got. The miner had been informed by some friends of the warm springs, and the luxury of a bath in them, and as that was before the days of bathing- houses in that vicinity, he had simply mistaken the locality. The smell of sulphureted hydrogen could be detected for some distance from the spring, and its action upon a silver coin turned it black in a few minutes. The smell is said to be particularly objectionable to some animals, and I am told that it is often difficult to drive a horse through the little stream that crosses the road. This is a country of lakes, and not least among the many to be admired for natural beauty, and that of its' surround ings, is a lake in the top of the mountains. A short dis tance south of the " Twin Peaks," almost on the very sum mit of the Wasach Mountains, is found Cotton- Wood Lake. It is reached by a wagon road on the western slope, which enters a canon a few miles south of Parley, and on the east can be approached by a trail leading over the moun tains from Parley's Park. The scenery along the western approach is very wild and sublime. On one side of the road are almost perpendicular walls of solid rock hundreds of feet high, and on the other side the rushing, leaping waters of the outlet of the lake, which are lashed into a foam as they run over the rocks, giving it the appearance of a stream of snow, or a glacier after it has dashed against rocks to grind it as fine and white. Making a steep ascent along a narrow road, until you reach an altitude of four thousand feet above the valley, you come upon this beautiful little lake. The banks on the east are tall and steep, but on the western side, for a short distance, the land is almost level with the surface of the lake. The water is as clear as crystal, and the trout can be seen swimming through it as distinctly as the gold- fish in the pools of parks in eastern cities, while the bottom is very plainly seen where it is ten or twelve feet deep. Trout- fishing here is not so exciting as in the rapid streams. The water is still, and the fish seem to |