States. Mr. Lansdale speaks five different the word being “Heart of an. Awl," and Indian languages, having been brought up so, figuratively, "sharp, shrewd traders." among the Indians of the West, and he is Mr. Lansdale has in his possession the familiar with all their legends.

first map (made by his father) of the “They believe,” he said, “that a beaver famous Bunker Hill-Sullivan mine near made this lake; their tradition goes that Lake Coeur d'Alene; this mine is the one of their great medicine men passed greatest lead and silver producer in the from earth, but did not die, and that the world, having paid a dividend of more Great Spirit turned him into a mammoth than ten million in the fifteen years since beaver. Returning to earth, he found the its discovery. All this could have beSt. Joe river too narrow for him to turn longed to our steward had his father not round in, so he dammed up the stream, considered the prospect worthless, and throwing great sandbars across the river abandoned the claim. Fifteen years later, with his tail."

it was again on the point of being abanWe learned from the steward the true doned, when a belligerent pack-mule story of how the Coeur d'Alene Indians pawed up the grass and exposed a rich got their name; it was given them by the vein of pure galena, the end of which has Hudson Bay trappers, the real meaning of never been found. Many other fabulously

The village of Harrison, the gateway to the great lead and silver mines.

rich mines have been discovered in the place," he replied. The exhibition of logvicinity of this one, the annual output in ging jargon he gave was quite interesting, a radius of twelve miles being from fif- though almost wholly unintelligible to us, teen to twenty-one million dollars in a when our boat was suddenly stopped by a territory occupied by only about eight huge !umber boom which was being towed thousand inhabitants.

down the river. Our big boat was jammed As the steward was telling us this in- against the river bank, tearing off the teresting history, our boat approached a limbs of some of the trees, the remarkable picturesque little town perched high on depth of the stream permitting the vessel the hillside. “This is the town of Har- to lie closely alongside the bank; here we rison,” said Mr. Lansdale. “It is the waited an hour or more for the brail of place where you take the train for the

logs to pass. great mines I have been telling you about.” Captain Laird always carries a gun in

At Harrison, the Coeur d'Alene river, the corner of his little pilot room to shoot flowing with liquid lead, empties into the deer with along the route. He told us that lake, bringing as tribute a fortune in solu- in the eleven years he had been on the tion every year, the loss from the flumes boat thai he had shot fifty deer from the at the mines. These lead-laden waters pilot house windows. are death to animal and vegetable life; a As we rounded Black Rock Point, which dog or cat drinking from it dies. Just place marks the beginning of the Coeur below Harrison, the lake narrows down d'Alene Indian Reservation, recently into the St. Joe river, which is said to be opened by the United States Government the highest (above sea-level) of any navi- to settlers, Captain Laird pointed out an gable stream in the world. It is certainly object about the size of the pilot house up the most crooked river in existence, as in the top of a giant pine. well as being extremely narrow; it aver- “This,” he said, “is an eagle's nest over ages about thirty feet in width, while in a hundred years old. The oldest Indian many places it is two hundred feet deep. on the Reservation says it was there when So clear and calm and motionless are its he was a little boy. Many's the time I've waters that the wonderful reflections of seen Old Baldy sitting there hatching out the rare scenery on its placid surface hold her eggs, and I remember one time when one spell-bound. Peeking through the I tried to steal her young ones—she nearly marginal fringe on the river bank, you

killed me.

I never was so scared in my can see mountains five and ten miles away life. I'd rather tackle a bear with cubs clearly reflected, an effect produced being any day. That ended my investigations that of a continuous moving picture show of the eagle's family tree.” in the water as the boat moves along. No As we steamed down the river, a railwonder the river is called “The Shadowy road drawbridge opened to let our boat St. Joe.” As you wind and wind, new pass. It is claimed that this drawbridge and surprising beauties flash on the eve at has the highest elevation of any

to be every turn, and the course of the river is found in the world. full of turns.

The steward came up and announced Before our engaging steward excused dinner, so we were conducted to a charmhimself to see after the dinner, he took us ing dining salon, where we were served up into the pilot house and introduced us with an old-fashioned chicken dinner, into Captain Eli Laird, who proved to be a cluding every variety of food the season prince of entertainers: he is an unspoiled afforded. We sat where we could obtain son of nature, having spent his early life bewitching views of the passing scenery. as a lumber-jack: his personality is as re- When we reached Lake Chatcolet, our freshing as a breath of old briny, and he steward got off to make his customary possesses a gift of native wit and eloquence catch of fish with which to serve his guests which should have made a famous orator on the boat next day. of him. Wondering at his eloquent, We passed on until we reached Hell's though provincial flow of language, we Half Acre, a rendezvous for bear and couasked him how long he had gone to school. gar, that would rival the jungles of Africa

“I went to school one day in my uncle's in the density of its undergrowth. Few

white men, we were told, had ever pene- next turn the river makes it almost loops trated it.

itself, taking three miles to get around Near Chatcolet is the only straight a railroad tunnel only 450 yards in length. stretch in the river; it extends about two Here the river is so very crooked that the miles, and is called by the Indians “The boat ahead often looks as if it were comLong Lookem.” Wild horses used to roam ing directly toward one. We saw large on the level meadow land along the river fields of peppermint in cultivation along at this point, which stretch used to serve the river. These peppermint beds are said the Indians as a race track, until the Jes- to rival the famous fields of Michigan, and uit fathers came along and taught them fortunes are in store for the men who are the folly of horse racing. The last of cultivating this shy herb. these wild horses were caught only in From almost every point along the 1907. The Indians, it is said, would bet journey, Mt. Baldy, 7,000 feet high, was everything they had on a horse race. When visible in the distance. Soon we reached they had gambled away all their other pos- another little town, called St. Marie's, sessions they even bet their squaws as a which looked like a Swiss village. Here last resort. A story is told of "Spotted the St. Marie's river, after almost looping Louis," a warrior chief of the Coeur itself several times, finds its way into the d'Alene Indians, who at the close of a St. Joe. horse-race meet had thirteen squaws to St. Marie's is essentially a lumber town, his credit.

being in the center of the largest body

“Spotted Louis” is still alive, and says of white pine timber in the world. Cerhe had a “Skookum horse,” that he was tainly Nature has given this little town "big-man-Louis-had-thirteen-wives."

one of the most exquisite settings imaginOn a ledge a quarter of a mile from the able. St. Marie's Peak rises in bold river at the Long Lookem is the spot on grandeur from an encircling arm of the which the priests pitched their tents and river. established the first mission among their After going to the head of navigation, tribe of Indians.

our return voyage brought us late in the The crumbling chimneys of the rude afternoon to our cozy houseboat near Chathuts occupied by the Hudson Bay trappers colet, which the steward had kindly secan be seen near here from the boat. That cured for us. Chatcolet is a small lake this one straight stretch in the river was just to the right of the river, and it appreciated both by saint and savage can abounds in a great variety of fish and be realized, when you see that the very game. Several thousand acres of territory

soon

adjoining this lake have been reserved by tention of the owner, who came smilingly
the State as a park, which is filled at pres- to the door and invited us to come inside.
ent with big game such as bear, deer, in- Our host proved to be Feodor von Luerzer,
cluding two species of the mule deer and a noted Austrian artist with manners most
white elk, moose, mountain lions, moun- gracious. The walls and even the ceiling
tain goats, wild cats and coyotes. Among of the little cabin were literally lined with
the small game to be found about the lake beautiful canvases, some only partially
are almost every variety of duck, including completed, but all showing the touch of a
teal, mallard, canvasback and butterball- master.
a white duck of exquisite flavor-wild "I always spend my summers here," he
geese, big gray geese, snipe, blue grouse-- explained, "at the Lucerne of America,"
really a branch of the turkey family- as I have named Lake Coeur d'Alene. I
pheasants, Virginia rail, great bittern, was born in Salzberg, and traveled all over
little bittern, magpies and swan ; fish such Europe before I came to America, and I
as lake trout, mountain trout, char or bull have found nothing more beautiful than
trout, black bass, perch and white fish, are this lake-nothing more inspiring for an
found in abundance. This spot is destined artist-not even in Switzerland. The lake
to become one of the most famous play- reminds me of Lucerne-only it is larger
grounds in America-it will

be and even more beautiful, and offers a
known as the Paradise of American greater variety of sports and pleasures
Sportsmen.

than the Swiss lake.” Often on moonlight
Near our houseboat stood Indian. Pete's nights, Mr. Luerzer used to take a party
gaily decorated tepee reflected in the of us out in his launch, and we could eas-
water's edge. He makes his living hunt- ily have imagined ourselves in Venice.
ing and fishing, so we soon made friends The lake and hills clothed in moonlight
with him and took lessons in the best presented a scene of irresistible charm,
methods of trout fishing and shooting the while the brilliantly lighted city of Coeur
game that haunts the lake. It was ideal, d'Alene viewed from our boat looked like
cruising up and down the river in our a crescent diadem encircling the silvery
houseboat, and canoeing on the lake. We waters of the lake. One of our excursions
made the acquaintance of many campers took us to Hayden Lake, only a few miles
who owned other houseboats or summer distant from oeur d'Alene. This small
cottages on the lake. We counted two glacial lake, with no visible outlet, is a
hundred houseboats strewn up and down · marvel of Nature's handiwork. It is in-
the river.

describably beautiful. We could only ex-
One day we rowed to Silver Beach near claim with Byron, in his apostrophe to
Beauty Bay on the lake, and found an. Leman :
ideal spot for bathing, the water was so
clear and calm that the pebbles on the hot-

“Clear, placid Leman! thy contrasted lake

With the wild world I dwelt in, is a thing tom could be seen at a depth of ten feet or

Which warns me with its stillness to formore.

sake
Having fastened our boat to the land-

Earth's troubled waters for a purer spring.
ing, we made an excursion into the pine
woods, and suddenly we came upon the

This quiet sail is as a noiseless wing
quaintest, most rustic little dwelling we

To waft me from distraction; once I

loved
had ever seen. It was built of rough
pires with balustrades. grillwork and jar-

Torn ocean's roar, but thy soft murmur

ings
dinicre stands made of knarled and twist-
ed twigs from the forest. Even a rustic

Sound sweet as if a sister's voice reproved,
writing table of the same design stood on

That I with stern delights should e'er
the inviting-looking though tiny veranda.

have been moved.”
Moose horns hung over the doorway. A President Taft was entertained with a
palette and easel under a nearby tree told bear dinner at the tavern inn on this lake
the story of the occupant beyond a shadow during his famous trip through the West.
of a doubt. Our expressions of admiration “It is one of the most charming spots in
over this sylvan retreat attracted the at- America," said President Taft.

1