the outpouring of successive
floods of lava which swept around the higher mountains like an
ocean.

Many canons furrow the eastern slope of the Cascade Range, and
terminate in the greater canon of the Columbia at the edge of the
lava. One of these canons, deeper and longer than the rest, has been
blocked by a dam at its lower end. Beautiful Lake Chelan lies in
the basin thus formed. It begins only three miles from the Columbia
River, but winds for sixty miles among the rugged and steep-walled
mountains, terminating almost in the heart of the range.

The lake can be reached either by crossing the mountains from Puget
Sound, over a wet and difficult trail, or by ascending the Columbia
River from Wenache, the nearest railroad station. The trip can be
made from the latter point either upon the stage or river steamer.
The wagon road is very picturesque, winding now under lofty cliffs
with the river surging below, now along the occasional patches of
bottom land where in July the orchards are loaded with fruit.

The first sight of Lake Chelan is disappointing, for at the lower
end, where the wagon road stops, there is little to suggest the
remarkable scenery farther back in the mountains. Rolling hills,
covered with grass and scattered pine trees, slope down to the
lake, while here and there farmhouses appear.

One cannot help asking at the first view what there is about Lake
Chelan which has made it, next to Crater Lake, the most noted body
of water upon the Pacific slope of the continent. But wait a little.
Either hire a rowboat and prepare with blankets and provisions
for a camping trip about the shores; or if the time is too short
for carrying out that plan, take the little steamer which makes
tri-weekly trips to the hotel at the head of the lake. Long before
you reach the upper end you will begin to appreciate the grandeur
of the lake scenery in its setting of steep-walled mountains.

Little of Lake Chelan can be seen at one time, for its course among
the mountains to the west is a very crooked one. The noisy steamer
leaves the town at the foot of the lake and in the course of ten
miles steeper slopes begin to close in upon us. Many little homes
are scattered along this portion of the lake, wherever there is
a bit of land level enough to raise fruit and vegetables.

Now the mountains become more rugged and rise more steeply from
the water's edge. The steamer is very slow; it takes all day to
make the sixty miles,