Dalles of the St. Croix River.
The Dalles enjoy a fame that is historic. They consist of high vertical cliffs which flank the valley of St. Croix River as it winds its way to the Mississippi. A great formation of trap-rock a thousand feet thick crosses this part of the country, and the river flows through a fissure formed, probably, during the process of cooling in this mass of volcanic outflow. The gulch thus originally formed has been deepened and widened through the lapse of ages by the action of the water, until it has become a mighty chasm through which a wide river rolls and tumbles. Many and strange are the shapes into which the water has carved the stone as it has worn its course through the barriers.
Here and there are such strange rock formations as "The Old Man of the Dalles," the "Devil's Kitchen," "Devil's Chair," "Devil's Pulpit," and "Elbow Rock." In fact, the "Dalles of the St. Croix" (as the river here is called) is full of the most wonderful stone formations.
The Devil's Chair is a massive vertical column which buttresses the formation beside the river to a height of 150 feet. It has a tall back, an ample seat and foot-rest, and seems peculiarly fitted to be the resting-place of some mythical and colossal human shape. Other curious features are the wells, varying in size and depth from a few inches to thirty feet. These are shafts in the solid trap-rock a hundred feet or more above the surface of the river. Their origin is due to the grinding power of bowlders which, rolling into a depression or a hole in the rock, the water whirled into the cavity with a spiral motion, thus causing the bowlders to revolve, and in the course of ages the wells have been bored as if by some titanic power, until the subsidence of the stream has annihilated the force, and the work has ceased, leaving the bowlders in the bottom of the cavity.
The village of Taylor's Falls is situated at the head of the Dalles. The hunting and fishing here are excellent.
John A. Rapue.
St. Paul, Minn.