ABODE OF THE GENII, LAKE SUPERIOR.
The Pictured Rocks are beautiful and fantastic at all times, but it is in winter that they are sublimely lovely, bewilderingly grand, as photographs taken by Mr. Childs, to whom we are indebted for their use here, will show. The falls of Miners’ River are exquisite when pouring over a brink fringed with greenest foliage, but when held in the vise-like grip of winter they are magnificent almost beyond conception. They are a fitting prelude to the spectatorium of cave wonders near-by, such as the “Abode of the Genii,” which might better be called the “Throne-room of Fairy Stalacta.” The water percolating through the roof of the caverns is frozen into the rarest, daintiest and most exquisite incrustations imaginable, some having the appearance of snow balls, chrysanthemums and lilies, while others reach down their immense crystal points, as if trying to rest their ponderous weight upon the opalescent floor. The “Cave-of-the-Winds” has a splendid entrance, and being shallow in depth is well lighted, so that the ice-covered walls reflect the most gorgeous colors; but the congealed formations, while very beautiful, cannot compare with those that the Genii of the neighbor grotto have appropriated. The splendors of these shores, however, are by no means confined to the caverns, for almost equally curious and charming views are presented by the vertical faces of the snowy cliffs, upon which winter hangs the most magnificent draperies. “The Cascade” is formed by the water flowing over a low bench along the shore, but at many points more curious effects are produced by the fierce lashings of the lake that toss showers of spray high up on the cliffs, where it freezes into shapes peculiarly wonderful and often radiantly beautiful. “Peter’s Pillar” is a curious ice monument formed by a little waterfall that drops through a hole it has worn in the bluff, but about the base are pretty ice terraces and graceful corrugations, the frozen spray cast from the shore-beating waves of the angry lake.
CAVE-OF-THE-WINDS, LAKE SUPERIOR.
EXTERIOR VIEW OF CAVE-OF-THE-WINDS.
The Cave-of-the-Winds presents a royal view of sky and lake, through an archway covered with stalactites, when the observation is taken from within; but its outward appearance is not particularly striking. The cave is shallow in depth and well lighted, so that the ice-covered walls give forth the most gorgeous colors as the reflected rays from the lake fall upon them.