Throughout the whole extent of this vast and singular chasm, the scenery
of the river is said to be of the most wild and romantic character.
The rocks present every variety of masses and grouping. Numerous small
streams come rushing and boiling through narrow clefts and ravines:
one of a considerable size issued from the face of a precipice, within
twenty-five feet of its summit; and after running in nearly a horizontal
line for about one hundred feet, fell, by numerous small cascades, to
the rocky bank of the river.
In its career through this vast and singular defile, Snake River is
upward of three hundred yards wide, and as clear as spring water.
Sometimes it steals along with a tranquil and noiseless course; at other
times, for miles and miles, it dashes on in a thousand rapids, wild
and beautiful to the eye, and lulling the ear with the soft tumult of
plashing waters.
Many of the tributary streams of Snake River, rival it in the wildness
and picturesqueness of their scenery. That called the Bruneau; is
particularly cited. It runs through a tremendous chasm, rather than a
valley, extending upwards of a hundred and fifty miles. You come upon it
on a sudden, in traversing a level plain. It seems as if you could throw
a stone across from cliff to cliff; yet, the valley is near two thousand
feet deep: so that the river looks like an inconsiderable stream.
Basaltic rocks rise perpendicularly, so that it is impossible to get
from the plain to the water, or from the river margin to the plain.
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