Cedar Creek

“ The birds of Cedar Creek, however, were not the rough-wings, but the Louisiana water thrushes. On my first jaunt through the ravine (May 1) I counted seven of them, here one and there another, the greater part in free song; and while I never found so many again at any one visit, I was never there without seeing and hearing at least two or three. It was exactly such a spot as the water thrush loves,—a quick stream, with boulders and abundant vegetation. ”

“ Cedar Camp appears to be a name synonomous with the Bridge Creek locality. The compiler has been told that Cedar Creek is another name for Bridge Creek, but he cannot find any official sanction for the name Cedar Creek as applied to the stream. Cedar Mill, Washington County. This name was given by John Quincy Adams Young, who settled at the locality in 1862 and built a cabin. He ran a sawmill for a few years, then sold it to W. R. Everson. Young was the son of Dr. Elam Young, a well-known Oregon pioneer, who, with his family, came to Oregon from Ohio in 1847. ”

“ At the mouth of Cedar Creek there are about twenty acres of overflowed land which could easily be reclaimed by dyking. Along Canoe Passage there is a considerably larger tract of tide-land, probably 150 acres, which from two to three feet of levee would protect from overflow. Proceeding northward there is no open country until Deleatlay* is reached, where there are about 900 acres of level land, about one-half of which is subject to overflow at high tides. This produces an abundant growth of meadow grass. It is situated about two miles southeast of the village of Massett. ”

“ Now I'll cut down this birch where the post-office is to stand hereafter;' and a few sturdy blows of his axe prostrated the young tree. 'When I'm writing to Linda, I shall date from Cedar Creek, which will give her an exalted idea of our location: at the same time she will be convinced it is situated on the seashore, if I forget to say that in Canada every stream is a "creek."'
'Our people have an absurd partiality for what [143] they imagine "handsome names,"' said Mr. Holt. ”

“ Every subject of conversation introduced for the morning was tinged by that fairy legend, which tinged Linda's countenance also, rose-colour. Mr. Wynn the elder was slightly mystified; for the topics of promotion by purchase in the army, and the emigration of half-pay officers, seemed to have no leading reference to the above world-famed story.
The dear old gentleman! he did the honours of his small wooden cottage at Cedar Creek as finely as if it had been his own ancestral mansion of Dunore. ”

“ I say, Bob, won't Cedar Creek look awfully wild to them?'
They worked on awhile both thinking of that. Any one accustomed to smooth enclosed countries, with regular roads and houses at short distances, [199] would indeed find the backwoods 'awfully wild.' And that most gentle mother, how would she bear the transplanting?
'I had a very misty idea of what bush-life was, I own, till I found myself in it,' quoth Robert, after a long silence, broken only by the ring of the axes.
'Living like a labourer at home, but without half his comforts,' said Arthur, piling the boughs. ”

“ We rested for a short time, and then travelled down the Beaver until opposite Short Nose Creek, when we crossed the divide and camped on that stream. Two days later we pushed on to Cedar Creek, and then crossed over to Prairie Dog Creek. We had travelled only at night, hiding away all day in the brush that lined the creeks, and keeping a sharp lookout for Indians. So far, we had seen no Indian signs, and began to despair of finding any, when one morning, just as we were preparing for breakfast, I heard several shots fired, apparently four or five miles up the creek. ”

“ It is worth trying, at all events.'
'Go up to my mother, Linda; there's nothing to be [282] much alarmed for as yet; I hope this plan of Holt's may stop its progress. I'll be at the house as soon as I can, tell her;' and he ran after the others, down to the mouth of the creek, where a strip of alluvial land, covered with bushes and rank grass, interrupted the belt of firs and cedars. Calling in fire as an ally against itself seemed to Robert very perilous; but the calm Indians, accustomed to wilderness exigencies, set about the protective burning at once. ”

“ The name Creek of Souls is prophetic, as a mission station was established here in 1843. Next to Plum Creek was Council Creek, flowing south through Boone and Nance counties. Its name commemorates an Indian council held there some years later by Dougherty. The names of Plum Creek and Council Creek are sometimes interchanged. Beyond Council Creek is Cedar Creek (see ante, note 43) .
The Grand Pawnee village stood about thirty miles above the mouth of Loup River, which would be between the Loup and Cedar Creek. The other villages were in the neighborhood (see ante, p. 149) . ”

“ Here the nearest Indian raised his head, and appeared to listen to a distant sound; a low word or two attracted the attention of the others, who also listened, and exchanged a few sentences, with a glance at Andy, whose curiosity was roused; and he asked, chiefly by signs, what it was all about.
'Oxen—waggon,' was the reply; 'me hear driver. White man no have long ears.'
Andy fled with precipitation to his neglected duties, while the red men laughed their low quiet laugh, knowing that the waggon they heard could not reach Cedar Creek in less than an hour. ”

“ He would have abandoned the ice-boat but for unwillingness to risk the fruit of their day's journey. They must be near the swamp and the creek now; it was scarcely possible they could have passed without recognising the cove whence they had issued in the morning; and yet there was a chance. For the weather was extremely thick, and daylight was fading quickly: the disguise of drifts is bewildering, even to the most practised eye.
'Ha! there are our cedars at last!' exclaimed Arthur. 'How the snow has buried them; they look stunted. ”

“ See! there's the pond at last.'
They had been climbing out of the denser woods, among a younger growth on the face of the slope; and when they turned, the sheet of water was partially visible over the sunken cedar swamp.
'A pond!' exclaimed Arthur; 'why, it must be three miles across to those limestone cliffs. What pretty islets! Such endless varieties of wood and water!'
'I think we Americans are rather given to the diminutive style of parlance,' quoth Mr. Holt. 'We have some justification in the colossal proportion of all the features of nature around us. ”

“ The Union Army was encamped on each side of the turnpike, facing southward, and north of Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Shenandoah, which, flowing in general direction from northwest to southeast, empties into the river about two miles west of Strasburg. The north branch of the Shenandoah flows northward to Fisher's Hill, thence bending to the eastward at the foot of and around the north end of Three Top (or Massanutten) Mountain, thence, forming a junction with the south branch, past Front Royal to the west and again northward, emptying into the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. ”

“ George thought the success far too uniform for sport; Arthur hardly cared to call the killing of God's creatures 'sport' during some time back.
'Davidson, here's a contribution for your bee,' cried Arthur, holding up the prize by its formidable snout. 'For your good wife, with my compliments.'
Mrs. Davidson was in the thick of preparations for a logging-bee, to be held two days subsequently, and whither all the Cedar Creek people were invited. Every settler's wife's housekeeping is brought to a severe test on such occasions, and the huge maskelongé was a most acceptable addition. ”

“ Certainly not; for it was the tough bast of the Canadian cedar, manufactured in large quantities by the Indian women, twisted into all dimensions of cord, from thin twine to cables many fathoms long; used for snares, fishing nets, and every species of stitching. Mrs. Squaw, like a provident housekeeper, had whole balls of it in her traineau ready for use; also rolls of birch-bark, which, when the skeleton wigwam was quite ship-shape, and well interlaced with crossbars of supple boughs, she began to wrap round in the fashion of a covering skirt. ”

“ It runs in a southeasterly course, so that its mouth is four miles or more south of a line drawn due east from the point where it deserts the foot-hills on the west side of the valley. The valley, itself, is shut in between the Blue mountains, on one side, and the Massanutten, a spur of the Great North mountain, on the other. It is traversed, from north to south, by a turnpike road, a little to the left of the center, which road crosses Cedar Creek between Middletown and Strasburg. ”

“ Holt, from the first of April next. That is,' he added, 'on one condition.'
'What?' she asked, a faint colour rising to her cheek, for his eyes were fixed on her.
'Arthur is much steadier than he was, since that visit to Argent last spring made him see that a penniless proud man has no business to endeavour to live among his equals in social rank, but his superiors in wealth. He is good enough farmer to manage Cedar Creek, with George's increasing help, and Dubois as a sort of steward. Edith, if I come here and settle on this farm, I cannot live alone ”

“ That cedar swamp ought to be full of them.'
'I wonder can they be preserved in any way,' said Robert, crushing in his lips the pleasant bitter-sweet berry. 'Linda is a wonderful hand at preserves, and when she comes'—
The thought seemed to energize him to the needful preparation for that coming: he immediately made a chop at a middle-aged Weymouth pine alongside, and began to cut it down. [177]
'Well, as to preserving the cranberries,' said Mr. Holt, laughing in his slight silent way, 'there's none required; they stay as fresh as when plucked for a long time. ”

“ Historically speaking, traffic on the Cedar river was an epoch making period of this section of the country in the early pioneer days, and the prosperity of Cedar Rapids and other cities was due in a large measure to the river traffic which in those days made, at least, this city what it later became.
The first notice we have of a white man exploring what is known as the "Red Cedar River" was by Col. George Davenport as early as 1831 when he established a trading post, at Rock Creek. ”

“ The men meanwhile prepared a sausage-shaped framework of very thin [254] cedar ribs, tying every point of junction with firm knots; for the aforesaid bast is to the Indian what glue and nails are to the civilised workman.
'Throth, only for the birch threes I dunno what they'd do; for out of it's skin they make houses, an' boats, an' pots to bile vittles, an' candles to burn, an' ornaments like what Mr. Robert has above.' A pause, as he watched the bark turned over the ribs, and wedge-shaped pieces cut out to prevent awkward foldings near the gunwale—all carried on in solemn silence. ”

“ Since it was realized that the Pine Creek route would be years in building, several short-cuts were provided. A road connecting Cedar Breaks with Highway 89 on the summit between Hatch and Glendale was opened in 1923 so that parties making the loop could return to Cedar City via Cedar Breaks instead of Panguitch and Paragonah. In 1924, another cutoff was made from Rockville to the plains leading to Pipe Springs, thus eliminating the long trip down river to Hurricane and back. This road was firmly financed by a contribution of $5,000 from Stephen T. Mather. ”

“ Cedar Breaks is twenty-three miles by highway east of Cedar City and four-fifths of a mile nearer the sky. Immediately east of the town the road enters the rugged gorge of Coal Creek, its slopes covered with fine forests of conifers and aspens. The walls assume impressive castellated forms that are especially striking at the mouth of Ashdown Gorge, eight miles distant. Ashdown Gorge is an extremely narrow, tortuous and precipitous rift in the plateau, down which rushes a sparkling stream from the vast furrows of Cedar Breaks. ”

“ The party left the vicinity of Cedar City, crossed over the rim of the Great Basin at Kanarra and descended Ash Creek, tributary of the Virgin. A short distance below Toquerville they passed the three Indian cornfields with well made irrigation ditches, to which reference has already been made, and reached the Virgin River at the point where Ash Creek and La Verkin Creek joined it. Escalante called Ash Creek the Rio del Pilar. ”

“ During the whole course, the land of the bend is low, with occasional bluffs; that on the opposite side, high prairie ground, and long ridges of dark bluffs. After breakfast, we passed through a high prairie on the north side, and a rich cedar lowland and cedar bluff on the south, till we reached a willow island below the mouth of a small creek. This creek, called Tyler's river, is about thirty-five yards wide, comes in on the south, and is at the distance of six miles from the neck of the Great Bend. ”

“ After traveling this road five or six miles we came upon their camp, where we again found something to eat; our provisions having been all consumed. The road here runs through a flat or bottom of several miles in width, and extending ten or twelve miles down the Sandy; it bears towards the north, whilst the creek forms an elbow to the south. The soil is good, and is covered with a very heavy growth of pine and white cedar timber. I saw some trees of white cedar that were seven feet in diameter, and at least one hundred and fifty feet high. ”