In presenting this little volume to the reader the author hopes to meet a long felt want. For many visitors by the hundreds arrive at this place every season, and the sublime scenery and the abundant flow of this lifegiving water enchant them until business cares are all banished and rest of mind and body are made possible. To prevent the trouble that results from reaction that necessarily follows as the novelty loses its charm, I present this little book, believing that in it the visitor will find new and wider fields of thought. And that its perusal will open the eyes of the visitor to wider visions until this whole valley will become equally interesting. The history and story is all founded on facts, and it has been my effort to present in a small volume the most important facts and events that have occurred in the evolution that lifted this region from heathenism and the savagery of the aboriginal race to its presnt high state of moral and intellectural grandeur.

Less than twenty years ago the visitor met here some of the men who built the first cabins and lived on the wild game so abundant at that time. Not one of these grand old men remain to interest the visitor. Trusting that this small book may in part supply the deficiency, and entertain my readers, I present it to a generous public.

A. J. Rhodes