At the Head of Noisy Water Canyon

AT THE HEAD OF NOISY WATER CANYON. SKETCH BY ALFRED LAMBOURNE. The Noisy Waters. By this appropriate and poetic name, the Ute Indians, before the days of the Pioneers, called the clear mountain stream that sends its crystal tribute into our valley. City Creek, the less imaginative, the more practical, white man calls it. But more fitting was the Indian title when the stream was in its wild condition, before it had been tamed to the needs of civilization. The White Cliff, its ledges, in the early summer, loaded deeply with snow, faces the steep, pine-clothed heights of the Black Mountain on the opposite side of the canyon. In the early summer, too, a small lake is formed at the cliff base by the melting snow. It is surrounded by grassy, flower-strewn meadows, groves of aspen, and sub-alpine fir. A highly picturesque, one may say grand, scene is that at the head of Noisy Water Canyon.