OREGON: The Bell of Kamela

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Year after year, men cruising timber or hunting deer in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon had come back with the same story. Near the little hamlet of Kamela, they had often heard a faraway tinkling, a ghostly bell ringing. No one was ever able to track down the strange sound. It would fade away in the sighs of the wind through the big pines. Skeptics accused the men of hearing things.

Last week, slashing a right-of-way for a power line from Bonneville Dam, lumberjacks brought down a ponderosa pine. Tied by a shriveled leather thong, high in the treetop was the answer to the mystery of Kamela: a bronze cattle bell, inscribed with the date 1878. It carried the words "Saignelegier"—"Chiantel"—"Fondeur." Its clapper was worn smooth by years of gentle tinkling. The people of Kamela guessed that a pioneer had tied it to a sapling that grew into a towering pine.