A Tour of the Park.
_The Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone to Junction Valley._
Distance twenty-two miles.[BP] From the Grand Cañon north lies the
true scenic portion of the tourist route. Hitherto, the main
attractions have been the geyser basins, the Yellowstone Lake, and the
Grand Cañon. The tourist has probably frequently expressed his
disappointment at not finding as much rugged mountain scenery as he
had expected. But from this point on he will have no cause to
complain.
[BP] The distances given in this chapter are only approximate, the
surveys for a wagon road from the cañon to Mammoth Hot Springs, via
Mt. Washburn, not being yet completed.
_Mt. Washburn_ (12 miles) is the most celebrated peak in the Park, and
the first to receive its present name. Its prominence justifies its
notoriety, but the real cause of it is the fact that for eight years
the main tourist route lay across it. From its summit the Washburn
party received the first definite confirmation of the truth of the
rumors that led them into this region. All reports and magazine
articles which first gave a knowledge of the Park to the world were
written by persons who had crossed this mountain. As the view from its
summit is comprehensive and grand, covering almost the entire Park, it
of course figured prominently in all narratives. Tourists fell into
the custom established by the first explorers, of leaving their
cards in a receptacle for the purpose on the summit. Many eminent
names are to be seen there. It is a matter for congratulation that the
progress upon the road system will soon restore this mountain to its
former place in the tourist route.
[Illustration:
_Terry Engr. Co._ _U. S. Geological Survey of the Territories._
Tower Falls.]
_Tower Falls_ (20 miles) is perhaps the most graceful cataract in the
Park, and should never be passed without a visit. It is on Tower Creek
only a short distance back from the Yellowstone. Lieutenant Doane says
in his report:[BQ]
"Nothing can be more chastely beautiful than this lovely cascade,
hidden away in the dim light of overshadowing rocks and woods, its
very voice hushed to a low murmur, unheard at the distance of a few
hundred yards. Thousands might pass by within a half mile and not
dream of its existence; but once seen, it passes to the list of most
pleasant memories."
[BQ] Page 8, "Yellowstone Expedition of 1870." See Appendix E.
Near this point on both banks of the river are numerous sulphur
fumaroles, the last evidence of subterraneous fire which the tourist
will encounter on his trip. A little way above the mouth of the stream
is the old Bannock Ford, the same by which Colter crossed in 1807. It
is the only practicable ford within twenty miles in either direction.
_Junction Butte_ (22 miles) is on the right bank of the Yellowstone in
the angle between that stream and the East Fork. It stands not only
near one of the most important stream junctions in the Park, but also
near a not less important road junction. It is a very striking object.
Its summit is nearly flat, and its sides near the summit are
perpendicular. Below this is a steep slope composed of enormous masses
of finely broken stone disengaged from the cliff by the force of the
elements. It is a fitting landmark for its important situation.
[Illustration:
_Terry Engr. Co_ _U. S. Geological Survey of the Territories._
First Bridge Over the Yellowstone.]
_Baronett's Bridge_ crosses the river immediately opposite Junction
Butte. It is the first and only bridge yet (1895) built across the
Yellowstone within the limits of the Park. It was built by the well
known mountaineer, J. H. Baronett, in the spring of 1871, for the
convenience of Clark's Fork miners. It was partially destroyed by the
Nez Percés in 1877, but was repaired by Howard's command, and still
further repaired the following year by Baronett and Norris. In 1880,
it was replaced by a more substantial structure. At present it enjoys
the unique distinction of being a private toll bridge on a government
reservation.
_Junction Valley_,[BR] described elsewhere, is a name properly
applicable to the valley inclosed by Crescent Hill, Mt. Washburn,
Specimen Ridge, and the mountains north of Lamar River. This valley,
and those of tributary streams, form the largest treeless tract in the
Park.
[BR] The popular name for this locality is "Yancey's," from John
Yancey, who has long held a lease in the Valley of Lost Creek at the
foot of Crescent Hill. He has kept a sort of hotel or stopping place
for the convenience of travelers to Cooke City, as well as for
tourists between the Grand Cañon and Mammoth Hot Springs by way of Mt.
Washburn.
_Amethyst Mountain_, _Specimen Ridge_, and the _Fossil Forests_ are
names at once suggestive of the action of geological agencies which
have been described in another chapter. Amethyst, limpid quartz, milky
quartz, chalcedony, carnelian, prase, chrysoprase, banded agate,
flint, jaspers of all colors, semi-opal, calcite, and many other
varieties abound. The forest petrifactions present one of the most
interesting scientific problems in the Park.
The _Lamar River Cañon_ (7 miles above Junction Butte) is a gorge
about half a mile long, the chief characteristic of which is the
enormous number and size of boulders which have fallen into it. These
are almost spherical in shape, and, in many instances, are as smooth
as if from the hand of a stone glazier. They are piled up like
billiard balls, to such a depth that the stream flows entirely out of
sight beneath them.[BS]
[BS] Above the head of this cañon are the remains of what seems to
have once been a bridge, but no record concerning it has come to the
writer's notice.
_Soda Butte_ (15 miles above Junction Butte) and _Soda Butte Cañon_,
extending from Soda Butte to Cooke City, are worthy of much attention.
The cañon in particular is as wonderful a bit of scenery as any
mountains afford. It is every-where rugged, majestic and imposing, and
there is no point in its twelve miles length that does not present a
landscape deserving of the tourist's careful study. Mr. W. H. Weed,
who has done much work in the Park, and particularly in this section,
says of this valley:
"To the eastward Soda Butte Valley penetrates the heart of the rugged
Sierra, whose high peaks rise in castellated forms. The visitor,
disappointed perhaps in the mountain scenery of the Park, after
traveling the usual route over the dusty roads of the Park plateau,
will here find mountain views that are sure to fulfill his
expectations, while the neighborhood is not lacking in curiosities
that in another land would attract visitors from far and wide."[BT]
[BT] Fossil Forests of the Yellowstone. See Appendix E.
_Cooke City_ is a small mining camp just outside the north-east corner
of the Park in the midst of the Clark's Fork mining district. It is of
interest in this connection only on account of its notorious hostility
to the Yellowstone National Park.
_Death Gulch_, reputed to exist in the valley of Cache Creek, is like
Bridger's Glass Mountain, mostly a product of the imagination. It
seems that some animals were once poisoned there, and that later,
certain explorers, finding them, attributed their death to an escape
of carbonic acid gas from the earth. The name has found its way into
maps and reports of highest authority, but the object itself has no
existence.
The _Hoodoo Region_ is near the head of Miller Creek just outside the
original reservation, although within the Forest Reserve addition.
This mysterious region furnishes probably the most striking example in
existence of the effects of erosion and wind action upon masses of
moderately soft rock. The region was discovered by miners in 1870, but
was first explored and reported upon by Colonel Norris in 1880, who
thus describes it:[BU]
"Nearly every form, animate or inanimate, real or chimerical, ever
actually seen or conjured by the imagination, may here be observed.
Language does not suffice to properly describe these peculiar
formations; sketches may probably do something, and photographs more,
to convey a conception of their remarkable character, but actual
observation is absolutely necessary to adequately impress the mind
with the wild, unearthly appearance of these eroded Hoodoos of the
Goblin Land. These monuments are from fifty to two or three hundred
feet in height, with narrow, tortuous passages between them, which
sometimes are tunnels through permanent snow or ice fields, where the
big-horn sheep hide in safety; while the ceaseless but ever changing
moans of the wild winds seem to chant fitting requiems to these
gnome-like monuments of the legendary Indian gods."
[BU] Page 8, Annual Report, Superintendent of the Park, for the year
1880.
Returning to Junction Valley, and following down the Yellowstone, the
tourist soon arrives at the _Third Cañon_ (the third above Livingston,
the Grand Cañon being fourth), which extends from the eastern limit of
Junction Valley to the north boundary of the Park. Located anywhere
else, away from the overshadowing splendor of the Grand Cañon, it
would become celebrated. Some of the views, particularly from the high
ground north of Mt. Everts, overlooking by nearly 2,000 feet the vast
chasm through which the turbulent river flows, are among the most
impressive in the entire region.
From the immediate vicinity of the Third Cañon, the road crosses the
plateau of Black Tail Deer Creek to the valley of the East Gardiner.
The tour terminates at Mammoth Hot Springs.
PART III.--The Future.
CHAPTER I.
HOSTILITY TO THE PARK.
From what has been thus far set forth the reader can not have failed
to observe how fortunate have been the events, both in prehistoric and
in recent times, which have made the Yellowstone National Park what it
is to-day. In the course of long ages Nature developed this region
into its present attractive form, and filled it with wonders which
will never fail to command the admiration of men. She placed it upon
the very apex of the continent, and made of it an inexhaustible
reservoir of water for a perennial supply to the parched and rainless
desert around it. She interspersed among its forests an abundance of
parks and valleys, where the native fauna of the continent, elsewhere
fast passing away, may find protection in all future time. With
infinite foresight she made it unfit for the gainful occupations of
men, so that every motive to appropriate it for private use is
removed.
For many years after the white man first looked within its borders, a
rare combination of circumstances prevailed to keep it from becoming
generally known until the time had arrived when the government could
effectually reserve it from settlement. Finally, since its formal
erection into a public park, the same good fortune has attended it, in
spite of many adverse influences, until it has become thoroughly
intrenched in the good opinion of the people.
So fully has the experience of the past quarter century confirmed the
wisdom of setting apart this region for public uses, that it ought no
longer to be necessary to say a word in favor of its continued
preservation. To most people it will seem impossible that there should
be any one who would seek the mutilation or destruction of this
important reservation. Unfortunately there are many such. No session
of Congress for twenty years has been free from attempted legislation
hostile to the Park. The schemes to convert it into an instrument of
private greed have been many, and strange as it may seem, they are
invariably put forward by those very communities to whom the Park is,
and must ever remain, the chief glory of their section. It is a
lamentable proof of the dearth of patriotic spirit that always betrays
itself whenever the interests of individuals and of the public come
into collision. Nevertheless it is a great satisfaction to know that
this spirit of hostility is confined to an infinitesimal portion of
the whole people. Excepting a few mine owners and their following, a
handful of poachers, one or two railroad corporations, and a few
greedy applicants for special franchises, the people of the country
are a unit in favor of the strictest preservation of this great
national pleasure ground. No better proof of this can be had than the
fact that the Park has successfully withstood for so long a period
every attack that has been made upon it.
It will not do, however, to assume that, because these schemes have
hitherto failed, they will always continue to fail. Since they have
their origin in speculative ventures, they will be put forward so long
as they offer the least pecuniary inducement. The certainty of this,
and the danger of their ultimate success, justify the assignment of a
brief space to a consideration of this subject.
CHAPTER II.
RAILROAD ENCROACHMENT AND CHANGE OF BOUNDARY.
Nearly all of the enterprises that have been put forward in opposition
to the true interests of the Reservation partake of the nature of
railroad encroachment. Without entering into the merits of particular
projects, it will be sufficient to explain in general terms the
reasons why the government has always opposed them.
Railroads in the Yellowstone Park are objectionable because:
(1.) They will mar, and in places destroy, that natural condition
which is one of its greatest charms. From the first it has been the
wish of those who know any thing of the Yellowstone that it should
remain as nature made it. The instructions of the Interior Department
to the first Superintendent of the Park, two months after the Act of
Dedication became a law, thus announced the policy of the government
upon this subject:
"It is not the desire of the Department that any attempts shall be
made to beautify or adorn this reservation, but merely to preserve
from injury or spoliation the timber, mineral deposits, and various
curiosities of that region, so far as possible, in their natural
condition."
It requires no argument to show that nothing would so interfere with
this natural condition as the construction of a railroad through that
country; and the danger involved in these projects early became
apparent to all who were well acquainted with the situation. As early
as 1883, Lieutenant Kingman thus refers to this subject in his annual
report, wherein he describes his proposed road system for the Park:
"The plan for improvement which I have submitted is given in the
earnest hope and upon the supposition that it [the Park] will be
preserved as nearly as may be as the hand of nature left it--a source
of pleasure to all who visit it, and a source of wealth to no one. If
the Park ever becomes truly popular and national, it will be when the
people come to know and appreciate its delightful summer climate, the
wonderful efficiency of its baths and its mineral waters, as well as
the natural wonders, beauties and curiosities to be seen there. Then,
if there are numerous small, quiet hotels scattered here and there
throughout the Park, where visitors can have plain and simple
accommodations at moderate prices, the overworked and the sick, as
well as the curious, will come here, not to be awed by the great falls
and astounded by the geysers, and then to go away, but will come here
and will remain for weeks and months, and will find what they seek,
rest, recreation and health. But if it ever becomes the resort of
fashion, if its forests are stripped to rear mammoth hotels, if the
race-course, the drinking saloon and gambling-table invade it, if its
valleys are scarred by railroads, and its hills pierced by tunnels, if
its purity and quiet are destroyed and broken by the noise and smoke
of the locomotive; ... then it will cease to belong to the whole
people, and will interest only those that it helps to enrich, and
will be unworthy the care and protection of the National Government."
The history of the twelve years since the above was written confirms
in every point this forcible presentation of the case.
(2.) Railroads will unavoidably seriously cripple the present tourist
routes. They must of necessity occupy the valleys. But it is through
these that the tourist route passes, and it is frequently the case
that they are not wide enough for both. In many cases the roadway
would be forced back upon the hills, and in others its present
location would have to be changed. It is certain that the admirable
system of roads, which the government is slowly working out, would
receive irreparable injury at the hands of any railroad which might be
built through that region.
(3.) Railroads would mean the inevitable destruction of the large
game. The winter snows are too deep among the hills for game to
subsist there. It is necessary to come down into the valleys, where
there is more grass and less snow. But, as already stated, it is
through these valleys that railroads must pass if at all. The trains
would frighten the animals back into the hills, where starvation would
await them. Moreover, the loss of game from poaching would be greatly
aggravated by the increased facility of clandestine access to that
region.
(4.) Railroads would destroy the Park forests. During July, August,
and September, there are always long periods of dry weather when the
dense bodies of fallen timber, the impenetrable tangles of underbrush,
and the luxuriant prairie grass are a mass of inflammable tinder. A
spark converts it into a conflagration. A railroad winding its way
through this country would render protection against fires, even now a
matter of great difficulty, wholly out of the question. Referring to
this subject in his annual report for 1894, the Superintendent of the
Park says:
"Six months from the entrance of the first locomotive within the
limits of the Park, there will not be one acre of its magnificent
forests left unburned."
What such a catastrophe would mean to the future development of the
surrounding country may be appreciated by a perusal of our chapter on
the Flora of the Yellowstone.
(5.) As a matter of public policy, the granting of a railway franchise
in the Park is objectionable because it necessarily creates a
perpetual monopoly of a public privilege. There is no practicable way
to avoid it. It has been proposed to compel the railroad to share the
advantage of this monopoly with the public, by paying a certain
percentage of earnings on its Park business to constitute an
improvement fund. With Union Pacific history fresh in the public mind,
the government will not be likely to enter into a partnership of that
precarious nature.
From the foregoing exposition, it is clear that only the most cogent
reasons should ever sanction the construction of railroads in the
Yellowstone Park. These reasons, from the standpoint of the railroad
companies, as set forth by the promoters of a recent bill before
Congress, fall under two heads.
In the first place, it is speciously urged that a railroad would
render the Park more accessible, cheapen the cost of visiting it, and
make it fulfill more perfectly its original design as a park for the
people. To all this it may be replied that the people do not want the
improvement at the price they must pay for it. By an almost unanimous
voice they oppose it. It is true that the Park is not as accessible as
one might wish it to be, or as it soon will be. But to make it easily
accessible, it is by no means necessary that a railroad should pass
through it. A line touching the southern boundary and communicating
with the central portions of the country would answer every practical
purpose. The pretext that a railroad across the Reservation will
greatly aid the tourist is erroneous. The points of interest are so
scattered about that a coach would be in any case a necessity, and all
the railroad would really save to the tourist would be the distance
from the boundary to the belt line.
Neither will such a railroad materially lessen the cost of a visit,
which has always been, and will always be, in the main, getting _to_
that region. The Reservation is 1,500 miles from the center of
population of the country, and it is this remote location that makes
visiting it cost. The outlay after getting there is trifling in
comparison with that of coming and going. Whether a railroad pass
though the Park, or simply touch its southern border, will not
appreciably affect this principal item.
In the second place, it is urged that the Park stands directly in the
path of the railroads and so "acts as a blockade to the development of
three large states." As this will always form the staple argument for
granting a right-of-way for railroads across the Reservation, it will
be well to scrutinize it somewhat carefully.
It is not at all a question of whether the country about the Park is
at present sufficiently supplied with railroads. The important
question is: Will any portion of this territory be better served by a
railroad that may be built across the Reservation than by one coming
from another direction? The most superficial examination of the map,
even by one not personally acquainted with the country, will answer
this question in the negative. The Yellowstone Valley on the north,
the Bighorn Valley on the east, the Jackson Lake country on the south,
and the Madison and Henry Fork Valleys on the west, find their natural
outlets by routes not passing through the Yellowstone Park. A railroad
entering the Park on one side through a lofty wall of mountains, and
leaving it on the other through a similar wall, after traversing the
inclosed plateau for a distance of perhaps seventy-five or one hundred
miles, would be almost as much lost to the country outside as if for
this whole distance it were built through a tunnel. In fact, the true
welfare both of the Park and of the surrounding country would be best
served by a line passing through the Wind River Valley, across one of
the easy passes into the Valley of the Snake, and thence along the
southern border of the Park, past Jackson Lake and the northern spur
of the Teton Range, into the valleys of Idaho and Montana. This would
give the Park a needed southern approach, and would directly serve a
vast tract of territory. Tributary either to this line, or to one
north of the Park, or to both, another would soon be built along the
extensive Valley of the Bighorn. No imaginable route across the
National Park could so well subserve both local and public interests.
From an engineering point of view, the Yellowstone Park is poor
railroad country. It could be crossed, to be sure, but not easily, and
not at all except by monopolizing portions of the tourist route. The
long winter season of nearly seven months would interpose an almost
insuperable obstacle to the successful operation of any line which
might be built. We quote again from the report of the Park
Superintendent for the year 1894:
"The great amount of moisture furnished by the lake and its numerous
tributaries gives a mantle of snow that will average fifteen feet in
depth, and with the strong winds prevailing in this mountainous
country no railroad could be kept running during the six months of
winter without being entirely inclosed in snow sheds, which would
prove destructive to the natural beauty of the Park."
In short, it is certain that, were it not for the special inducements
which a monopoly of Park travel offers, no railroad could afford to
locate its line across that territory.
Closely related to this general subject is that of building an
electric line for tourist transportation within the Park. It is at
once apparent that the objections to such a railroad are much less
formidable than to one operated by steam locomotives. The danger of
fire is eliminated. The unsightly character of an ordinary railway
outfit is exchanged for attractive tourist cars. The power plant,
being located in cañons and operated by water, would give no outward
evidence of its existence. There being no long trains of cars, no
smoke, no screeching of locomotives, the game would not be much more
frightened by it than by the stage coaches. In winter, traffic would
be suspended and the game would be undisturbed on the ranges. The
line, by its greater speed, would be a convenience to tourists having
but a short time at their disposal, and also to those, infirm in
health, who find the long stage rides fatiguing.
Such are the merits of an electric railway for tourist transportation
in this country. If the people really desired it, and if it could be
built and operated by the government, so as to exclude as far as
possible all corporate management of Park business, there would be no
serious objection to the project. Of course it should never be
permitted, as some times proposed, to use the present wagon roads.
These must not in any event be interfered with.
The question then is, Do the people desire this kind of
transportation? Fortunately we can answer this question with
authority. In 1892, a vote upon it was obtained from the tourists of
that season. The result was a majority of more than five to one
against it. In giving their votes, tourists frequently went beyond the
specific question at issue to express their emphatic disapproval of
the construction of any kind of railroad in the Park. The whole result
was a gratifying proof of the deep-seated interest of the people in
this Reservation, and of their unalterable wish that it remain forever
free from the handiwork of man. In fact, to almost every body in these
days, a coaching tour like that through the Yellowstone, is a decided
novelty. There is no other place in this country, probably not in the
world, where one approaching it can be had. The people enjoy it. They
would prefer to see it developed and perfected, rather than replaced
by the noisy car, to get away from which they have come so far.
In the long and fruitless struggle to secure rights-of-way for
railroads, the promoters of these projects have resorted to various
indirect methods the most noteworthy of which is a proposal to change
the boundary line of the Park. We have elsewhere explained how this
boundary was originally determined. For a random line, which of
necessity it largely was, it was a most excellent one. No one would
have been dissatisfied with it were it not that it was subsequently
found to stand in the way of certain private enterprises.
When it became apparent that the government would never consent to the
construction of a railroad within the Park, it was sought to compass
the same end by cutting off all that portion of the Reservation lying
outside of, and including, the proposed right-of-way.
In accordance with the proverbial policy of indirection which
characterizes schemes of this sort, the real purpose of this
proposition is always veiled under a beneficent guise, intended to
make its promoters appear as zealous guardians of the Park, rather
than what they really are--conspirators for its destruction. The
proposed change of boundary is ostensibly based upon the alleged
necessity of having a natural boundary--that is, a boundary along the
courses of streams. The present line, it is urged, is unmarked and no
one knows where it is. A stream is a definite, visible line, seen and
known by every one.[BV]
[BV] It is of course unnecessary to point out that an artificial line
can easily be marked so that there shall be no uncertainty about its
location. The hollowness of purpose on the part of those who propose
this argument is disclosed by the fact that, of the 280 miles, more or
less, in the proposed boundary, they provide a natural line for only
about 50 miles--or along that precise portion where they want to build
a railroad. All the rest of the way an artificial line is good
enough!
The pernicious fallacy that lurks in this argument is plainly visible
if we look a little beneath the surface. _Never permit the boundaries
of the Yellowstone Park to be brought down into the valleys._ Nature
has indeed built the proper boundaries; but they are mountain ranges,
not valleys. A thousand Chinese walls heaped together would not form a
barrier like the Absarokas on the east, the Snowy Range on the north,
the Gallatin Range on the west, and the Tetons and the Big Game Ridge
on the south. Along the present boundary line there are very few
places where it is possible to build human habitations. No poacher or
law breaker can there fix his stealthy abode ready at a favorable
opportunity to dash across it. But if it were in the bottom of the
valleys, a whole colony of these dangerous individuals would soon
infest every border of the Park. Police surveillance, in any case
extremely difficult, would then be well-nigh impossible. No! Whatever
changes may be made in the boundary of the Park, let it always be kept
among the mountain tops.
What the success of any of these projects to cut off, or segregate,
portions of the Park would mean, may be judged from a single
instance--that, namely, of the north-east corner of the Park. In this
strip of territory are some of the finest scenery and most
interesting scientific curiosities to be found upon the Reservation.
It is the great winter grazing ground for the elk, and by estimate
based upon actual count no fewer than 20,000 of these noble animals
find their winter subsistence here. That all of this game would be
almost instantly annihilated by the segregation of this strip goes
without saying. More than this, the admission to the very heart of the
Park of that class of reckless characters, who even now are its
greatest source of danger, would vastly enhance the difficulty of
protecting the remaining portions.
It is well to emphasize by repetition the few important facts
pertaining to this question:
(1.) There are no private interests on the borders of the Park whose
development is jeopardized by the refusal of the government to give
access to them by a railroad across the Reservation. They can all be
reached from the outside without encountering greater obstacles than
have been overcome in scores of other places throughout the West.
(2.) There is no need of a railroad in the Park so far as the comfort
or advantage of the tourists is concerned. A line along the southern
border would answer quite as well, and would serve the surrounding
country better.
(3.) There is no occasion to construct an electric line in the Park.
Nearly all of those who visit that region oppose it.
(4.) There is no necessity for changing the present boundaries of the
Reservation.
CHAPTER III.
CONCLUSION.
It is in respect of the foregoing matters that the Yellowstone
National Park has most to fear. The general public, although always in
favor of its preservation, knows nothing of the merit of these various
projects. A bill is introduced in Congress in the interest of some
private enterprise. It is supported by representations and statistics
gotten up for the occasion. There may be no one at hand to refute
them, and they are the only information upon which Congress can act.
More than once these bills have been reported favorably from
committee, when every essential statement in the committee's report
was contrary to fact. Unless some friend of the Park is present, ready
and willing to devote time, and perhaps money, to its defense, there
is only too much danger that these measures will eventually prove
successful.
Thus far, the Park has never been lacking in such friends; and there
is no more encouraging fact in its history than this, that some one
has always been on guard against any thing which might work to its
injury. Men like Senator Vest in official position, or William Hallett
Phillips in private life, and journals like _Forest and Stream_, have
stood for years, in a purely public-spirited manner, without
remunerative inducement of any sort, and often in face of the
bitterest vituperation and abuse, against the designs of selfish and
unscrupulous schemers. In like manner, government officials connected
with the Park have always, with one or two exceptions, earnestly
opposed these dangerous projects. It is plain to any one who is
familiar with its inside history, that, but for the agencies just
mentioned, there would not be to-day any Yellowstone Park at all. It
is equally plain, that so long as friends like these are forthcoming,
the Park has little to fear from its enemies.
In still another respect, the Park has been unfortunate where it had a
right to expect better things. Prior to the admission of Montana,
Wyoming, and Idaho into the Union of States, its interests were looked
after in Congress, particularly in the Senate, by a few members who
took great pride in promoting its welfare. But when the above
territories were admitted to the Union, these gentlemen very naturally
turned over the charge, which they had voluntarily assumed, to the
members from the new States, as being thereafter its proper guardians.
It was, of course, believed that in them, if in any one, the Park
would find needed championship and protection. It is a matter of great
regret that these very reasonable expectations have not been realized.
A glance at the list of bills pertaining to the Yellowstone National
Park, which have been presented to Congress in the past six years,
will show that nearly every objectionable measure has been fathered by
the very men whose first duty would seem to have been to oppose them.
In a speech opposing the Segregation Project, delivered in the Senate
in the winter of 1892-3, Senator Vest referred to this subject with
justifiable indignation. He said:
"When those States [Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho] were territories, and
not represented in the Senate, I considered it the duty of every
Senator, as this Park belonged to all the people of the United States,
... to defend its integrity, and to keep it for the purposes for which
it was originally designed. Since Senators have come from those
States, who, of course, must be supposed to know more about that Park
than those of us who live at a distance, and since they have
manifested a disposition to mutilate it, I must confess that my
interest in it has rather flagged, and I feel very much disposed, in
plain language, to wash my hands of the whole business. If the
constituencies, who are more benefited than any others can possibly be
in the Park, are willing to see it cut off, the best disposition of
the matter would be to turn it open to the public, let the full greed
and avarice of the country have their scope, let the geysers be
divided out and taken for the purpose of washing clothes, ... let the
water of that splendid water-fall in the Yellowstone River be used to
turn machinery, let the timber be cut off; in other words, destroy the
Park, and make it a sacrifice to the greed of this advanced age in
which we live."
It is only fair to say that generally these members do not personally
favor the measures to which they lend official countenance and
comfort. One can find a practical, if not a morally justifiable,
excuse for their course in the exigencies of political life which too
often constrain men to official action not in accordance with their
private judgment. Unquestionably, a majority of the people of these
young and enterprising states are immovably opposed to any thing which
may tend to mutilate or destroy this important reservation; and
it is not believed that their broader patriotism will ever be
overridden by the narrow and perverted wishes of a few straggling
constituencies.[BW]
[BW] The almost prophetic warning of Captain Harris in his last report
as Superintendent of the Park has a peculiar force in this connection:
"In my experience in connection with this National Park, I have been
very forcibly impressed with the danger to which it is subjected by
the greed of private enterprise. All local influence centers in
schemes whereby the Park can be used for pecuniary advantage. In the
unsurpassed grandeur of its natural condition, it is the pride and
glory of the nation; but if, under the guise of improvement, selfish
interests are permitted to make merchandise of its wonders and
beauties, it will inevitably become a by-word and a reproach."
Finally, the effect of a single evil precedent upon the future of the
Park must be kept constantly in mind. The door once opened, though by
never so small a degree, can not again be closed; but will sooner or
later be thrown wide open. A privilege granted to one can not be
denied to another. If one corner of the Park is cut off, other
portions will share the same fate. If one railroad is granted a right
of way across the reservation, another can not be refused. The only
way to avoid these dangers is to keep the door entirely closed.
There is now but little real need of further positive legislation.
Some provision should of course be made for an adequate police force,
and ample means should be provided to perfect the system of roads.
Happily this duty involves no appreciable burden. It requires no
continuing outlay to "beautify and adorn." And when it is done, the
further policy of the government toward the Park should be strictly
negative, designed solely to preserve it unimpaired, as its founders
intended, for the "benefit and enjoyment" of succeeding generations.
APPENDIX A.
GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES IN THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.
I.
INTRODUCTORY.
In common experience, the importance of geographical names lies in
their use as a means of identification. To describe an object there
must be a name, and for this purpose one name is as good as another.
But if the reason be sought why a particular name happened to be
selected, it will generally be found to arise, not from this practical
necessity, but from some primary fact or tradition, or from some
distinguished character, in the annals of the community where it
occurs. In its mountains and valleys, its lakes and streams, and in
its civil divisions, the cradle history of a country may always be
found recorded.
In newly-discovered countries, the naming of geographical features is
the dearest prerogative of the explorer, as it is also the one most
liable to abuse from personal vanity or egotism. The desire to attach
his name, or those of his personal friends, to the prominent landmarks
of the globe, where the eye of posterity may never escape them, is a
weakness from which no discoverer has yet shown himself free.
In a region like the Yellowstone National Park, destined for all time
to be a resort for the lovers of science and pleasure, this temptation
was quite irresistible; so much so, that, when the expeditions of 1870
and 1871 left the field, they left little worth naming behind them.
And yet the honor thus gained has not, we venture to say, been all
that its votaries desired. Small is the number of tourists who stop to
inquire for whom Mary Lake, DeLacy Creek, or Stevenson Island was
named. Fewer still are aware that Mt. Everts was _not_ christened in
honor of a distinguished American statesman of similar name, but in
commemoration of one of the most thrilling individual experiences in
American history. So with all these personal names. The lively
satisfaction with which they were given finds no counterpart in the
languid indifference with which the modern visitor mechanically
repeats them.
In as much as it fell to the lot of the United States Geological
Survey to originate a great many of the names in our western
geography, it is interesting to know from official sources the
principles which governed in this important work. Writing upon this
point, Dr. Hayden says:[BX]
"In attaching names to the many mountain peaks, new streams, and other
geographical localities, the discovery of which falls to the pleasant
lot of the explorer in the untrodden wilds of the West, I have
followed the rigid law of priority, and given the one by which they
have been generally known among the people of the country, whether
whites or Indians; but if, as is often the case, no suitable
descriptive name can be secured from the surroundings, a personal one
may then be attached, and the names of eminent men who have identified
themselves with the great cause, either in the fields of science or
legislation, naturally rise first in the mind."
[BX] Page 8, Fifth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
In the more recent and thorough survey of the Park by the United
States Geological Survey, it became necessary to provide names for
those subordinate features which, in a less restricted field, the
early explorers had thought unworthy of notice. Professor Arnold
Hague, upon whom this work has principally fallen, thus states the
rule which he has followed:[BY]
"In consultation with Mr. Henry Gannett, geologist in charge of
geography, it was agreed that the necessary new names to designate the
unnamed mountains, valleys, and streams should be mainly selected from
the beasts, birds, fishes, trees, flowers, and minerals found within
the Park or the adjacent country."
[BY] Page 152, Part I, Annual Report United States Geological Survey
for year ending June 30, 1887.
The christening of the hot springs and geysers of the Park has been
singularly fortunate. The names are in all cases characteristic. They
are not studied efforts, but are simply the spontaneous utterances
from first impressions by those who had never seen, and had heard but
little of, similar phenomena. It is doubtful if the most careful study
could improve them, and tourists will agree with General Poe who
referred as follows to this subject when he visited the Park in
1877:[BZ]
"The region of these geysers has been rightly named Fire Hole, and one
almost wonders that in this country, where the tendency is to name
natural objects after men who have a temporary prominence, this
interesting place and its assemblage of wonders should have so
completely escaped, and in general and in particular received names so
very appropriate."
[BZ] Page 79, "Inspection made in the Summer of 1877, etc." See
Appendix E.
In the race for the geographical honors of the Park, the prize fell
neither to the United States Geological Survey nor even to Colonel
Norris, though each was a close competitor. It was won by that
mythical potentate of whose sulphurous empire this region is thought
by some to be simply an outlying province. Starting with "Colter's
Hell," the list grew until it contained "Hell Roaring Creek," "Hell
Broth Springs," "Hell's Half Acre," "Satan's Arbor," and the Devil's
"Den," "Workshop," "Kitchen," "Stairway," "Slide," "Caldron," "Punch
Bowl," "Frying Pan," "Well," "Elbow," "Thumb," "Inkstand," etc., etc.
It is some satisfaction to know that this rude and fiery nomenclature
is gradually falling into disuse.
In a measure from sympathy with the purpose of the early name-givers,
and to help those who take an interest in such matters to know when,
by whom, and why the geographical names of the Park were given, a
complete list of these names, with a few from adjacent territory, has
been prepared. The letters and numbers immediately after the names
(except those in parentheses) give marginal references on the map to
facilitate identification. The date of christening and the name of the
christening party next follow. When these can not now be determined
with precision, the work is credited to the authors of the map upon
which they first appear. Next comes whatever account is discoverable
of the origin of the names, authority being quoted, as far as
possible, from the writings of whoever bestowed them. Wherever an
object was named from some natural characteristic, as its form, color,
composition, or other peculiarity, or from the birds, beasts, fishes,
insects, trees, flowers, shrubs or minerals of the Park, the single
word "characteristic" denotes the fact. The abbreviation "U. S. G. S."
is for "United States Geological Survey."
APPENDIX A.
II.
MOUNTAIN RANGES, PEAKS, BUTTES, RIDGES, HILLS.
[The numbers in parentheses denote elevations. These are taken from
the latest map by the United States Geological Survey, and are the
same as that of the one hundred foot contour nearest the summit.
The true elevation of the ultimate peak is in each case slightly
greater, lying somewhere between the figure given and an altitude
one hundred feet higher.]
_Abiathar Peak_ (10,800)--C: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--For Charles
_Abiathar_ White, Paleontologist, U. S. Geological Survey.
_Absaroka Range_, A-X: 12-16--1885--U. S. G. S.--This range of
mountains has had an unfortunate christening history. It was first
known as the Yellowstone Range, from its close relation to the
Yellowstone River, of which it is the source. The original name dates
from as far back as 1863, and was adopted by the first explorers of
the Park country. It was officially recognized in 1871, by both the
Corps of Engineers and the United States Geological Survey. When the
Park was created this range became its real eastern boundary, and many
of its peaks were named for those who had borne prominent parts in its
history. The name had thus an added claim to perpetuity. It passed
into general use, and appears in all the writings of the United States
Geological Survey down to 1883.
In 1873, Captain W. A. Jones, of the Corps of Engineers, led an
expedition through these mountains--the first that ever crossed them.
He gave them a new name, "Sierra Shoshone." Except for the fact that
he was violating the rule of priority, his action in giving this
name, as well as his judgment in its selection, were of unquestionable
propriety. It was a tribe of the Shoshonean family who alone dwelt in
the Park, or among these mountains, and it was entirely fitting to
commemorate this fact in a distinct and permanent manner. The name
passed rapidly into public use, and by 1880 had practically supplanted
the original name.
For reasons that can hardly be made to appear satisfactory, the United
States Geological Survey, in 1883, or soon after, rejected both these
names and adopted in their place Absaroka, "the Indian name of the
Crow nation" (Hague). Of course this action can have no pretense of
justification from the standpoint of the "rigid law of priority."
There are very few instances in American geography of a similar
disregard for the rights of previous explorers. Unfortunately, not
even the argument of appropriateness can be urged in its defense.
These mountains, except that portion north of the Park, were never
properly Crow territory, and the name is thus distinctly an
importation. Its future use is now unhappily assured, on account of
its formal adoption (for reasons wholly inadequate, it is true,) by
the United States Board on Geographical Names. Against the influence
of the government, with its extensive series of publications, even
though committed to the perpetuation of an error, it is idle to
contend; but it is greatly to be deplored that a feature of the Park
scenery of such commanding prominence should not bear a name at least
remotely suggestive of some natural or historical association.
_Amethyst Mountain_ (9,423)--F: 11--1872--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Antler Peak_ (10,200)--E: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Atkins Peak_ (10,900)--N: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--For John D. C.
Atkins, Indian Commissioner, 1885-1888.
_Avalanche Peak_ (10,500)--L: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Bannock Peak_ (10,400)--D: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--From the name of a
tribe of Indians who inhabited the country to the south-west of the
Park, and were finally settled on a reservation in southern Idaho.
What is known as the Great Bannock Trail, passed along the valley of
Indian Creek, some distance south of this mountain. The spelling here
given is that which custom seems finally to have settled upon; but
Bannack would more nearly express the original pronunciation. The
various spellings, some sixteen in number, come from the original
_Panai'hti_, or _Bannai'hti_, meaning southern people.
_Barlow Peak_ (9,500)--Q: 10--1895--U. S. G. S.--For Captain (now
Colonel) J. W. Barlow, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., leader of the
military expedition which entered the Park region in 1871. His name
was first applied to the upper course of the Snake River, but was
recently transferred to a neighboring mountain peak.
[Illustration: COLONEL J. W. BARLOW.]
_Baronett Peak_ (10,300)--C: 13--1878--U. S. G. S.--For C. J.
Baronett, "Yellowstone Jack," a famous scout and guide, closely
connected with the history of the National Park, and builder of the
first bridge across the Yellowstone River.
Baronett's career was adventurous beyond the average man of his class.
He was born in Glencoe, Scotland, in 1829. His father was in the
British naval service, and he early began to follow the sea. In his
multitudinous wanderings we find him on the coast of Mexico during the
Mexican War; on the Chinese coast in 1850, where he deserted his ship
and fled to San Francisco; in 1852, in Australia after gold; the next
year in Africa, still on a gold hunt; then in Australia again and in
San Francisco; next in the Arctic seas as second mate on a whaling
vessel; back in California in 1855; courier for Albert Sidney Johnston
in the Mormon War; later in Colorado and California searching for
gold; scout in the Confederate service until 1863; then in Mexico with
the French under Maximilian, who made him a captain; back in
California in 1864, and in Montana in September of the same year,
where he at once set out on a prospecting trip which took him entirely
through the region of the Yellowstone Park; later in the service of
Gen. Custer as scout in the Indian territory; then in Mexico and
finally back in Montana in 1870; finder of the lost Everts; builder of
his celebrated bridge in 1871; in the Black Hills in 1875, where he
slew a local editor who had unjustly reflected upon him in his paper;
scout in the Sioux, Nez Percé, and Bannock Wars, 1876-8; Indian trader
for many years; engaged in innumerable prospecting ventures; and
still, at the age of sixty-six, searching with his old time ardor for
the elusive yellow metal.
[Illustration: C. J. BARONETT.]
_Big Game Ridge_--Q-T: 9-11--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Birch Mils_ (7,300)--R: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Bison Peak_ (8,800)--D: 12--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Bobcat Ridge_ (9,500)--T: 9--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Bunsen Peak_ (9,100)--D: 6--1872--U. S. G. S.--For the eminent
chemist and physicist, Robert Wilhelm Bunsen; inventor of the Bunsen
electric cell and of the Bunsen Gas Burner; co-discoverer with
Kirchoff of the principle of Spectrum Analysis; and the first thorough
investigator of the phenomena of geyser action. (See Chapter III, Part
II.)
_Cathedral Peak_ (10,600)--J: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Chittenden, Mt._ (10,100)--K: 12--1878--U. S. G. S.--"Of the
prominent peaks of this [the Absaroka] range may be mentioned Mount
Chittenden, named for Mr. George B. Chittenden, whose name has long
been identified with this survey."--Gannett.[CA]
[CA] Page 482, Twelfth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
_Cinnabar Mountain_ (7,000)--A: 5--Named prior to 1870.--"So named
from the color of its rocks, which have been mistaken for Cinnabar,
although the red color is due to iron."--Hayden. The Devil's Slide
(also named before 1870) is on this mountain.
_Colter Peak_ (10,500)--O: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--For John Colter.
(See Part I, Chapter III.)
_Crags, The_ (9,000)--E: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Crescent Hill_ (7,900)--D: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Crow Foot Ridge_ (9,700)--D-E: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Doane, Mt._ (10,500)--M: 13--1870--Washburn Party--For Lieutenant
Gustavus C. Doane, 2d Cavalry, U. S. Army, commander of the military
escort to the celebrated Wasburn Expedition of 1870.
Lieutenant Doane was born in Illinois, May 29, 1840, and died in
Bozeman, Mont., May 5, 1892. At the age of five he went with his
parents, in wake of an ox team, to Oregon. In 1849 his family went to
California at the outbreak of the gold excitement. He remained there
ten years, in the meanwhile working his way through school. In 1862 he
entered the Union service, went east with the California Hundred, and
then joined a Massachusetts cavalry regiment. He was mustered out in
1865 as a First Lieutenant. He joined the Carpet-baggers and is said
to have become mayor of Yazoo City, Mississippi. He was appointed a
Second Lieutenant in the Regular Army in 1868, and continued in the
service until his death, attaining the rank of Captain.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN GUSTAVUS C. DOANE.]
Doane's whole career was actuated by a love of adventure. He had at
various times planned a voyage to the Polar regions, or an expedition
of discovery into Africa. But fate assigned him a middle ground, and
he became prominently connected with the discovery of the Upper
Yellowstone country. His part in the Expedition of 1870 is second to
none. He made the first official report upon the wonders of the
Yellowstone, and his fine descriptions have never been surpassed by
any subsequent writer. Although suffering intense physical torture
during the greater portion of the trip, it did not extinguish in him
the truly poetic ardor with which those strange phenomena seem to have
inspired him. Dr. Hayden says of this report: "I venture to state, as
my opinion, that for graphic description and thrilling interest it
has not been surpassed by any official report made to our government
since the times of Lewis and Clark."[CB]
[CB] Page 8, Fifth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
Lieutenant Doane and Mr. Langford were the first white men known to
have ascended any of the higher peaks of the Absaroka Range. From the
summit of the mountain so ascended, Mr. Langford made the first known
authentic sketch of Yellowstone Lake. This sketch was used soon after
by General Washburn in compiling an official map of that section of
country, and he was so much pleased with it that he named the mountain
from which it was taken, Mt. Langford. At Mr. Langford's request, he
named a neighboring peak, Mt. Doane.
_Dome, The_ (9,900)--E: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Druid Peak_ (9,600)--D: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Dunraven Peak_ (9,700)--F: 9--1878--U. S. G. S.--"This I have named
Dunraven Peak in honor of the Earl of Dunraven, whose travels and
writings have done so much toward making this region known to our
cousins across the water."--Gannett.[CC]
[CC] Page 478, Twelfth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
Dunraven visited the Park in 1874. In 1876, he published his "Great
Divide," describing his travels in the West. The irrepressible Colonel
Norris named this peak after himself, and coupled it with Mt. Washburn
in a characteristic poem. But the United States Geological Survey
decided otherwise, and transferred the colonel's name to the
north-east corner of the Park. (See "Mt. Norris.")
_Eagle Peak_ (10,800)--O: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Echo Peak_ (9,600)--E: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Electric Peak_ (11,155)--B: 4-5--1872--U. S. G. S.--From the
following circumstance, described by Mr. Henry Gannett, who ascended
the mountain with surveying instruments, July 26, 1872:[CD]
"A thunder-shower was approaching as we neared the summit of the
mountain. I was above the others of the party, and, when about fifty
feet below the summit, the electric current began to pass through my
body. At first I felt nothing, but heard a crackling noise, similar to
a rapid discharge of sparks from a friction machine. Immediately
after, I began to feel a tingling or pricking sensation in my head and
the ends of my fingers, which, as well as the noise, increased
rapidly, until, when I reached the top, the noise, which had not
changed its character, was deafening, and my hair stood completely on
end, while the tingling, pricking sensation was absolutely painful.
Taking off my hat partially relieved it. I started down again, and met
the others twenty-five or thirty feet below the summit. They were
affected similarly, but in a less degree. One of them attempted to go
to the top, but had proceeded but a few feet when he received quite a
severe shock, which felled him as if he had stumbled. We then returned
down the mountain about three hundred feet, and to this point we still
heard and felt the electricity."
[CD] Page 807, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
_Elephant Back_ (8,600)--J: 9--1871--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic. "On
account of the almost vertical sides of this mountain, and the rounded
form of the summit, it has received the name of the Elephant's
Back."--Hayden.[CE]
[CE] Page 98, Fifth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
This name, as now applied, refers to a different feature from that
originally designated by it. Many years before the Park was
discovered, it was used to denote the long ridge of which Mt. Washburn
is the commanding summit, and which was distinctly visible from beyond
the present limits of the Park, both north and south. It so appears
upon Raynolds' map of 1860, and was so used by the Washburn
Expedition (1870), by Captain Barlow (1871), and by Captain Jones
(1873). The United States Geological Survey, however, in 1871,
transferred the name to an inconspicuous ridge more than a thousand
feet lower than the surrounding mountains. Whether the change was made
by accident or design does not appear. Captain Ludlow, as late as
1875, refers to it and deplores the fact that it had taken place.
_Everts, Mt._ (7,900)--C: 7--1870--Washburn Party.--For Hon. Truman C.
Everts, member of the Expedition of 1870, whose terrible experience is
elsewhere alluded to. The following succinct account is from the pen
of Lieutenant Doane, and is in the main correct:[CF]
"On the first day of his absence, he had left his horse standing
unfastened, with all his arms and equipments strapped upon his saddle;
the animal became frightened, ran away into the woods, and he was left
without even a pocket knife as a means of defense. Being very
near-sighted, and totally unused to traveling in a wild country
without guides, he became completely bewildered. He wandered down to
the Snake River Lake [Hart Lake], where he remained twelve days,
sleeping near the hot springs to keep from freezing at night, and
climbing to the summits each day in the endeavor to trace out his
proper course. Here he subsisted on thistle-roots, boiled in the
springs, and was kept up a tree the greater part of one night by a
California lion. After gathering and cooking a supply of
thistle-roots, he managed to strike the south-west point of the
[Yellowstone] Lake, and followed around the north side to the
Yellowstone [River], finally reaching our [old] camp opposite the
Grand Cañon. He was twelve days out before he thought to kindle a fire
by using the lenses of his field-glass, but afterward carried a
burning brand with him in all his wanderings. Herds of game passed by
him during the night, on many occasions when he was on the verge of
starvation. In addition to a tolerable supply of thistle-roots, he had
nothing for over thirty days but a handful of minnows and a couple of
snow-birds. Twice he went five days without food, and three days
without water, in that country which is a net-work of streams and
springs. He was found on the verge of the great plateau, above the
mouth of Gardiner's River. A heavy snow-storm had extinguished his
fire; his supply of thistle-roots was exhausted; he was partially
deranged, and perishing with cold. A large lion was killed near him,
on the trail, which he said had followed him at a short distance for
several days previously. It was a miraculous escape, considering the
utter helplessness of the man, lost in a forest wilderness, and with
the storms of winter at hand."
[CF] Page 37, "Yellowstone Expedition of 1870." See Appendix E.
On the thirty-seventh day of his wanderings (September 9th to October
16th), he was discovered by Jack Baronett and George A. Pritchett,
near the great trail on a high mountain a few miles west of Yancey's.
Baronett threw up a mound of stones to mark the spot. He carried
Everts in his arms the rest of that day, and passed the night on a
small tributary of Black-tail Deer Creek. The next day he was taken on
a saddle to near the mouth of the Gardiner.
The commemoration of this adventure in the naming of Mt. Everts was an
awkward mischance. The mountain which should bear the name is Mt.
Sheridan. It was named for Everts by the Washburn Party the night
before he was lost, in recognition of his having been the first white
man (except Mr. Hedges, who was with him) known to have visited its
summit. In the writings of the Washburn Party after their return, it
is so used; one very interesting article, by Mr. Hedges, with this
name as a title, being published in the _Helena Herald_ before it was
known that Mr. Everts had been found. But the name, Mt. Everts, was
finally given to the broad plateau between the Gardiner and the
Yellowstone, a feature which is not a mountain at all, and which is
ten miles from where Everts was found. The actual locality of the
finding was erroneously supposed to be near "Rescue Creek."
In 1871, Captain Barlow ascended the mountain which should have borne
the name of Everts, and called it Mt. Sheridan, in ignorance of its
former christening.
_Factory Hill_ (9,500)--O: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--The term "factory"
has at various times been applied to several different localities in
the Park, because of their striking resemblance on frosty mornings to
an active factory town. The resemblance was noted as far back as 1829.
The name has now become fixed, as above indicated.
_Flat Mountain_ (9,000)--N: 9--1871--U. S. G.
S.--Characteristic.--This mountain had already been named by the
Washburn Party Yellow Mountain, from its color.
_Folsom Peak_ (9,300)--E: 8--1895--U. S. G. S.--For David E. Folsom,
leader of the Expedition of 1869, and author of the first general
description of the valley of the Upper Yellowstone.
[Illustration: DAVID E. FOLSOM.]
_Forellen Peak_ (9,700)--T: 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--From the German name
for Trout.
_Gallatin Range_--A-F: 1-4--Name in use prior to 1870. Raynolds has
"Mt. Gallatin" on his map. Gallatin River (see name) rises in this
range.
_Garnet Hill_ (7,000)--C: 9--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Giant Castle_ (10,000)--K: 14-15--1873--Jones--Characteristic.
_Gibbon Hill_ (8,600)--H: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--From the Gibbon River.
_Gravel Peak_ (9,600)--T: 11--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Gray Peak_ (10,300)--C-D: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Grizzly Peak_ (9,700)--L: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Hancock, Mt._ (10,100)--R: 10--1871--Barlow--For General W. S.
Hancock, U. S. Army, who, as commanding officer of the Department of
Dakota, had lent his active aid in the prosecution of the Yellowstone
Explorations.
_Hawk's Rest_ (9,800)--R: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Hedges Peak_ (9,500)--G: 9--1895--U. S. G. S.--For Cornelius Hedges,
a prominent member of the Washburn Expedition, author of a series of
descriptive articles upon the trip, and first to advance and publicly
advocate the idea of setting apart that region as a National Park.
_Holmes, Mt._ (10,300)--F: 4--1878--U. S. G. S.--For W. H. Holmes,
Geologist, U. S. Geological Survey. This peak had been previously
called Mt. Madison.
_Horseshoe Hill_ (8,200)--E: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Hoyt, Mt._ (10,400)--L: 13--1881--Norris--For the Hon. John W. Hoyt,
then Governor of Wyoming.
_Huckleberry Mountain_ (9,700)--S: 7--1885--U. S. G.
S.--Characteristic.
_Humphreys, Mt._ (11,000)--N: 14--1871--Barlow--For General A. A.
Humphreys, then Chief of Engineers, U. S. A.
_Index Peak_ (11,740)--C: 16--This mountain, and Pilot Knob near it,
received their names from unknown sources prior to 1870.
"One of them [the peaks] derives its name from its shape, like a
closed hand with the index-finger extending upward, while the other is
visible from so great a distance on every side that it forms an
excellent landmark for the wandering miner, and thus its appropriate
name of Pilot Knob."--Hayden.[CG]
[CG] Page 48, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
_Joseph Peak_ (10,300)--C: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--For Chief Joseph, the
famous Nez Percé leader in the war of 1877. He deservedly ranks among
the most noted of the North American Indians. His remarkable conduct
of the campaign of 1877 and his uniform abstinence from those
barbarous practices which have always characterized Indian warfare,
were a marvel to all who were familiar with the facts. No Indian chief
ever commanded to such a degree the respect and even friendship of his
enemies.
_Junction Butte_ (6,500)--D: 10--When or by whom given not known. The
name arose, of course, from the fact that this butte stands at the
junction of the two important streams, the Yellowstone and Lamar
Rivers. Barlow records that the Butte was known as "Square Butte" at
the time of his visit in 1871.
_Lake Butte_ (8,600)--K: 11--1878--Characteristic.
_Landmark, The_ (8,800)--F: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Langford, Mt._ (10,600)--M: 13--1870--Washburn Party--For the Hon.
Nathaniel Pitt Langford, first Superintendent of the Yellowstone
National Park.
Mr. Langford was born August 9, 1832, in Westmoreland, Oneida County,
New York. His early life was spent on his father's farm, and his
education was obtained by winter attendance at district school. At
nineteen, he became clerk in the Oneida Bank of Utica. In 1854, he
went to St. Paul, where we find him, in 1855, cashier of the banking
house of Marshall & Co., and in 1858, cashier of the Bank of the
State of Minnesota. In 1862, he went to Montana as second in command
of the Northern Overland Expedition, consisting of 130 men and 53
wagons drawn by oxen. In 1864, he was made Collector of Internal
Revenue for the new territory. In 1868, he was appointed by President
Johnson Governor of Montana, but as this was after the Senate's
imbroglio with the President and its refusal to confirm any more
presidential appointments, he did not reach this office. He was one of
the famous Montana Vigilantes, a member of the Yellowstone Expedition
of 1870, and first Superintendent of the newly created Park. In 1872,
he was appointed National Bank Examiner for the Pacific States and
Territories, and held the office for thirteen years. He now resides in
St. Paul, Minnesota. He is author of a series of articles in
_Scribner's_ for 1871, describing the newly-discovered wonders of the
Yellowstone, and of the important work, "Vigilante Days and Ways," the
most complete history in existence of that critical period in Montana
history.
[Illustration: NATHANIEL PITT LANGFORD.]
The notable part which Mr. Langford bore in the discovery of the Upper
Yellowstone country, and in the creation of the Yellowstone National
Park, has been fully set forth elsewhere. He has always been its
ardent friend, and his enthusiasm upon the subject in the earlier days
of its history drew upon him the mild raillery of his friends, who
were wont to call him, "National Park" Langford--a soubriquet to
which the initials of his real name readily lent themselves.
For the circumstance of naming Mt. Langford, see "Mt. Doane."
_Mary Mountain_ (8,500)--J: 7--Probably so named by tourists from Mary
Lake, which rests on the summit.
_Moran, Mt._ (12,800)--W: 5--1872--U. S. G. S.--For the artist, Thomas
Moran, who produced the picture of the Grand Cañon now in the Capitol
at Washington.
_Needles, The_ (9,600)--E: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Norris, Mt._ (9,900)--E: 13--1878--U. S. G. S.--For Philetus W.
Norris, second Superintendent of the Park, and the most conspicuous
figure in its history.
[Illustration: PHILETUS W. NORRIS.]
He was born at Palmyra, New York, August 17, 1821. At the age of
eight, he was tourist guide at Portage Falls on the Genesee River, New
York, and at seventeen he was in Manitoba in the service of British
fur traders. In 1842, he settled in Williams County, Ohio, where he
founded the village of Pioneer. Between 1850 and 1860 he visited the
Far West. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he entered the army and
served a short time as spy and captain of scouts. He was then placed
in charge of Rebel prisoners on Johnson's Island. He next entered
politics as member of the Ohio House of Representatives, but being
later defeated for the State Senate, he joined the United States
Sanitary Commission and went again to the front. He soon returned and
became trustee of certain landed property near the City of Detroit
belonging to officers and soldiers of both armies. These lands he
reclaimed at great expense from their original swampy condition, and
built thereon the village of Norris, now part of Detroit. In 1770, he
went west again and undertook to enter the Park region in June of that
year, but permitted the swollen condition of the streams to defeat his
project. He thus missed the honor which a few months later fell to the
Washburn Party--a misfortune which he never ceased to deplore. In
1875, he again visited the Park, and in 1877, became its second
Superintendent. In 1882, he returned to Detroit, after which he was
employed by the government to explore old Indian mounds, forts,
villages, and tombs, and to collect relics for the National Museum. He
died at Rocky Hill, Kentucky, January 14, 1885. He is author of the
following works: Five Annual Reports as Superintendent of the Park;
"The Calumet of the Coteau," a volume of verse, with much additional
matter relating to the Park; and a long series of articles on "The
Great West," published in the _Norris Suburban_ in 1876-8.
The above sketch sufficiently discloses the salient characteristic of
Norris' career. His life was that of the pioneer, and was spent in
dealing first blows in the subjugation of a primeval wilderness. He
was "blazing trails," literally and figuratively, all his days,
leaving to others the building of the finished highway. It is
therefore not surprising that his work lacks the element of
completeness, which comes only from patient attention to details.
Nowhere is this defect more apparent than in his writings. A distinct
literary talent, and something of the poet's inspiration, were, to use
his own words, "well nigh strangled" by the "stern realities of border
life." His prose abounds in aggregations of more than one hundred
words between periods, so ill arranged and barbarously punctuated as
utterly to bewilder the reader. His verse--we have searched in vain
for a single quatrain that would justify reproduction. Nevertheless,
his writings, like his works, were always to some good purpose. They
contained much useful information, and, being widely read throughout
the West, had a large and beneficial influence.
Perhaps no better or more generous estimate of his character can be
found than in the following words of Mr. Langford who knew him well:
"He was a good man, a true man, faithful to his friends, of very kind
heart, grateful for kindnesses, of more than ordinary personal
courage, rather vain of his poetical genius, and fond of perpetuating
his name in prominent features of scenery."
Concerning which last characteristic it may be noted that three
mountain peaks, one geyser basin, one pass, and an uncertain number of
other features of the Park, were thought by Colonel Norris deserving
of this distinction. With inimitable fidelity to this trait of his
character, he had even selected as his final resting-place the
beautiful open glade on the south side of the Grand Cañon, just below
the Lower Falls.
_Observation Peak_ (9,300)--G: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Obsidian Cliff_ (7,800)--F: 6--1878--Norris--Characteristic.
_Paint Pot Hill_ (7,900)--H: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Pelican Cone_ (9,580)--I: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Near source of
Pelican Creek.
_Pilot Knob_ (11,977)--C: 16--See "Index Peak."
_Piñon Peak_ (9,600)--S: 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Prospect Peak_ (9,300)--D-E: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Pyramid Peak_ (10,300)--J: 14--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Quadrant Mountain_ (10,200)--D: 4--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Red Mountain Range_--P: 7-8--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Reservation Peak_ (10,600)--M: 14--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Roaring Mountain_ (8,000)--F: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--"It takes its
name from the shrill, penetrating sound of the steam constantly
escaping from one or more vents near the summit."--Hague.
_Saddle Mountain_ (11,100)--H: 15--1880--Norris--Characteristic.
_Schurz Mt._ (10,900)--N: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--For Carl Schurz,
Secretary of the Interior during President Hayes' administration. This
name was first given by Colonel Norris to the prominent ridge on the
west side of the Gibbon Cañon.
_Sepulcher Mountain_ (9,500)--B-C: 5-6--The origin of this name is
unknown. The following remarks concerning it are from the pen of Prof.
Wm. H. Holmes:[CH]
"Why this mountain received such a melancholy appellation I have not
been able to discover. So far as I know, the most important thing
buried beneath its dark mass is the secret of its structure. It is
possible that the form suggested the name."
[CH] Page 15, Twelfth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
_Sheepeater Cliffs_ (7,500)--D: 7--1879--Norris--From the name of a
tribe of Indians, the only known aboriginal occupants of what is now
the Yellowstone Park. (See Chapter II, Part II.) It was upon one of
the "ancient and but recently deserted, secluded, unknown haunts" of
these Indians, that Colonel Norris, "in rapt astonishment," stumbled
one day, and was so impressed by what he saw, that he gave the
neighboring cliff its present name. He thus describes this
retreat:[CI]
"It is mainly carpeted with soft grass, dotted, fringed, and overhung
with small pines, firs and cedars, and, with the subdued and mingled
murmur of the rapids and cataracts above and below it, and the
laughing ripple of the gliding stream, is truly an enchanting dell--a
wind and storm sheltered refuge for the feeble remnant of a fading
race."
[CI] Page 10, Annual Report Superintendent of the Park for 1879.
_Sheridan Mt._ (10,250)--P: 8--1871--Barlow--For Gen. P. H. Sheridan,
who actively forwarded all the early exploring expeditions in this
region, and, at a later day, twice visited the Park. His public
warnings at this time of the danger to which the Park was exposed from
vandals, poachers, and railroad promoters, and his vigorous appeal for
its protection, had great influence in bringing about a more efficient
and enlightened policy in regard to that reservation. (See "Mt.
Everts.")
_Signal Hills_ (9,500)--M: 12--1871--U. S. G. S.--A ridge extending
back from Signal Point on the Yellowstone Lake.
_Silver Tip Peak_ (10,400)--K: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Specimen Ridge_ (8,700)--E: 11--Name known prior to
1870.--Characteristic. (See Chapter V, Part II.)
_Stevenson, Mt._ (10,300)--M: 13--1871--U. S. G. S.--For James
Stevenson, long prominently connected with the U. S. Geological
Survey.
"In honor of his great services not only during the past season, but
for over twelve years of unremitting toil as my assistant, oftentimes
without pecuniary reward, and with but little of the scientific
recognition that usually comes to the original explorer, I have
desired that one of the principal islands of the lake and one of the
noble peaks reflected in its clear waters should bear his name
forever."--Hayden.[CJ]
[CJ] Page 5, Fifth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
Mr. Stevenson was born in Maysville, Ky., December 24, 1840. He early
displayed a taste for exploration and natural history, and such
reading as his limited education permitted was devoted to books
treating of these subjects. At the age of thirteen he ran away from
home and joined a party of Hudson's Bay Fur Company's traders, bound
up the Missouri River. On the same boat was Dr. F. V. Hayden, then on
his way to explore the fossiliferous region of the Upper Missouri and
Yellowstone Rivers. Noticing Stevenson's taste for natural history he
invited him to join him in his work. Stevenson accepted; and thus
began a relation which lasted for more than a quarter of a century,
and which gave direction to the rest of his life.
[Illustration: JAMES STEVENSON.]
He was engaged in several explorations between 1850 and 1860,
connected with the Pacific railroad surveys, and with others under
Lieutenants G. K. Warren and W. F. Raynolds. In 1861 he entered the
Union service as a private soldier, and left it in 1865 with an
officer's commission. After the war he resumed his connection with Dr.
Hayden. He was mainly instrumental in the organization of the United
States Geological Survey of the Territories in 1867, and during the
next twelve years he was constantly engaged in promoting its welfare.
When the consolidation of the various geographical and geological
surveys took place in 1879, under the name of the United States
Geological Survey, he became associated with the United States Bureau
of Ethnology. He had always shown a taste for ethnological
investigations and his scientific work during the rest of his life was
in this direction, principally among the races of New Mexico and
Arizona. He died in New York City July 25, 1888.
In the paragraph quoted above from Dr. Hayden there is more than any
but the few who are familiar with the early history of the geological
surveys will understand. It rarely happens that a master is so far
indebted to a servant for his success, as was true of the relation of
Dr. Hayden and James Stevenson. Stevenson's great talent lay in the
organization and management of men. His administrative ability in the
field was invaluable to the Survey of which Hayden was chief, and his
extraordinary influence with Congressmen was a vital element in its
early growth. His part in the Yellowstone Explorations of 1871 and
1872 is second to none in importance. It will not be forgotten that he
was the first to build and launch a boat upon the Yellowstone Lake,
nor that he, and Mr. Langford who was with him, were the first white
men to reach the summit of the Grand Teton.
_Storm Peak_ (9,500)--E: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Survey Peak_ (9,200)--T: 4--1885--U. S. G. S. This mountain was a
prominent signaling point for the Indians. It was first named Monument
Peak by Richard Leigh who built a stone mound on its summit.
_Table Mountain_ (10,800)--O: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Terrace Mountain_ (8,100)--C: 6--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Teton, Grand_ (13,691)--Not on Map.--This mountain has borne its
present name for upward of four score years. Through more than half a
century it was a cynosure to the wandering trapper, miner and
explorer. The name has passed into all the literature of that period,
which will ever remain one of the most fascinating in our western
history. Indeed, it has become the classic designation of the most
interesting historic summit of the Rocky Mountains. That it should
always retain this designation in memory of the nameless pioneers who
have been guided by it across the wilderness, and thousands of whom
have perished beneath its shadow, would seem to be a self-evident
proposition. Individual merit, no matter how great, can never justify
the usurpation of its place by any personal name whatever. An attempt
to do this was made in 1872 by the United States Geological Survey who
rechristened it Mt. Hayden. The new name has never gained any local
standing, and although it has crept into many maps its continued use
ought to be discouraged. It is greatly to the credit of Dr. Hayden
that he personally disapproved the change, so far at least, as very
rarely, if ever, to refer to the mountain by its new name.
_Three Rivers Peak_ (9,900)--E: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Branches of the
Madison, Gallatin and Gardiner Rivers take their rise from its slopes.
_Thunderer, The_ (10,400)--D: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Seemingly a great
focus for thunder storms.
_Top Notch Peak_ (10,000)--L: 13--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Trident, The_ (10,000)--Q-R: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Trilobite Point_ (9,900)--F: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Turret Mountain_ (10,400)--P: 14--1878--Characteristic.--Called by
Captain Jones "Round-head or Watch Tower."
_Twin Buttes_ (8,400)--K: 14--1870--Washburn Party.--Characteristic.
_Washburn, Mt._ (10,000)--F: 9--1870--Washburn Party.--For General
Henry Dana Washburn, chief of the Yellowstone Expedition of 1870.
General Washburn was born in Windsor, Vt., March 28, 1832. His parents
moved to Ohio during his infancy. He received a common school
education and at fourteen began teaching school. He entered Oberlin
College, but did not complete his course. At eighteen he went to
Indiana where he resumed school-teaching. At twenty-one he entered the
New York State and National Law School, from which he graduated. At
twenty-three he was elected auditor of Vermilion county, Indiana.
His war record was a highly honorable one. He entered the army as
private in 1861 and left it as brevet brigadier-general in 1865. His
service was mainly identified with the Eighteenth Indiana, of which he
became colonel. He was in several of the western campaigns, notably in
that of Vicksburg, in which he bore a prominent part. In the last year
of the war he was with Sherman's army, and for a short time after its
close was in command of a military district in southern Georgia. In
1864, he was elected to Congress over the Hon. Daniel W. Voorhees, and
again, in 1866, over the Hon. Solomon W. Claypool. At the expiration
of his second term he was appointed by President Grant,
surveyor-general of Montana, which office he held until his death.
[Illustration: GEN. HENRY DANA WASHBURN.]
It was during his residence in Montana that the famous Yellowstone
Expedition of 1870 took place. His part in that important work is
perhaps the most notable feature of his career. As leader of the
expedition he won the admiration and affection of its members. He was
the first to send to Washington specimens from the geyser formations.
He ardently espoused the project of setting apart this region as a
public park and was on his way to Washington in its interest when his
career was cut short by death. The hardship and exposure of the
expedition had precipitated the catastrophe to which he had long been
tending. He left Helena in November, 1870, and died of consumption at
his home in Clinton, Indiana, January 26, 1871.
General Washburn's name was given to this mountain by a unanimous vote
of the party on the evening of August 28, 1870, as a result of the
following incident related by Mr. Langford:
"Our first Sunday in camp was at Tower Creek. The forest around us was
very dense, and we were somewhat at a loss in deciding what course we
needed to follow in order to reach Yellowstone Lake. We had that day
crossed a _fresh_ Indian trail, a circumstance which admonished us of
the necessity of watchfulness so as to avoid disaster. While we were
resting in camp, General Washburn, without our knowledge, and
unattended, made his way to the mountain, from the summit of which,
overlooking the dense forest which environed us, he saw Yellowstone
Lake, our objective point, and carefully noted its direction from our
camp. This intelligence was most joyfully received by us, for it
relieved our minds of all anxiety concerning our course of travel, and
dispelled the fears of some of our party lest we should become
inextricably involved in that wooded labyrinth."
_White Peaks_ (9,800)--F : 4--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Wild Cat Peak_ (9,800)--T : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Yount Peak_ (Hayden, 11,700; Hague, 12,250)--Not on map.--1878--U. S.
G. S.--Source of the Yellowstone.--Named for an old trapper and guide
of that region.
APPENDIX A.
III.
STREAMS.
[Map locations refer only to outlets, or to points where streams
pass off the limits of the map. Altitudes refer to the same points,
but are given only in the most important cases.]
_Agate Creek_--E : 10--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Alum Creek_--H : 9--Name known prior to 1870--Characteristic.
_Amethyst Greek_--E : 12--1878--U. S. G. S.--Flows from Amethyst
Mountain.
_Amphitheater Creek_--D : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--From form of valley
near its mouth.
_Antelope Creek_--E : 10--1870--Washburn Party--Characteristic.--This
name is often applied locally to a tributary of the Yellowstone just
above Trout Creek.
_Arnica Creek_--L : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Aster Creek_--P : 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Astrigent Creek_--J : 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Atlantic Creek_--S : 13--1873--Jones--Flows from Two-Ocean-Pass down
the Atlantic slope.
_Badger Creek_--P : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Basin Creek_--Q : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Bear Creek_--B : 7--1863--Party of prospectors under one Austin. On
the way they found fair prospects in a creek on the east side of the
Yellowstone, and finding also a hairless cub, called the gulch
"Bear."--Topping.
_Bear Creek_--K : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Beaver Creek_--O : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Beaver Dam Creek_--O : 12--1871--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Bechler River_--R : 1--1872--U. S. G. S.--For Gustavus R. Bechler,
topographer on the Snake River Division of the Hayden Expedition of
1872.
_Berry Creek_--U : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Black-tail Deer Creek_--B : 8--Named prior to 1870--Characteristic.
_Bluff Creek_--H : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Bog Creek_--H : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Boone Creek_--T : 1--Named prior to 1870--For Robert Withrow, an
eccentric pioneer of Irish descent, who used to call himself "Daniel
Boone the Second."
_Bridge Creek_--K : 9--1871--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
"At one point, soon after leaving camp, we found a most singular
natural bridge of the trachyte, which gives passage to a small stream,
which we called Bridge Creek."--Hayden.
"Natural Bridge" is really over a branch of Bridge Creek.
_Broad Creek_--F : 10--1871--Barlow--Characteristic.
_Buffalo Creek_--D : 11--Prior to 1870--Naming party
unknown--Characteristic.
_Burnt Creek_--E : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Cache Creek_--F : 13--1863--Prospecting party under one Austin were
in camp on this stream when they were surprised by Indians, and all
their stock stolen except one or two mules. Being unable to carry all
their baggage from this point, they _cached_ what they could not place
on the mules, or could not themselves carry. From this circumstance
arose the name.
_Calfee Creek_--F : 13--1880--Norris--For H. B. Calfee, a photographer
of note.
"Some seven miles above Cache Creek we passed the mouth of another
stream in a deep, narrow, timbered valley, which we named Calfee
Creek, after the famous photographer of the Park. Five miles further
on, we reached the creek which Miller recognized as the one he
descended in retreating from the Indians in 1870, and which, on this
account, we called Miller's Creek."--Norris.[CK]
[CK] Page 7, Annual Report Superintendent of the Park for 1880.
_Cañon Creek_--1 : 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Carnelian Creek_--E : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Cascade Creek_--G : 8--1870--Washburn Party--Characteristic.
_Chalcedony Creek_--E : 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Chipmunk Creek_--O : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Clear Creek_--L : 11--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Cliff Creek_--Q : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Clover Creek_--G : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Cold Creek_--H : 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Columbine Creek_--M : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Conant Creek_--T : 1--Prior to 1870--By Richard Leigh for one All
Conant, who went to the mountains in 1865, and who came near losing
his life on this stream.
_Cotton Grass Creek_--H : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Cougar Creek_--G : 2--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Coulter Creek_--R : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--For John M. Coulter,
botanist in the Hayden Expedition of 1872.
_Crawfish Creek_--R : 6--1885--U. S. G. S--Characteristic.
_Crevice Creek_--C : 7--1867--Prospecting party under one Lou
Anderson.
"They found gold in a crevice at the mouth of the first Stream above
Bear, and named it, in consequence, Crevice Gulch. Hubbel went ahead
the next day for a hunt, and upon his return he was asked what kind of
a stream the next creek was. "It's a hell roarer," was his reply, and
Hell Roaring is its name to this day. The second day after this, he
was again ahead, and, the same question being asked him, he said:
"'Twas but a slough." When the party came to it, they found a rushing
torrent, and, in crossing, a pack horse and his load were swept away,
but the name of Slough Creek remains."--Topping.
_Crooked Creek_--R : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Crow Creek_--K : 15--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Crystal Creek_--D : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Cub Creek_--L : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Deep Creek_--E : 10--1873--Jones--Characteristic.
_De Lacy Creek_--M : 6--1880--Norris--For Walter W. De Lacy, first
white man known to have passed along the valley. (See "Shoshone
Lake.") First named Madison Creek by the Hayden party in 1871.
_Duck Creek_--G : 3--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Elk Creek_--D : 9--Named prior to 1870--Characteristic.
_Elk Tongue Creek_--C : 12--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Escarpment Creek_--Q : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Fairy Creek_--J : 4--1871--Barlow--From "Fairy Falls," which see.
_Falcon Creek_--R : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Falls River_--S : 1--1872--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Fan Creek_--C : 2--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Fawn Creek_--C : 5--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Firehole River_--I : 4--This name and "Burnt Hole" have been used to
designate the geyser basins and the stream flowing through them since
at least as far back as 1830. Captain Bonneville says it was well
known to his men. The term "Hole" is a relic of the early days when
the open valleys or parks among the mountains were called "holes." The
descriptive "fire, naturally arose from the peculiar character of
that region."
_Firehole, Little_--L : 4--1878--U. S. G. S.--From main stream.
_Flint Creek_--F : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Forest Creek_--Q : 7--1885--U. S. G. S--Characteristic.
_Fox Creek_--R : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Gallatin River_--A : 1--1805--Lewis and Clark--For Albert Gallatin,
Secretary of War under President Jefferson.
_Gardiner River_ (5360)--B : 6--This name, which, after "Yellowstone,"
is the most familiar and important name in the Park, is the most
difficult to account for. The first authentic use of the name occurs
in 1870, in the writings of the Washburn party. In Mr. Langford's
journal, kept during the expedition, is the following entry for August
25, 1870: "At nineteen miles from our morning camp we came to Gardiner
River, at the mouth of which we camped." As the party did not
originate the name, and as they make no special reference to it in any
of their writings, it seems clear that it must already have been known
to them at the time of their arrival at the stream. None of the
surviving members has the least recollection concerning it. The stream
had been known to prospectors during the preceding few years as Warm
Spring Creek, and the many "old timers" consulted on the subject
erroneously think that the present name was given by the Washburn
Party or by the Hayden Party of 1871. What is its real origin is
therefore a good deal of a mystery.
The only clue, and that not a satisfactory one, which has come under
our observation, is to be found in the book "River of the West,"
already quoted. Reference is there made to a trapper by the name of
Gardiner, who lived in the Upper Yellowstone country as far back as
1830, and was at one time a companion of Joseph Meek, the hero of the
book. In another place it is stated that in 1838, Meek started alone
from Missouri Lake (probably Red Rock Lake) "for the Gallatin Fork of
the Missouri, trapping in a mountain basin called Gardiner's Hole....
On his return, in another basin called Burnt Hole, he found a buffalo
skull, etc." As is well known, the sources of the Gallatin and
Gardiner are interlaced with each other, and this reference strongly
points to the present Gardiner Valley as "Gardiner's Hole." The route
across the Gallatin Range to Mammoth Hot Springs, and thence back by
way of the Firehole Basin, was doubtless a natural one then as it is
now. It is therefore reasonable to suppose that this name came from an
old hunter in the early years of the century, and that the Washburn
Party received it from some surviving descendant of those times.
_Geode Creek_--C : 8--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Geyser Creek_--H : 6--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Gibbon River_--I : 4--1872--U. S. G. S.--For Gen. John Gibbon, U. S.
A., who first explored it.
"We have named this stream in honor of Gen. John Gibbon, United States
Army, who has been in military command of Montana for some years, and
has, on many occasions, rendered the survey most important
services."--Hayden.[CL]
[CL] Page 55, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
_Glade Creek_--S : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Glen Creek_--C : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Gneiss Creek_--G : 1--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Gravel Creek_--U : 10--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Grayling Creek_--F : 1--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Grouse Creek_--O : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Harebell Creek_--R : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Hart River_--Q : 9--1872--U. S. G. S.--From Hart Lake, of which it is
the outlet. (See "Hart Lake.")
_Hell Roaring Creek_--C : 9--1867--"See Crevice Creek."
_Indian Creek_--E : 6--1878--U. S. G. S.--See "Bannock Peak."
_Iron Creek_--L : 4--1871--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Jasper Creek_--D : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Jay Creek_--S : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Jones Creek_--K : 15--1880--Norris--For Captain (now
Lieutenant-Colonel) W. A. Jones, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., who
first explored it. Captain Jones was leader of an important expedition
through the Park in 1873, and has since been largely identified with
the development of the Park road system.
_Jumper Creek_--J : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Lamar River_ (5,970)--D : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--For the Hon. L. Q.
C. Lamar, Secretary of the Interior during the first administration of
President Cleveland. The stream is locally known only by its original
designation, the "East Fork of the Yellowstone."
_Lava Creek_--D : 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Lewis River_--R : 7--1872--U. S. G. S.--From "Lewis Lake," which see.
_Lizard Creek_--U : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Lost Creek_--D : 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Lupine Creek_--D : 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Lynx Creek_--Q : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Madison River_--G : 1--1805--Lewis and Clark--For James Madison,
Secretary of State to Thomas Jefferson.
_Magpie Creek_--J : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Maple Creek_--G : 2--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Mason Creek_--L : 16--1881--Norris--For Major Julius W. Mason, U. S.
A., commander of escort to Gov. Hoyt, of Wyoming, on the latter's
reconnaissance for a wagon road to the Park in 1881.
_Meadow Creek_--M : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Middle Creek_--L : 15--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Miller Creek_--G : 13--1880--Norris--For a mountaineer named Miller.
See "Calfee Creek."
_Mink Creek_--T : 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Mist Creek_--I : 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Moose Creek_--N : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Moss Creek_--G : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Mountain Creek_--P : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Mountain Ash Creek_--R : 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Nez Percé Creek_ (7,237)--J : 4--1878--U. S. G. S.--The Nez Percé
Indians passed up this stream on their raid through the Park in 1877.
It had previously been called "East Fork of the Firehole." Prof.
Bradley, of the U. S. Geological Survey, christened it Hayden's Fork
in 1872. (See Chapter XIII, Part I.)
_Obsidian Creek_--E : 6--1879--Norris--Characteristic.
_Opal Creek_--E : 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Otter Creek_--H : 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Outlet Creek_--P : 9--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Owl Creek_--T : 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Pacific Creek_--W : 11--1873--Jones--Flows from Two-Ocean Pass down
the Pacific slope.
_Panther Creek_--D : 5--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Pebble Creek_--D : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Pelican Creek_--K : 10--Probably named by the Washburn Party in 1870.
Hayden and Barlow, in 1871, use the name as though it were already a
fixture. Mr. Hedges says of this stream:
"About the mouth of the little stream that we had just crossed were
numerous shallows and bars, which were covered by the acre with ducks,
geese, huge white-breasted cranes, and long-beaked pelicans, while the
solitary albatross, or sea-gull, circled above our heads with a saucy
look that drew many a random shot, and cost one, at least, its life."
_Phlox Creek_--Q : 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Plateau Creek_--C : 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Polecat Creek_--S : 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Quartz Creek_--E : 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Rabbit Creek_--K : 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Raven Creek_--J: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Red Creek_--Q: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Rescue Creek_--C: 7--1878--U. S. G. S.--Where Everts was not found.
(See "Mt. Everts.")
_Rocky Creek_--O: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Rose Creek_--D: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Sedge Creek_--K: 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Senecio Creek_--S: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Sentinel Creek_--J: 4--1872--U. S. G. S.--"The two central ones
[geyser mounds] are the highest, and appear so much as if they were
guarding the Upper Valley, that this stream was called Sentinel
Branch." Bradley.
_Shallow Creek_--F: 11--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Sickle Creek_--Q: 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Slough Creek_--D: 10--1867--See "Crevice Creek."
_Snake River_ (6,808)--W: 8--1805--Lewis and Clark--From the Snake or
Shoshone Indians, who dwelt in its valley.
_Soda Butte Creek_--E: 12--Probably named by miners prior to 1870.
From an extinct geyser or hot spring cone near the mouth of the
stream.
_Solfatara Creek_--G: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Solution Creek_--M: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--The outlet of Riddle Lake.
_Sour Creek_--H: 9--1871--Barlow--Characteristic.
_Spirea Creek_--R: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Spring Creek_--M: 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Spruce Creek_--J: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Squirrel Creek_--N: 5--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Stellaria Creek_--C: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Stinkingwater River_--L: 16--1807--John Colter--From an offensive hot
spring near the junction of the principal forks of the stream. A most
interesting fact, to which attention was first publicly called by
Prof. Arnold Hague, is the occurrence on the map, which Lewis and
Clark sent to President Jefferson in the spring of 1805, of the name
"Stinking Cabin Creek," very nearly in the locality of the river
Stinkingwater. Prof. Hague, who published an interesting paper
concerning this map in _Science_ for November 4, 1877, thinks that
possibly some trapper had penetrated this region even before 1804. But
with Lewis and Clark's repeated statements that no white man had
reached the Yellowstone prior to 1805, it seems more likely that the
name was derived from the Indians.
_Straight Creek_--E: 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Sulphur Creek_--G: 9--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.--Locally
this name is applied to a stream which flows from the hot springs at
the base of Sulphur Mountain.
_Surface Creek_--G: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Surprise Creek_--P: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Its course, as made known
by recent explorations, was surprisingly different from that which
earlier explorations had indicated.
_Tangled Creek_--J: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.--A hot water
stream which flows in numberless interlaced channels.
_Thistle Creek_--J: 10--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Thoroughfare Creek_--R: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Its valley forms part
of a very practicable route across the Yellowstone Range.
_Timothy Creek_--G: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Tower Creek_--D: 10--1870--Washburn Party--From "Tower Falls," which
see.
_Trail Creek_--O: 12--1873--Jones--From an elk trail along it.
_Trappers' Creek_--P: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--A great beaver resort.
_Trout Greek_--I: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Violet Creek_--I: 8--1872--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.--"We named
the small stream Violet Creek, from the profusion of violets growing
upon its banks." Peale.
_Weasel Creek_--K: 9--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Willow Creek_--H: 14--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Winter Creek_--E: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Witch Creek_--O: 8--1878--U. S. G. S.--Probably from the prevalence
of hot springs phenomena along its entire course.
_Wolverine Creek_--R: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Yellowstone River_ (8,100 and 5,360)--U: 16 (enters map); A: 5
(leaves map).--See Part I, Chapter I.
APPENDIX A.
IV.
WATER-FALLS.
[Figures in parentheses indicate approximate heights of falls in
feet. These in most cases are not to be relied upon as strictly
accurate, there having been no published record of actual
measurements, except in the case of the Yellowstone Falls.]
_Collonade Falls_--F: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Crystal Falls_ (129)--G: 8--1870--Washburn
Party.--Characteristic.--The total fall includes three cascades.
_Fairy Fall_ (250)--K: 4--1871--Barlow.--Characteristic.
_Firehole Falls_ (60)--I: 4--Takes name from river.
_Gibbon Falls_ (80)--I: 5--Takes name from river.
_Iris Falls_--P: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Kepler Cascade_ (80)--L: 5--1881--Norris.--For the son of Hon. John
W. Hoyt, Ex-Governor of Wyoming, who accompanied his father on a
reconnaissance for a wagon road to the Park in 1881. Norris speaks of
him as "an intrepid twelve-year old" boy who "unflinchingly shared in
all the hardships, privations, and dangers of the explorations of his
father," which included many hundred miles of travel on horseback
through that difficult country; and in admiration for the lad's pluck,
he named this cascade in his honor.
_Lewis Falls, Upper_ (80)--P: 7--Takes name from river.
_Lewis Falls, Lower_ (50)--Q: 7--Takes name from river.
_Moose Falls_--R: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Mystic Falls_--L: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Osprey Falls_ (150)--D: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.
_Ouzel Falls_--P: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Rainbow Falls_ (140)--R: 4--1885--U. S. G.
S.--Characteristic.--Height includes total of three falls.
_Rustic Falls_ (70)--D: 6--1878--Norris--Characteristic.
_Silver Cord Cascade_--G: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Terraced Falls_--R: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Tower Falls_ (132)--D: 10--1870--Washburn Party--Characteristic.
"By a vote of a majority of the party this fall was called Tower
Fall."--Washburn.
"At the crest of the fall the stream has cut its way through
amygdaloid masses, leaving tall spires of rock from 50 to 100 feet in
height, and worn in every conceivable shape.... Several of them stand
like sentinels on the very brink of the fall."--Doane.
_Undine Falls_ (60)--D: 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Union Falls_--Q: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Virginia Cascade_ (60)--H: 7--1886--By E. Lamartine, at that time
foreman in charge of government work in Park.--For the wife of the
Hon. Chas. Gibson, President of the Yellowstone Park Association.
_Wraith Falls_ (100)--D: 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Yellowstone Falls_ (Upper 112; Lower 310)--H: 9--From the river which
flows over them.[CM]
[CM] Record of the various measurements of the Upper and Lower Falls
of the Yellowstone River.
Folsom (1869) Upper Fall, 115 feet. Method not stated. Lower Fall, 350
feet. Method not stated.
Doane (1870) Upper Fall, 115 feet. Line.
Langford (1870) Lower Fall, 350 feet. Line stretched on an incline.
Moore's Sketch (1870) Lower Fall, 365 feet. Method not stated.
Hayden (1871) Upper Fall, 140 feet. Method not stated. Lower Fall, 350
feet. Method not stated.
Gannett (1872) Upper Fall, 140 feet. Barometer. Lower Fall, 395 feet.
Comparison of angles subtended by Falls and by a tree of known height.
Jones (1873) Upper Fall, 150 feet. Barometer. Lower Fall, 329 feet.
Barometer.
Ludlow (1875) Upper Fall, 110 feet. Line. Lower Fall, 310 feet. Line.
Gannett (1878) Upper Fall, 112 feet. Line. Lower Fall, 297 feet. Line
stretched on an incline.
U. S. G. S. (Recent) Upper Fall, 109 feet. Method not stated. Lower
Fall, 308 feet. Method not stated.
Chittenden (1892) Upper Fall, 112 feet between point of first descent
and level of pool below. Measured by means of a transit instrument.
Width of gorge at brink of fall, and a few feet above water surface,
48 feet.
APPENDIX A.
V.
LAKES.
[Figures in parentheses denote elevations.]
_Beach Lake_ (8,150)--K: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Beaver Lake_ (7,415)--F: 6--1879--Norris--Characteristic.
_Beula Lake_ (7,530)--R: 5--1872--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
[Illustration: JAMES BRIDGER.]
_Bridger Lake_ (7,900)--R: 13--Name a fixture prior to 1870.--For
James Bridger, the Daniel Boone of the Rockies, and one of the most
remarkable products of the trapping and gold-seeking eras.
He was born in Richmond, Va., in March, 1804, and died in Washington,
Jackson Co., Mo., July 17, 1881. He must have gone west at a very
early age for he is known to have been in the mountains in 1820.
_Niles Register_ for 1822 speaks of him as associated with Fitzpatrick
in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Another record of this period
reveals him as leader of a band of whites sent to retake stolen horses
from the hostile Bannocks. In 1832, he had become a resident partner
in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. That he was a recognized leader
among the early mountaineers while yet in his minority seems beyond
question. He became "The Old Man of the Mountains" before he was
thirty years of age.
Among the more prominent achievements of Bridger's life may be noted
the following: He was long a leading spirit in the great Rocky
Mountain Fur Company. He discovered Great Salt Lake and the noted Pass
that bears his name. He built Fort Bridger in the lovely valley of
Black Fork of Green River, where transpired many thrilling events
connected with the history of the Mormons and "Forty-niners." He had
explored, and could accurately describe, the wonders of the
Yellowstone fully a quarter of a century before their final discovery.
In person he was tall and spare, straight and agile, eyes gray, hair
brown and long, and abundant even in old age; expression mild, and
manners agreeable. He was hospitable and generous, and was always
trusted and respected. He possessed to a high degree the confidence of
the Indians, one of whom, a Shoshone woman, he made his wife.
Unquestionably Bridger's chief claim to remembrance by posterity rests
upon the extraordinary part he bore in the exploration of the West.
The common verdict of his many employers, from Robert Campbell down to
Captain Raynolds, is that as a guide he was without an equal. He was
a born topographer. The whole West was mapped out in his mind as in an
exhaustive atlas. Such was his instinctive sense of locality and
direction that it used to be said that he could "smell his way" where
he could not see it. He was not only a good topographer in the field,
but he could reproduce his impressions in sketches. "With a buffalo
skin and a piece of charcoal," says Captain Gunnison, "he will map out
any portion of this immense region, and delineate mountains, streams,
and the circular valleys, called 'holes,' with wonderful accuracy."
His ability in this line caused him always to be in demand as guide to
exploring parties, and his name is connected with scores of prominent
government and private expeditions.
His lifetime measures that period of our history during which the West
was changed from a trackless wilderness to a settled and civilized
country. He was among the first who went to the mountains, and he
lived to see all that had made a life like his possible swept away
forever. His name survives in many a feature of our western geography,
but in none with greater honor than in this little lake among the
mountains that he knew so well; and near the source of that majestic
stream with which so much of his eventful life was identified.
_Delusion Lake_ (7,850)--M: 9--1878--U. S. G. S.--This lake was long
supposed to be an arm of the Yellowstone Lake, and, in the fanciful
comparison of the main lake to the form of the human hand, occupied
the position of the index finger. The delusion consisted in this
mistaken notion of a permanent connection between the two lakes.
_Dryad Lake_ (8,250)--K: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Duck Lake_ (7,850)--M: 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Fern Lake_ (8,150)--H: 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Frost Lake_--(7,350)--I: 14--Unknown-Characteristic.
_Gallatin Lake_ (9,000)--E: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Source of the
Gallatin River.
_Goose Lake_ (7,100)--K: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Grassy Lake_ (7,150)--R: 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Grebe Lake_ (7,950)--G: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Grizzly Lake_ (7,490)--F: 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Hart Lake_ (7,469)--P: 9--According to Hayden, "long known to the
hunters of the region as Heart Lake." Named prior to 1870 for an old
hunter by the name of Hart Hunney who in early times plied his trade
in this vicinity. He was possibly one of Bonneville's men, for he
seems to have known the General well and to have been familiar with
his operations. He was killed by a war party of Crows in 1852.
The spelling, _Heart_, dates from the expeditions of 1871. The notion
that the name arose from the shape of the lake seems to have
originated with Captain Barlow. It has generally been accepted
although there is really no similarity between the form of the lake
and that of a heart. Lewis Lake is the only heart-shaped lake in that
locality.
Everts named Hart Lake, Bessie Lake, after his daughter.
_Henry Lake_ (6,443)--A noted lake outside the limits of the Park
passed by tourists entering the park from the west. It is named for a
celebrated fur trader, Andrew Henry, who built a trading post in that
vicinity in 1809.
_Hering Lake_ (7,530)--R: 5--1878--U. S. G. S.--For Rudolph Hering,
Topographer on the Snake River Division of the Hayden Survey for 1872.
_Indian Pond_--J: 11--1880--Norris.--An ancient, much-used
camping-ground of Indians. "My favorite camp on the Yellowstone Lake
(and it evidently has been a favorite one for the Indian) has ever
been upon the grove-dotted bluff, elevated thirty or forty feet above
the lake, directly fronting Indian Pond."--Norris.
_Isa Lake_ (8,250)--L: 6--1893--N. P. R. R.--For Miss Isabel Jelke, of
Cincinnati.
_Jackson Lake_ (6,000)--U-W: 6--Date unknown.--For David Jackson, a
noted mountaineer and fur trader, and one of the first three partners
of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. This lake was discovered by John
Colter and was named by Clark _Lake Biddle_, in honor of Nicholas
Biddle, who first gave to the world an authentic edition of the
journal of the celebrated Lewis and Clark Expedition.
_Jenny Lake_--South of Leigh Lake and off the map.--1872--U. S. G.
S.--For the wife of Richard Leigh. She was a Shoshone Indian.
_Leigh Lake_--W: 5--1872--U. S. G. S.--For Richard Leigh ("Beaver
Dick"), a noted hunter, trapper, and guide in the country around the
Teton Mountains. The nickname "Beaver Dick" arose, not from the fact
that Leigh was an expert beaver trapper, but on account of the
striking resemblance of two abnormally large front teeth in his upper
jaw to the teeth of a beaver. The Indians called him "The Beaver."
_Lewis Lake_ (7,720)--O: 7--1872--U. S. G. S.--For Captain Lewis of
"Lewis and Clark" fame.
"As it had no name, so far as we could ascertain, we decided to call
it Lewis Lake, in memory of that gallant explorer Captain Meriwether
Lewis. The south fork of the Columbia, which was to have perpetuated
his name, has reverted to its Indian title Shoshone, and is commonly
known by that name, or its translation, Snake River. As this lake lies
near the head of one of the principal forks of that stream, it may not
be inappropriately called Lewis Lake."--Bradley.[CN]
[CN] Page 249, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
_Loon Lake_ (6,400)--R: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Lost Lake_ (8,500)--M: 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.--This is
probably Norris' Two-Ocean-Pond, and is doubtless also the lake
referred to by Hayden in the following paragraph from his report for
1871:
"We camped at night on the shore of a lake which seemed to have no
outlet. It is simply a depression which receives the drainage of the
surrounding hills. It is marshy around the shores, and the surface is
covered thickly with the leaves and flowers of a large yellow
lily."--Hayden.
_Madison Lake_ (8,250)--N: 4--1872--U. S. G. S.--Head of the Madison
River.
"A small lake, covering perhaps sixty acres, occupies the southern end
of the [Firehole] valley, where it bends to the eastward; and as the
ultimate lake source of the Madison River, is the only proper
possessor of the name 'Madison Lake.'"--Bradley.[CO]
[CO] Page 243, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
_Mallard Lake_ (8,000)--L: 5--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Mary Lake_ (8,100)--J: 7--1873--Tourist Party.--Circumstance recorded
by Rev. E. J. Stanley, one of the party, and author of the book
"Rambles in Wonderland," describing the tour. The following extract is
from his book:
"We passed along the bank of a lovely little lakelet, sleeping in
seclusion in the shade of towering evergreens, by which it is
sheltered from the roaring tempests. It is near the divide, and on its
pebbly shore some members of our party unfurled the Stars and Stripes,
and christened it Mary's Lake, in honor of Miss Clark, a young lady
belonging to our party."
This lake appears on Jones' map for the same year as Summit Lake.
Everts is said to have passed it in his wanderings, but there is no
reliable evidence to that effect.
_Mirror Lake_ (8,700)--G: 12--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Obsidian Lake_ (7,650)--E: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Riddle Lake_ (7,950)--N: 8--1872--U. S. G. S.--
"'Lake Riddle' is a fugitive name, which has been located at several
places, but nowhere permanently. It is supposed to have been used
originally to designate the mythical lake, among the mountains,
whence, according to the hunters, water flowed to both oceans. I have
agreed to Mr. Hering's proposal to attach the name to this lake, which
is directly upon the divide at a point where the waters of the two
oceans start so nearly together, and thus to solve the unsolved
'riddle' of the 'two-ocean-water.'"--Bradley.[CP] This was a year
before Captain Jones verified the existence of Two-Ocean-Pass.
[CP] Page 250, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
_Shoshone Lake_ (7,740)--M-N: 5-6--1872--U. S. G. S.--From Shoshone,
or Snake River, which here finds its source. This lake was first named
De Lacy Lake, after its discoverer. The Washburn Party (1870) appear
to have named it after their leader. In 1871, Doctor Hayden, failing
to identify its location, and believing it to be tributary to the
Madison River, renamed it Madison Lake. It is this name which appears
on the first map of the Park and in the Act of Dedication, where the
west boundary of the Park is described as being "fifteen miles west of
the most western point of Madison Lake." In 1872, when the correct
drainage of the lake was discovered, the name "Madison Lake" was
transferred to its present location (See "Madison Lake"), and its
place supplied by "Shoshone Lake." The Act of Dedication is therefore
misleading, and it is necessary to know that "Madison Lake" of the
Act, is "Shoshone Lake" now, in order to understand the true location
of the west boundary of the Park.
In changing the name from "De Lacy" to "Shoshone," Prof. F. H.
Bradley, of the United States Geological Survey, took occasion to
reflect severely and unjustifiably upon De Lacy's work in mapping the
country.[CQ]
[CQ] Page 24, Sixth Annual Report of Dr. Hayden.
De Lacy felt deeply wronged by this action, and Dr. Hayden promised
him that he would set the matter right; but nothing was done. At a
later day, Colonel Norris endeavored to do De Lacy tardy justice by
placing his name on the stream which enters the lake from the north
and drains the beautiful valley now crossed by the tourist route. This
name remained for several year's, when it also was removed by the
United States Geological Survey, and its place filled by "Heron
Creek." During the past year, however, the name "De Lacy Creek" has
been restored.
_Summit Lake_ (8,450)--M: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Near Continental
Divide.
_Swan Lake_ (7,200)--D: 6--1879--Norris--Characteristic.
_Sylvan Lake_ (8,300)--L: 13--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Tern Lake_ (8,150)--I: 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Trout Lake_ (6,850)--D: 13--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Turbid Lake_ (7,800)--K: 11--1878--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Twin Lakes_ (7,450)--G: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Wapiti Lake_ (8,500)--H: 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_White Lake_ (8,150)--I: 11--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Woods, Lake of the_ (7,550)--F: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Yellowstone Lake_ (7,741)--K--0: 8--12--From the river which flows
through it. This lake was named, on the map showing "Colter's Route in
1807," Lake Eustis, in honor of William Eustis, Secretary of War to
President Madison, 1809 to 1812.
Later it appears as Sublette Lake, in honor of the noted fur trader,
William Sublette. It is even said at one time to have borne the
"fugitive name," Riddle Lake. But it early became known by its present
name.
* * * * *
The islands of this lake are seven in number. They seem to have all
been named by the United States Geological Survey largely for the
employes of the survey. They are:
_Carrington Island._ For Campbell Carrington, zoologist.
_Dot Island._ A mere dot on the map.
_Frank Island._ For the brother of Henry W. Elliott, a member of the
Hayden Expedition of 1871. This Island was renamed Belknap Island in
1875 by the members of Secretary Belknap's party, who passed through
the Park in that year. The name, however, never came into use.
_Molly Island._--For the wife of Mr. Henry Gannett.
_Peale Island._--For Dr. A. C. Peale, author of the elaborate report
on thermal springs which appears in Hayden's report for 1878.
_Pelican Roost._--Characteristic.
_Stevenson Island._--For James Stevenson. See "Mt. Stevenson."
* * * * *
The bays are also seven in number, of which only the following merit
notice:
_Mary Bay._--Named by Henry W. Elliott for Miss Mary Force.
_Thumb._--From the old fancy that the form of the lake resembled that
of the human hand.
_Bridge Bay._--From Bridge Creek. See "Bridge Creek."
The capes are thirteen in number. We need notice only Signal Point,
which was much used in signaling by the early explorers; Steamboat
Point, named from the Steamboat Springs near by; and Storm Point, so
named because it receives the full force of the prevailing south-west
winds from across the lake.
"_The Annie._"--The first boat on the Yellowstone Lake was a small
canvass craft 12 feet long by 3-1/2 feet wide. Dr. Hayden records
that, it was, christened _The Annie_, "by Mr. Stevenson, in compliment
to Miss Anna L. Dawes, the amiable daughter of Hon. H. L. Dawes."
[Illustration: "The Annie."]
The boat was extemporized by Mr. James Stevenson from such materials
as could be picked up. In the classic picture of this historic craft,
the persons in the boat are James Stevenson and Henry W. Elliott. An
original photograph of the boat now adorns the cabin of the _Zillah_,
the small steamboat which conveys tourists about the Lake.
APPENDIX A.
VI.
MISCELLANEOUS FEATURES.
[Numbers in parentheses indicate altitudes.]
_Craig Pass_ (8,300)--L: 6--1891--From the maiden name of Mrs. Ida
Craig Wilcox, the first tourist to cross the pass.
[Illustration: FERDINAND VANDIVEER HAYDEN]
_Hayden Valley_ (7,800)--H-J: 8-10-1878--U.S.G.S. For the eminent
American geologist, Ferdinand Vandiveer Hayden, M.D., LL. D., whose
important part in the history of the Yellowstone National Park has
been fully set forth in previous pages. The following condensed sketch
of his life is from the pen of Dr. A. C. Peale:[CR]
[CR] Bulletin Philosophical Society of Washington, Vol. VI, pp.
476-478.
... "He was born at Westfield, Mass., September 7, 1829.... His father
died when he was about ten years of age, and about two years later he
went to live with an uncle at Rochester, in Lorain County, Ohio, where
he remained for six years. He taught in the country district schools
of the neighborhood during his sixteenth and seventeenth years, and
at the age of eighteen went to Oberlin College, where he was graduated
in 1850....
"He studied medicine with Dr. J. S. Newberry, at Cleveland, and at
Albany was graduated Doctor of Medicine in the early part of 1853.
After his graduation, he was sent by Prof. James Hall, of New York, to
the Bad Lands of White River, in Dakota. The years 1854 and 1855 he
spent exploring and collecting fossils in the Upper Missouri country,
mainly at his own expense. From 1856 until 1859, he was connected as
geologist with the expeditious of Lieutenant Warren, engaged in
explorations in Nebraska and Dakota. From 1859 until 1862, he was
surgeon, naturalist, and geologist with Captain W. F. Raynolds, in the
exploration of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. In October, 1862,
he was appointed acting assistant surgeon and assistant medical
inspector until June, 1865, when he resigned, and was brevetted
lieutenant-colonel for meritorious services during the war. He then
resumed his scientific work, and in 1866 made another trip to the Bad
Lands of Dakota, this time in the interest of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia. In 1865, he was elected professor of
mineralogy and geology in the University of Pennsylvania, which
position he resigned in 1872. From 1867 to 1879, his history is that
of the organization of which he had charge, which began as a
geological survey of Nebraska, and became finally the Geological
Survey of the Territories.... From 1879 until December, 1886, he was
connected with the United States Geological Survey as geologist. His
health began to fail soon after his connection with this organization,
and gradually became worse, and he lived only a year after his
resignation.
"In 1876, the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the University
of Rochester, and in June, 1886, he received the same degree from the
University of Pennsylvania. He was a member of seventeen scientific
societies in the United States, among them the National Academy of
Sciences, and was honorary and corresponding member of some seventy
foreign societies. A bibliography of his writings includes 158 titles.
"... The gentleness and diffidence, approaching even timidity, which
impressed his fellow-students at Oberlin, characterized Dr. Hayden
throughout his life, and rendered it somewhat difficult for those who
did not know him intimately to understand the reasons for his success,
which was undoubtedly due to his energy and perseverance, qualities
which were equally characteristic of him as a boy and student and in
later life. His desire to forward the cause of science was sincere and
enthusiastic, and he was always ready to modify his views upon the
presentation of evidence. He was intensely nervous, frequently
impulsive, but ever generous, and his honesty and integrity undoubted.
The greater part of his work for the government and for science was a
labor of love."
_Jones Pass_ (9,450)--K: 12--1880--Norris--For its discoverer, Captain
W. A. Jones, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., who passed through it in
1873.
_Kingman Pass_ (7,230)--D: 6--1883--U. S. G. S.--The pass of which
Golden Gate is the northern entrance. For Lieutenant D. C. Kingman,
Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., who built the road through the pass.
_Norris Geyser Basin_ (7,527)--G-H: 6--For P. W. Norris, who first
explored and described it, and opened it up to tourists. It was,
however, discovered in 1872 by E. S. Topping and Dwight Woodruff, who
were led in that direction by noticing from the summit of Bunsen Peak
a vast column of steam ascending to the southward. The day after this
discovery, a tourist party, including a Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Stone, of
Bozeman, Montana, visited it from Mammoth Hot Springs, and then
continued their course, by way of the general line of the present
route, to the Firehole Geyser Basin. Mrs. Stone was the first white
woman to visit the Park.
_Norris Pass_ (8,260)--M : 6--1879--Norris--For its discoverer.
_Raynolds Pass_ (6,911)--Not on map.--Crosses the Continental Divide
to the northward of Henry Lake, and connects the valley of Henry Fork
with that of the Madison. Named for Captain W. F. Raynolds, who led
his expedition through it in 1860.
_Sylvan Pass_ (8,650)--L : 13--1895--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.
_Targhee Pass_ (7,063)--Not on map.--Crosses the Continental Divide to
the eastward of Henry Lake, and leads from the valley of Henry Fork to
that of the Madison. The origin and orthography of this name are
uncertain. In Hayden's Report for 1872, occur three spellings,
Targhee, Tyghee, and Tahgee. The weight of evidence is in favor of the
form here adopted. There was an impression among the Hayden Survey
people, in 1872, that the name was given in honor of some
distinguished Indian Chief; but that there was no definite information
on the point is evident from the following statements, taken from
Hayden's Report for 1872. On page 56, it is stated that _Tahgee_ Pass
"was named years ago for the head chief of the Bannocks." On page 227,
it is said that _Tyghee_ Pass "was named for an old Shoshone chief who
was wont to use it." The real origin is thus left somewhat obscure,
but it is probable that the notion that the pass was named for an
Indian chief may have some foundation in fact. There was living among
the Bannocks within the present memory of white men a chief whose name
was pronounced _Ti-gee_.
APPENDIX A.
VII.
LIST OF THE PROMINENT GEYSERS.
The numbers in the third column are the highest recorded eruptions.
The numbers in the fourth and fifth columns are not to be taken as
indicating the correct duration or periodicity of eruptions. The
prevalent notion that geysers exhibit uniform periodicity of action,
is erroneous. There is only one geyser of importance in the Park that
can be depended on, and that is Old Faithful. The figures for the
other geysers are merely rough averages, true, perhaps, as the mean of
a year's observations, but not at all to be relied upon in predicting
particular eruptions.
The following abbreviations are used: "M. H. S.," for Mammoth Hot
Springs; "N. G. B.," "L. G. B.," "M. G. B.," "U. G. B.," "S. G.
B.," and "H. G. B.," for the Norris, Lower, Middle, Upper,
Shoshone, and Hart Lake, Geyser Basins respectively; "E. S. Y." and
"W. S. Y." for the East and West Shores respectively of the
Yellowstone Lake; "s." for second; "m." for minute; "h." for hour;
and "d." for day.