After 1840 Yellowstone Park was likewise virtually left in primeval
solitude. There is tangible evidence of only four visits of white men
during this period, and one attempted visit which failed. In his
recently published biography, William Clark Kennerly has it that in 1843
a grand hunting expedition headed by Sir William Drummond Stewart, and
including such notables as Sublette and Baptiste Charbonneau, camped one
evening among the geysers, having particularly great sport in vain
efforts to throttle “old Steam Boat.” In 1844, according to Chittenden,
a party of trappers, identity not disclosed, entered Upper Yellowstone
Valley from the south, and “passed around the west shore of Yellowstone
Lake to the outlet, where they had a severe battle with the Blackfoot
Indians, in a broad open tract at that point. The remains of their old
corral were still visible as late as 1870.” (This might be a variant of
the same battle of 1939, told by Hamilton.)
The remaining three expeditions were guided by James Bridger, who in
1843 had set up Fort Bridger on Black’s Fork of Green River, to cater to
the emigrants who were beginning to follow the Oregon Trail. James
Gemmell claims to have been among those present in 1846 when Bridger led
“a trading expedition to the Crows and Sioux,” north up the Green River
through Jackson’s Hole to West Thumb, making a tour of the “wonderful
spouting springs” and other scenic features before continuing down the
Yellowstone. E. S. Topping states that in 1850 Jim Bridger, Kit Carson,
and twenty-two others on a prospecting trip out of St. Louis “crossed
the mountains to the Yellowstone and down it to the lake and the falls;
then across the Divide to the Madison River. They saw the geysers of the
lower basin and named the river that drains them the Fire Hole.... The
report of this party made quite a stir in St. Louis.”
The only historically discernible “stir” made by Bridger’s reports
consisted of the usual incredulity and scoffing, exemplified by the
timidity of a Kansas City editor who in 1856 let immortality slip
through his grasp by refusing to publish Bridger’s own version of “the
place where Hell bubbled up.” By this time, however, one notable Bridger
story had actually broken through the literary overcast, and two more
would soon appear to vindicate the famous trapper. In 1852 Lieutenant
Gunnison, who had been a member of the Howard Stansbury exploring party
which Bridger guided to Great Salt Lake in 1849, published a romantic
but essentially accurate description of the principal scenic features.
Here is a “lake, sixty miles long,” a “perpendicular canyon,” the “Great
Springs” on successive terraces, and “geysers spouting seventy feet
high.” In his letter mentioned above, published in 1863, constituting a
report on his participation in the Fort Laramie treaty council of 1851,
Father De Smet located what is substantially the present Park “in the
very heart of the Rocky Mountains, between the 43d and 45th degrees of
latitude, and the 109th and 111th degrees of longitude; that is between
the sources of the Madison and the Yellowstone,” regarding it as “the
most marvellous spot of all the northern half of the continent” because
of its boiling springs, calcareous hills, escaping vapors, steamboat
noises, subterranean explosions and, near Gardner River, “a mountain of
sulphur.” In this case likewise the source of his information was
Bridger, “who is familiar with every one of these mounds, having passed
thirty years of his life near them.”
Even more illuminating to the historian than the well-known De Smet
letter are five unpublished maps traced by that missionary. These maps
had little contemporary influence and, though noted by his biographers
in 1905, they have been neglected by subsequent historians. They are
documents of signal import, which should inspire renewed respect for the
ubiquitous Bridger and yet increase the stature of the versatile and
indefatigable De Smet, already one of the giants of western history. Of
these five maps four are still at St. Louis University, which was his
headquarters. These are among dozens which were made by him in the
course of his several western journeys, the information obtained by
acute personal observation as well as “from trappers and intelligent
Indians.” The draftsmanship of the first three, while not striking, is
respectable. One shows “Yellow Stone” River and tributaries as high as
“Gardner’s F.” A second, embracing the Upper Missouri, Yellowstone, and
Upper Platte regions, shows a nameless bladder-shaped lake at the head
of the Yellowstone and a conspicuous “Hot Sulphur Spring” north of the
lake. A third, embracing the entire West from the Great Basin to the
Forks of the Platte, shows essentially the same features. The fourth map
in the St. Louis collection is the most intriguing. This depicts that
remarkable twisted region of the Rocky Mountains where the headwaters of
the Yellowstone, the Wind, the Green, the Snake, and the Missouri rivers
unwind before rolling to their respective oceans. The undated map is
crude and smeary, and it has all the ear-marks of being sketched in the
field without benefit of desk or blotter. In view of De Smet’s express
testimony that the most famous trapper of all supplied him with his
geographic data, at least for the “Yellowstone Park” section, it is a
fair guess that this was drawn by De Smet with Bridger at his elbow.
Here, on a rough chart consigned to the oblivion of a library vault, is
where “Yellowstone Park” first comes into clear focus. Allowing for
pardonable distortions, all of the principal scenic features are in
evidence: the geyser basins of the Firehole (“volcanic country”);
Mammoth Hot Springs (“Sulphur Mountain” near “Gardener’s Cr.”); a
shapeless Yellowstone Lake (“60 by 9”) with “Hot Springs” and “Great
Volcanoes” alongside; the Grand Canyon and “Falls 290 feet”; and Hayden
Valley (“Volcanic country [?] Steam Springs”). Two Ocean Pass, Jackson
Lake, and “Colter’s Hell” on Stinking River are other conspicuous
features near by.
The “Bridger Map” is the obvious source of the Yellowstone data found on
the fifth De Smet map, embracing the western United States, which is
more carefully drawn than the others. This large untitled map, with a
bold floral border, is dated 1851, and contains the following fading
inscription within curved palm fronds: “respectfully presented to Col.
David D. [?] Mitchell [by] P. J. De Smet, Soc. Jes.” As to the
circumstances under which this map was drawn, De Smet explains as
follows in a letter dated July 1, 1857, to officials of the Department
of the Interior:
When I was at the council ground in 1851, on the Platte River, at the
mouth of the Horse creek, I was requested by Colonel Mitchell
[superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis] to make a map of the
whole Indian country, relating particularly to the Upper Missouri, the
waters of the upper Platte, east of the Rocky mountains and of the
headwaters of the Columbia and its tributaries west of these
mountains. In compliance with this request I drew up the map from
scraps then in my possession. The map, so prepared, was seemingly
approved and made use of by the gentlemen assembled in council, and
subsequently sent on to Washington together with the treaty then made
with the Indians. In my humble opinion, therefore, it can be of very
little service for your purposes, in which accuracy of instrumental
measurements and observation seems to be absolutely necessary....
The final gesture of modesty may explain why this revealing map,
prepared and made available to the government twenty years before the
first official Park exploration got under way, was duly glanced at by
the department authorities and then tucked away, a needle in the
haystack of official files, in Washington, D. C., where it still
reposes. It contains all the features of the “Bridger Map,” but with
refinements. Here is a “Great Volcanic Region [?] now in a state of
eruption,” drained by “Fire Hole Riv.” The lake now appear as
“Yellowstone or Sublette’s Lake,” still oddly sausage-shaped. There is a
“Little Falls” at the head of the canyon but the more impressive Lower
Falls are unexplainably omitted. To the southwest, in the position of
present Shoshone Lake, is “De Smet Lake.” To the east at the forks of
“Stinking Fr.” appears the “Sulphur Springs or Colter’s Hell Volcano”
which, due to the unavailability of this map, has led so many historians
astray. This map, with its manuscript forebears, ranks with the Ferris
journal and map and the Potts letter as one of the principal historical
documents pertaining to early Yellowstone.
[Illustration: Trappers in Pierre’s Hole, west of “Les Trois Tetons”]
It is not evident that information given by Gunnison and De Smet or any
of their predecessors relative to unusual phenomena on the Upper
Yellowstone greatly impressed representatives of the Federal Government.
Certainly no eagerness to verify these reports is betrayed in the
official instructions dated April 13, 1859, by which Captain Raynolds,
Corps of Topographical Engineers, was directed “to organize an
expedition for the exploration of the region of the country through
which flow the principal tributaries of the Yellowstone river, and of
the mountains in which they, and the Gallatin and Madison forks of the
Missouri, have their source.” However, since one of the objects of this
exploration was to ascertain the principal topographical features and
since, moreover, the indispensable Bridger was secured as a guide, it
would seem that the Yellowstone marvels were just about to be officially
discovered and proclaimed. Not so, however. The expedition left winter
camp on Platte River in May 1860. While a detachment under Lieutenant
Henry E. Maynadier went north along the eastern slope of the Absaroka
Range, the main party ascended Wind River to Union Pass, then turned
north seeking the headwaters of the Yellowstone. Deep snow and a great
“basaltic ridge” blocked their efforts before they reached Two Ocean
Pass, and they had to satisfy themselves with encircling the Park area
via Jackson’s Hole, Teton Pass, Henry’s Fork, and Raynolds’ Pass. By way
of the Madison, they rejoined Maynadier at the Three Forks. Raynolds’
report and map became the first recognition by the Federal Government of
the possible existence of volcanic activity in the region of the Upper
Yellowstone. For information regarding the “burning plains, immense
lakes, and boiling springs” and other unverifiable phenomena mentioned
he was, of course, indebted to his guide Bridger, with trimmings added
by Meldrum. On his “Map of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers,” within
the “enchanted enclosure” which now constitutes Yellowstone National
Park, the soldier-explorer had the courage to place “Yellowstone Lake,”
“Falls of the Yellowstone,” “Burnt Hole,” “Sulphur Mountain,” and
“Elephant’s Back Mt.,” all now recognizable features. This was an
extraordinary demonstration of faith in Bridger’s veracity. Because of
the Civil War, publication of the report was delayed until 1868, but the
map itself was first issued separately a few years earlier.
It was the discovery of gold, first in California and later in Colorado,
which started the population moving centrally westward in great numbers
and diverted whatever attention might otherwise have become focussed on
the Upper Yellowstone region. It was the discovery of gold in western
Montana which brought about its rediscovery and early creation as the
world’s first National Park. Although there was desultory prospecting
previous to 1862, it was in that year that the news of several major
gold strikes was broadcast and a full scale stampede to the diggings
began. In the spring of 1863 at least two prospecting parties entered
the Park. Although they were feverishly preoccupied with the search for
gold, the unusual character of the country did not escape them entirely,
and the leader of one party made something akin to the first scientific
eyewitness report. This was Walter W. DeLacy, a professional surveyor.
In August 1863 he fell in with an expedition of forty-two men bound for
Snake River, and was elected captain. Their search being unrewarded,
fifteen of the party deserted at Jackson Lake, the others deciding to
push north. From the junction of the Lewis and the Snake they went over
the Pitchstone Plateau to discover Shoshone Lake and Lewis Lake. From
there they crossed over the Divide to the geyser basins of the Firehole.
Although amazed at the “Steamboat Springs” they had little time for
sight-seeing, and left the Park by way of the Gallatin. DeLacy’s
discoveries were incorporated in his “Map of the Territory of Montana,”
which was published “for the use of the First Legislature of Montana” in
1865. His accurate firsthand knowledge of the western section of the
Park is reflected in the correct relationship of “Jackson’s Lake” and
unnamed Lewis Lake and Shoshone Lake, and in the “Hot Spring Valley” or
geyser basin at the headwaters of the Madison. Identifiable features of
the unvisited eastern section consist only of a misshapen “Yellow Stone
Lake” and the “Falls.”
We have recognized the Ferris map of 1836 and the De Smet map of 1851,
based on the undated “Bridger Map,” as the earliest authentic maps of
the Yellowstone Park area, but these remained unpublished and
unheralded. The Raynolds and DeLacy maps, though purporting to reveal
the scenic wonders, were scanned mainly by single-minded gold seekers
before they became obsolete. As to other contemporary published maps,
the persistence of this geographical blind spot in the face of testimony
offered by such prime witnesses as Potts, Ferris, and Bridger is
demonstrated by the fact that for over half a century of map making by
such respected cartographers as John Arrowsmith, Albert Gallatin,
Bonneville, Fremont, and Gouverneur K. Warren there was no improvement
in the “Yellowstone Park” section of the Clark map of 1810, with its
“Lake Eustis” and “Hot Spring Brimstone.” There were only occasional
meaningless variations of nomenclature. For instance, on the Robert
Greenhow map of 1840 and on E. F. Beade’s “New Map of the Great West,”
published in 1856, “Hot Sulphur Springs” is substituted. On Charles
Wilkes’ “Map of Oregon Territory” which appeared in 1845 and on the J.
H. Colton map which accompanied Horn’s Overland Guide, published in
1856, this phenomenon becomes “Steamboat Sp.” and Eustis is transformed
into “Sublette’s L.” However, on the famed Colton map of 1867, just five
years before the first boat was launched from its shores, the phantom
lake—Eustis, Sublette, or Yellowstone—has disappeared entirely!
Contemporary newspaper accounts and later published reminiscences reveal
several prospecting expeditions which traversed the Park area during the
period 1864-1869, but the partial and foggy reports of “a lost world”
given out by these treasure hunters did little to dispel the curtain of
mystery stubbornly surrounding the area. The cumulative effect of such
reports and rumors, however, was destined soon to convince intelligent
listeners that no wild tale could be so persistent, and that there must
be something at the headwaters of the Yellowstone worth looking into. In
September 1869, David E. Folsom, Charles W. Cook, and William Peterson
packed south out of Diamond City, Montana, without distracting thoughts
of beaver hides or gold, but with the express purpose of exploring that
neighborhood and reporting their findings without adornment. General
Henry D. Washburn, Hon. Cornelius Hedges, Hon. Nathaniel Langford, Dr.
Ferdinand V. Hayden, and Photographer William H. Jackson were standing
in the wings. The brief era of definitive discovery was dawning.
[Illustration: First picture ever made of Yellowstone Lake from
watercolor by Henry W. Elliott, 1871.
Picture courtesy of Haynes Studios, Inc.]
Selected Bibliography for
COLTER’S HELL AND JACKSON’S HOLE
Allen, Paul, _History of the Expedition Under the Command of Captains
Lewis and Clark_, 2 vols. (Philadelphia, 1814).
Alter, J. Cecil, _James Bridger_ (Salt Lake City, 1925).
Bancroft, H. H., _History of Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming, 1540-1888_
(San Francisco, 1890).
Barry, J. Neilson (ed.), “Journal of E. Willard Smith,” _Quarterly of
the Oregon Historical Society_ (September 1913).
Bonneville, Captain B. L. E., undated letter from Fort Smith,
Arkansas, _Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana_
(Helena), I (1876), 93-97.
Brackenridge, Henry M., _Views of Louisiana_ (Pittsburgh, 1814).
Bradbury, John, _Travels in the Interior of North America, 1809-1811_
(London, 1819), republished in Reuben G. Thwaites (ed.),
_Early Western Travels_, 32 vols. (Cleveland, 1904-1907), V.
Burpee, Lawrence J. (ed.), _Journal of Larocque from the Assiniboine
to the Yellowstone, 1805_ (Ottawa, 1910).
Carter, Clarence E. (ed.), _Territorial Papers of the United States_
(Washington, 1934), XIII, _Territory of Louisiana-Missouri,
1803-1806_ (1948).
Chittenden, Hiram M., _The American Fur Trade of the Far West_, 2
vols., ed. by Stallo Vinton (New York, 1936).
Chittenden, Hiram M. and Richardson, Albert T., _Life, Letters and
Travels of Father Pierre-Jean De Smet, S. J., 1801-1873_ (New
York, 1905), 4 vols.
Chittenden, Hiram M., _The Yellowstone National Park, Historical and
Descriptive_ (Cincinnati, 1895).
Coues, Elliott (ed.), _Forty Years a Fur Trader ... Charles
Larpenteur_, 2 vols. (New York, 1898).
Coutant, Charles G., _History of Wyoming_ (Laramie, 1899).
Dale, Harrison C., _The Ashley-Smith Explorations_ (Glendale, 1941).
DeLacy, Walter W., _Map of the Territory of Montana_, etc. (St. Louis,
1865).
DeLacy, Walter W., “A Trip Up the South Snake River in 1863,”
_Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana_, I
(1876).
De Smet, Pierre Jean, _Western Missions and Missionaries_ (New York,
1863).
DeVoto, Bernard, _Across the Wide Missouri_ (Boston, 1947).
DeVoto, Bernard (ed.), _Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth_
(New York, 1931).
Ellison, William H., _Life and Adventures of George Nidever_
(Berkeley, 1937).
Frost, Donald M., _Notes on General Ashley, the Overland Trail and
South Pass_ (Worcester, 1944).
Grant, Blanche C. (ed.), _Kit Carson’s Own Life Story_ (Taos, 1926).
Gunnison, John W., _The Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints in the Valley of
the Great Salt Lake_ (Philadelphia, 1852).
Hamilton, William T., _My Sixty Years on the Plains_ (New York, 1905).
Harris, Burton, _John Colter, His Years in the Rockies_ (New York,
1952).
Irving, Washington, _Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the
Rocky Mountains_, 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1836).
Irving, Washington, _The Rocky Mountains.... The Journal of Captain B.
L. E. Bonneville_, 2 vols. (Philadelphia. 1837).
James, Thomas, _Three Years Among the Indians_, ed. by Walter B.
Douglas (St. Louis, 1916), reprinted from original edition of
1846.
Kennerly, William C., _Persimmon Hill: A Narrative of Old St. Louis_
(Norman, 1948).
Laut, Agnes, _Conquest of the Great Northwest_ (G. H. Doran Co.,
1908).
Lindsay, Charles, _The Big Horn Basin_ (Lincoln, 1932).
Mattes, Merrill J., “Behind the Legend of Colter’s Hell: The Early
Exploration of Yellowstone National Park,” _Mississippi Valley
Historical Review_ (September 1949).
Mattes, Merrill J., “Jackson Hole, Crossroads of the Western Fur
Trade, 1807-1840,” _Pacific Northwest Quarterly_ (April 1946
and January 1948).
Parker, Samuel, _Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky
Mountains_ (Ithaca, 1944).
Phillips, Paul C. (ed.), _Life in the Rocky Mountains; A Diary ... by
Warren A. Ferris_ (Denver, 1940).
Potts, Daniel T., Letters, _Yellowstone Nature Notes_ (September
1947).
Raynolds, General William F., “Report on the Explorations of the
Yellowstone River” (Washington, 1868), _Senate Executive
Documents_, No. 77. 40 Cong. 1 [2] Sess.
Rollins, Philip A. (ed.), _The Discovery of the Oregon Trail_ (Hunt
and Stuart Journals) (New York, 1935).
Ross, Alexander, _The Fur Hunters of the Far West_, 2 vols. (London,
1855).
Russell, Osborne, _Journal of a Trapper_, edited by Aubrey L. Haines
(Portland, 1955).
Sabin, Edwin L., _Kit Carson Days_, 2 vols. (New York, 1935).
Sullivan, M. S., _Travels of Jedediah Smith_ (Santa Ana, 1934).
Thwaites, Reuben G., _Oregon; or, a Short History ... by John B.
Wyeth_ (_Early Western Travels_) (Cleveland, 1905), XXI.
Thwaites, Reuben G. (ed.), _Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition 1804-1806_, 8 vols. (New York, 1904-1905), V.
Topping, E. S., _Chronicles of the Yellowstone_ (St. Paul, 1883).
Victor, Frances Fuller, _The River of the West_ (Hartford, 1870).
Vinton, Stallo, _John Colter, Discoverer of Yellowstone Park_ (New
York, 1926).
Wagner, W. F. (ed.), _Leonard’s Narrative; Adventures of Zenas Leonard
1831-1836_ (Cleveland, 1904).
Webb, J. Watson (ed.), _Altowan_, 2 vols. (New York, 1846).
Wislizenus, F. A., _A Journey to the Rocky Mountains in 1839_ (St.
Louis, 1912).
[Illustration: Colter’s Route 1807-1808 (CONJECTURAL)
Trapper Trails 1811-1840]