THE DISCOVERY OF YELLOWSTONE PARK
_Journal of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole
Rivers in the Year 1870_
by Nathaniel Pitt Langford
1905
CONTENTS
Foreword (not included)
Introduction
Journal
Index (not included)
INTRODUCTION
When the rumored discovery in the year 1861 of extensive gold placers on
Salmon river was confirmed, the intelligence spread through the states
like wild fire. Hundreds of men with dependent families, who had been
thrown out of employment by the depressed industrial condition of the
country and by the Civil War, and still others actuated by a thirst for
gain, utilized their available resources in providing means for an
immediate migration to the land of promise. Before midsummer they had
started on the long and perilous journey. How little did they know of
its exposures! The deserts, destitute of water and grass, the alkaline
plains where food and drink were alike affected by the poisonous dust,
the roving bands of hostile Indians, the treacherous quicksands of river
fords, the danger and difficulty of the mountain passes, the death of
their companions, their cattle and their horses, breakage of their
vehicles, angry and often violent personal altercations--all these fled
in the light of the summer sun, the vernal beauty of the plains and the
delightfully pure atmosphere which wooed them day by day farther away
from the abode of civilization and the protection of law. The most
fortunate of this army of adventurers suffered from some of these
fruitful causes of disaster. So certain were they to occur in some form
that a successful completion of the journey was simply an escape from
death. The story of the Indian murders and cruelties alone, which befell
hundreds of these hapless emigrants, would fill volumes. Every mile of
the several routes across the continent was marked by the decaying
carcasses of oxen and horses, which had perished during the period of
this hegira to the gold mines. Three months with mules and four with
oxen were necessary to make the journey--a journey now completed in five
days from ocean to ocean by the railroad. Some of these expeditions,
after entering the unexplored region which afterwards became Montana,
were arrested by the information that it would be impossible to cross
with wagon teams the several mountain ranges between them and the mines.
In the summer of 1862 a company of 130 persons left St. Paul for the
Salmon river mines. This Northern overland expedition was confided to
the leadership of Captain James L. Fisk, whose previous frontier
experience and unquestionable personal courage admirably fitted him for
the command of an expedition which owed so much of its final success, as
well as its safety during a hazardous journey through a region occupied
by hostile Indians, to the vigilance and discipline of its commanding
officer. E.H. Burritt was first assistant, the writer was second
assistant and commissary, and Samuel R. Bond was secretary. Among those
who were selected for guard duty were David E. Folsom, Patrick Doherty
(Baptiste), Robert C. Knox, Patrick Bray, Cornelius Bray, Ard Godfrey,
and many other well known pioneers of Montana. We started with ox teams
on this journey on the 16th day of June, traveling by the way of Fort
Abercrombie, old Fort Union, Milk river and Fort Benton, bridging all
the streams not fordable on the entire route. Fort Union and Fort
Benton were not United States military forts, but were the old trading
posts of the American Fur Company.
This Northern overland route of over 1,600 miles, lay for most of the
distance through a partially explored region, filled with numerous bands
of the hostile Sioux Indians. It was the year of the Sioux Indian
massacre in Minnesota. After a continuous journey of upwards of eighteen
weeks we reached Grasshopper creek near the head of the Missouri on the
23d day of October, with our supply of provisions nearly exhausted, and
with cattle sore-footed and too much worn out to continue the journey.
There we camped for the winter in the midst of the wilderness, 400 miles
from the nearest settlement or postoffice, from which we were separated
by a region of mountainous country, rendered nearly impassable in the
winter by deep snows, and beset for the entire distance by hostile
Indians. Disheartening as the prospect was, we felt that it would not do
to give way to discouragement. A few venturesome prospectors from the
west side of the Rocky Mountains had found gold in small quantities on
the bars bordering the stream, and a few traders had followed in their
wake with a limited supply of the bare necessaries of life, risking the
dangers of Indian attack by the way to obtain large profits as a
rightful reward for their temerity. Flour was worth 75 cents per pound
in greenbacks, and prices of other commodities were in like proportion,
and the placer unpromising; and many of the unemployed started out, some
on foot, and some bestride their worn-out animals, into the bleak
mountain wilderness, in search of gold. With the certainty of death in
its most horrid form if they fell into the hands of a band of prowling
Blackfeet Indians, and the thought uppermost in their minds that they
could scarcely escape freezing, surely the hope which sustained this
little band of wanderers lacked none of those grand elements which
sustained the early settlers of our country in their days of disaster
and suffering. Men who cavil with Providence and attribute to luck or
chance or accident the escape from massacre and starvation of a company
of destitute men, under circumstances like these, are either wanting in
gratitude or have never been overtaken by calamity. My recollection of
those gloomy days is all the more vivid because I was among the indigent
ones.
This region was then the rendezvous of the Bannack Indians, and we named
the settlement "Bannack," not the Scotch name "Bannock," now often given
to it.
Montana was organized as a territory on the 26th day of May, 1864, and I
continued to reside in that territory until the year 1876, being engaged
chiefly in official business of a character which made it necessary,
from time to time, for me to visit all portions of the territory. It is
a beautiful country. Nature displays her wonders there upon the most
magnificent scale. Lofty ranges of mountains, broad and fertile valleys,
streams broken into torrents are the scenery of every-day life. These
are rendered enjoyable by clear skies, pure atmosphere and invigorating
climate.
Ever since the first year of my residence there I had frequently heard
rumors of the existence of wonderful phenomena in the region where the
Yellowstone, Wind, Snake and other large rivers take their rise, and as
often had determined to improve the first opportunity to visit and
explore it, but had been deterred by the presence of unusual and
insurmountable dangers. It was at that time inhabited only by wild
beasts and roving bands of hostile Indians. An occasional trapper or old
mountaineer were the only white persons who had ever seen even those
portions of it nearest to civilization, previous to the visit of David
E. Folsom and C.W. Cook in the year 1869. Of these some had seen one,
some another object of interest; but as they were all believed to be
romancers their stories were received with great distrust.
[Illustration: JAMES BRIDGER.]
The old mountaineers of Montana were generally regarded as great
fabricators. I have met with many, but never one who was not fond of
practicing upon the credulity of those who listened to the recital of
his adventures. James Bridger, the discoverer of Great Salt lake, who
had a large experience in wild mountain life, wove so much of romance
around his Indian adventures that his narrations were generally received
with many grains of allowance by his listeners. Probably no man ever had
a more varied and interesting experience during a long period of
sojourning on the western plains and in the Rocky Mountains than
Bridger, and he did not hesitate, if a favorable occasion offered, to
"guy" the unsophisticated. At one time when in camp near "Pumpkin
Butte," a well-known landmark near Fort Laramie, rising a thousand feet
or more above the surrounding plain, a young attache of the party
approached Mr. Bridger, and in a rather patronizing manner said: "Mr.
Bridger, they tell me that you have lived a long time on these plains
and in the mountains." Mr. Bridger, pointing toward "Pumpkin Butte,"
replied: "Young man, you see that butte over there! Well, that mountain
_was a hole in the ground_ when I came here."
Bridger's long sojourn in the Rocky Mountains commenced as early as the
year 1820, and in 1832 we find him a resident partner in the Rocky
Mountain Fur Company. He frequently spent periods of time varying from
three months to two years, so far removed from any settlement or trading
post, that neither flour nor bread stuffs in any form could be obtained,
the only available substitute for bread being the various roots found in
the Rocky Mountain region.
I first became acquainted with Bridger in the year 1866. He was then
employed by a wagon road company, of which I was president, to conduct
the emigration from the states to Montana, by way of Fort Laramie, the
Big Horn river and Emigrant gulch. He told me in Virginia City, Mont.,
at that time, of the existence of hot spouting springs in the vicinity
of the source of the Yellowstone and Madison rivers, and said that he
had seen a column of water as large as his body, spout as high as the
flag pole in Virginia City, which was about sixty (60) feet high. The
more I pondered upon this statement, the more I was impressed with the
probability of its truth. If he had told me of the existence of falls
one thousand feet high, I should have considered his story an
exaggeration of a phenomenon he had really beheld; but I did not think
that his imagination was sufficiently fertile to originate the story of
the existence of a spouting geyser, unless he had really seen one, and I
therefore was inclined to give credence to his statement, and to believe
that such a wonder did really exist.
I was the more disposed to credit his statement, because of what I had
previously read in the report of Captain John Mullan, made to the war
department. From my present examination of that report, which was made
Feb. 14, 1863, and a copy of which I still have in my possession, I find
that Captain Mullan says:
I learned from the Indians, and afterwards confirmed by
my own explorations, the fact of the existence of an
infinite number of hot springs at the headwaters of the
Missouri, Columbia and Yellowstone rivers, and that hot
geysers, similar to those of California, exist at the head of
the Yellowstone.
Again he speaks of the isochimenal line (a line of even winter
temperature), which he says reaches from Fort Laramie to the
headwaters of the Yellowstone, at the hot spring and geysers of that
stream, and continues thence to the Beaver Head valley, and he adds:
This is as true as it is strange, and shows unerringly that
there exists in this zone an atmospheric river of heat,
flowing through this region, varying in width from one to
one hundred miles, according to the physical face of the
country.
[Illustration: Very much yours D.G. Folsom]
As early as the year 1866 I first considered the possibility of
organizing an expedition for the purpose of exploring the Upper
Yellowstone to its source. The first move which I made looking to this
end was in 1867 and the next in 1868; but these efforts ended in nothing
more than a general discussion of the subject of an exploration, the
most potent factor in the abandonment of the enterprise being the
threatened outbreaks of the Indians in Gallatin valley.
The following year (1869) the project was again revived, and plans
formed for an expedition; but again the hostility of the Indians
prevented the accomplishment of our purpose of exploration. Hon. David
E. Folsom was enrolled as one of the members of this expedition, and
when it was found that no large party could be organized, Mr. Folsom and
his partner, C.W. Cook, and Mr. Peterson (a helper on the Folsom ranch),
in the face of the threatened dangers from Indians, visited the Grand
Cañon, the falls of the Yellowstone and Yellowstone lake, and then
turned in a northwesterly direction, emerging into the Lower Geyser
basin, where they found a geyser in action, the water of which, says Mr.
Folsom in his record of the expedition, "came rushing up and shot into
the air at least eighty feet, causing us to stampede for higher ground."
Mr. Folsom, in speaking of the various efforts made to organize an
expedition for exploration of the Yellowstone says:
In 1867, an exploring expedition from Virginia City,
Montana Territory, was talked of, but for some unknown
reason, probably for the want of a sufficient number to
engage in it, it was abandoned. The next year another was
planned, which ended like the first--in talk. Early in the
summer of 1869 the newspapers throughout the Territory
announced that a party of citizens from Helena, Virginia
City and Bozeman, accompanied by some of the officers
stationed at Fort Ellis, with an escort of soldiers, would
leave Bozeman about the fifth of September for the Yellowstone
country, with the intention of making a thorough
examination of all the wonders with which the region was
said to abound. The party was expected to be limited in
numbers and to be composed of some of the most prominent
men in the Territory, and the writer felt extremely flattered
when his earnest request to have his name added to
the list was granted. He joined with two personal friends
in getting an outfit, and then waited patiently for the other
members of the party to perfect their arrangements. About
a month before the day fixed for starting, some of the
members began to discover that pressing business engagements
would prevent their going. Then came news from
Fort Ellis that, owing to some changes made in the disposition
of troops stationed in the Territory, the military
portion of the party would be unable to join the expedition;
and our party, which had now dwindled down to ten
or twelve persons, thinking it would be unsafe for so small
a number to venture where there was a strong probability
of meeting with hostile Indians, also abandoned the undertaking.
But the writer and his two friends before mentioned,
believing that the dangers to be encountered had
been magnified, and trusting by vigilance and good luck to
avoid them, resolved to attempt the journey at all hazards.
We provided ourselves with five horses--three of them
for the saddle, and the other two for carrying our cooking
utensils, ammunition, fishing tackle, blankets and buffalo
robes, a pick, and a pan, a shovel, an axe, and provisions
necessary for a six weeks' trip. We were all well armed
with repeating rifles, Colt's six-shooters and sheath-knives,
and had besides a double barreled shotgun for small game.
We also had a good field glass, a pocket compass and a
thermometer.
[Illustration: C.W. Cook]
Mr. Folsom followed the Yellowstone to the lake and crossed over to the
Firehole, which he followed up as far as the Excelsior geyser (not then
named), but did not visit the Upper Geyser basin. On his return to
Helena he related to a few of his intimate friends many of the incidents
of his journey, and Mr. Samuel T. Hauser and I invited him to meet a
number of the citizens of Helena at the directors' room of the First
National Bank in Helena; but on assembling there were so many present
who were unknown to Mr. Folsom that he was unwilling to risk his
reputation for veracity, by a full recital, in the presence of
strangers, of the wonders he had seen. He said that he did not wish to
be regarded as a liar by those who were unacquainted with his
reputation. But the accounts which he gave to Hauser Gillette and myself
renewed in us our determination to visit that region during the
following year. Mr. Folsom, however, sent to the Western Monthly of
Chicago a carefully prepared account of his expedition, which that
magazine published in July, 1870, after cutting out some of the most
interesting portions of the story, thus destroying in some measure the
continuity of the narrative. The office of the Western Monthly was
destroyed by fire before the copies of the magazine containing Mr.
Folsom's article were distributed, and the single copy which Mr. Folsom
possessed and which he presented to the Historical Society of Montana
met a like fate in the great Helena fire. The copy which I possessed and
which I afterwards presented to that Society is doubtless the only
original copy now in existence; and, for the purpose of preserving the
history of the initial step which eventuated in the creation of the
Yellowstone National Park, I re-published, in the year 1894, 500 copies
of Mr. Folsom's narrative, for distribution among those most interested
in that exploration.
In the spring of 1870, while in St. Paul, I had an interview with Major
General Winfield S. Hancock, during which he showed great interest in
the plan of exploration which I outlined to him, and expressed a desire
to obtain additional information concerning the Yellowstone country
which would be of service to him in the disposition of troops for
frontier defense, and he assured me that, unless some unforeseen
exigency prevented, he would, when the time arrived, give a favorable
response to our application for a military escort, if one were needed.
Mr. Hauser also had a conference with General Hancock about the same
time, and received from him like assurances.
About the 1st of August, 1870, our plans took definite shape, and some
twenty men were enrolled as members of the exploring party. About this
time the Crow Indians again "broke loose," and a raid of the Gallatin
and Yellowstone valleys was threatened, and a majority of those who had
enrolled their names, experiencing that decline of courage so aptly
illustrated by Bob Acres, suddenly found excuse for withdrawal in
various emergent occupations.
After a few days of suspense and doubt, Samuel T. Hauser told me that if
he could find two men whom he knew, who would accompany him, he would
attempt the journey; and he asked me to join him in a letter to James
Stuart, living at Deer Lodge, proposing that he should go with us.
Benjamin Stickney, one of the most enthusiastic of our number, also
wrote to Mr. Stuart that there were eight persons who would go at all
hazards and asked him (Stuart) to be a member of the party. Stuart
replied to Hauser and myself as follows:
Deer Lodge City, M.T., Aug. 9th, 1870.
Dear Sam and Langford:
Stickney wrote me that the Yellow Stone party had
dwindled down to eight persons. That is not enough to
stand guard, and I won't go into that country without having
a guard every night. From present news it is probable
that the Crows will be scattered on all the headwaters of
the Yellow Stone, and if that is the case, they would not
want any better fun than to clean up a party of eight (that
does not stand guard) and say that the Sioux did it, as they
said when they went through us on the Big Horn. It will
not be safe to go into that country with less than fifteen
men, and not very safe with that number. I would like it
better if it was fight from the start; we would then kill
every Crow that we saw, and take the chances of their
rubbing us out. As it is, we will have to let them alone
until they will get the best of us by stealing our horses or
killing some of us; then we will be so crippled that we
can't do them any damage.
At the commencement of this letter I said I would not
go unless the party stood guard. I will take that back, for
I am just d----d fool enough to go anywhere that anybody
else is willing to go, only I want it understood that very
likely some of us will lose our hair. I will be on hand Sunday
evening, unless I hear that the trip is postponed.
Fraternally yours,
JAS. STUART.
Since writing the above, I have received a telegram saying,
"twelve of us going certain." Glad to hear it--the
more the better. Will bring two pack horses and one pack
saddle.
I have preserved this letter of James Stuart for the thirty-five years
since it was received. It was written with a lead pencil on both sides
of a sheet of paper, and I insert here a photograph of a half-tone
reproduction of it. It has become somewhat illegible and obscure from
repeated folding and unfolding.
[Illustration: A letter.]
[Illustration: A letter, continued.]
Mr. Stuart was a man of large experience in such enterprises as that in
which we were about to engage, and was familiar with all the tricks of
Indian craft and sagacity; and our subsequent experience in meeting the
Indians on the second day of our journey after leaving Fort Ellis, and
their evident hostile intentions, justified in the fullest degree
Stuart's apprehensions.
About this time Gen. Henry D. Washburn, the surveyor general of Montana,
joined with Mr. Hauser in a telegram to General Hancock, at St. Paul,
requesting him to provide the promised escort of a company of cavalry.
General Hancock immediately responded, and on August 14th telegraphed an
order on the commandant at Fort Ellis, near Bozeman, for such escort as
would be deemed necessary to insure the safety of our party.
Just at this critical time I received a letter from Stuart announcing
that he had been drawn as a juryman to serve at the term of court then
about to open, and that as the federal judge declined to excuse him, he
would not be able to join our party. This was a sore and discouraging
disappointment both to Hauser and myself, for we felt that in case we
had trouble with the Indians Stuart's services to the party would be
worth those of half a dozen ordinary men.
A new roster was made up, and I question if there was ever a body of men
organized for an exploring expedition, more intelligent or more keenly
alive to the risks to be encountered than those then enrolled; and it
seems proper that I here speak more specifically of them.
Gen. Henry D. Washburn was the surveyor general of Montana and had been
brevetted a major general for services in the Civil War, and had served
two terms in the Congress of the United States. Judge Cornelius Hedges
was a distinguished and highly esteemed member of the Montana bar.
Samuel T. Hauser was a civil engineer, and was president of the First
National Bank of Helena. He was afterwards appointed governor of Montana
by Grover Cleveland. Warren C. Gillette and Benjamin Stickney were
pioneer merchants in Montana. Walter Trumbull was assistant assessor of
internal revenue, and a son of United States Senator Lyman Trumbull of
Illinois. Truman C. Everts was assessor of internal revenue for Montana,
and Nathaniel P. Langford (the writer) had been for nearly five years
the United States collector of internal revenue for Montana, and had
been appointed governor of Montana by Andrew Johnson, but, owing to the
imbroglio of the Senate with Johnson, his appointment was not confirmed.
[Illustration: James Stuart.]
While we were disappointed in our expectation of having James Stuart
for our commander and adviser, General Washburn was chosen captain of
the party, and Mr. Stickney was appointed commissary and instructed to
put up in proper form a supply of provisions sufficient for thirty (30)
days, though we had contemplated a limit of twenty-five (25) days for
our absence. Each man promptly paid to Mr. Stickney his share of the
estimated expense. When all these preparations had been made, Jake Smith
requested permission to be enrolled as a member of our company. Jake was
constitutionally unfitted to be a member of such a party of exploration,
where vigilance and alertness were essential to safety and success. He
was too inconsequent and easy going to command our confidence or to be
of much assistance. He seemed to think that his good-natured nonsense
would always be a passport to favor and be accepted in the stead of real
service, and in my association with him I was frequently reminded of the
youth who announced in a newspaper advertisement that he was a poor but
pious young man, who desired board in a family where there were small
children, and where his Christian example would be considered a
sufficient compensation. Jake did not share the view of the other
members of our company, that in standing guard, the sentry should resist
his inclination to slumber. Mr. Hedges, in his diary, published in
Volume V. of the Montana Historical Society publications, on September
13th, thus records an instance of insubordination in standing guard:
Jake made a fuss about his turn, and Washburn stood
in his place.
Now that this and like incidents of our journey are in the dim past, let
us inscribe for his epitaph what was his own adopted motto while doing
guard duty when menaced by the Indians on the Yellowstone:
"REQUIESCAT IN PACE."
Of our number, five--General Washburn, Walter Trumbull, Truman C.
Everts, Jacob Smith and Lieutenant Doane--have died. The five members
now surviving are Cornelius Hedges, Samuel T. Hauser, Warren C.
Gillette, Benjamin Stickney and myself.
I have not been able to ascertain the date of death of either Walter
Trumbull or Jacob Smith. Lieutenant Doane died at Bozeman, Montana, May
5, 1892. His report to the War Department of our exploration is a
classic. Major Chittenden says:
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, who first visited this region the year following that of our
exploration, says of Lieutenant Doane's 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.
Mr. Everts died at Hyattsville, Md., on the 16th day of February, 1901,
at the age of eighty-five, survived by his daughter, Elizabeth Everts
Verrill, and a young widow, and also a son nine years old, born when
Everts was seventy-six years of age,--a living monument to bear
testimony to that physical vigor and vitality which carried him through
the "Thirty-seven days of peril," when he was lost from our party in
the dense forest on the southwest shore of Yellowstone lake.
General Washburn died on January 26, 1871, his death being doubtless
hastened by the hardships and exposures of our journey, from which many
of our party suffered in greater or less degree.
In an eloquent eulogistic address delivered in Helena January 29, 1871,
Judge Cornelius Hedges said concerning the naming of Mount Washburn:
On the west bank of the Yellowstone, between Tower Fall
and Hell-broth springs, opposite the profoundest chasm
of that marvelous river cañon, a mighty sentinel overlooking
that region of wonders, rises in its serene and solitary
grandeur,--Mount Washburn,--pointing the way his enfranchised
spirit was so soon to soar. He was the first to
climb its bare, bald summit, and thence reported to us the
welcome news that he saw the beautiful lake that had been
the proposed object of our journey. By unanimous voice,
unsolicited by him, we gave the mountain a name that
through coming years shall bear onward the memory of
our gallant, generous leader. How little we then thought
that he would be the first to live only in memory. * * *
The deep forests of evergreen pine that embosom that lake
shall typify the ever green spot in our memory where shall
cluster the pleasant recollections of our varied experiences
on that expedition.
The question is frequently asked, "Who originated the plan of setting
apart this region as a National Park?" I answer that Judge Cornelius
Hedges of Helena wrote the first articles ever published by the press
urging the dedication of this region as a park. The Helena Herald of
Nov. 9, 1870, contains a letter of Mr. Hedges, in which he advocated the
scheme, and in my lectures delivered in Washington and New York in
January, 1871, I directed attention to Mr. Hedges' suggestion, and urged
the passage by Congress of an act setting apart that region as a public
park. All this was several months prior to the first exploration by the
U.S. Geological Survey, in charge of Dr. Hayden. The suggestion that the
region should be made into a National Park was first broached to the
members of our party on September 19, 1870, by Mr. Hedges, while we were
in camp at the confluence of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers, as is
related in this diary. After the return home of our party, I was
informed by General Washburn that on the eve of the departure of our
expedition from Helena, David E. Folsom had suggested to him the
desirability of creating a park at the grand cañon and falls of the
Yellowstone. This fact was unknown to Mr. Hedges,--and the boundary
lines of the proposed park were extended by him so as to be commensurate
with the wider range of our explorations.
The bill for the creation of the park was introduced in the House of
Representatives by Hon. William H. Clagett, delegate from Montana
Territory. On July 9, 1894, William R. Marshall, Secretary of the
Minnesota Historical Society, wrote to Mr. Clagett, asking him the
question: "Who are entitled to the principal credit for the passage of
the act of Congress establishing the Yellowstone National Park?" Mr.
Clagett replied as follows:
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, July 14th, 1894.
Wm. R. Marshall,
Secretary Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minn.
Dear Sir: Your favor of July 9th is just received. I
am glad that you have called my attention to the question,
"Who are entitled to the principal credit for the passage
of the act of Congress establishing the Yellowstone
National Park?" The history of that measure, as far as
known to me, is as follows, to-wit: In the fall of 1870,
soon after the return of the Washburn-Langford party,
two printers at Deer Lodge City, Montana, went into the
Firehole basin and cut a large number of poles, intending
to come back the next summer and fence in the tract of
land containing the principal geysers, and hold possession
for speculative purposes, as the Hutchins family so
long held the Yosemite valley. One of these men was
named Harry Norton. He subsequently wrote a book on
the park. The other one was named Brown. He now
lives in Spokane, Wash., and both of them in the summer
of 1871 worked in the New Northwest office at Deer Lodge.
When I learned from them in the late fall of 1870 or
spring of 1871 what they intended to do, I remonstrated
with them and stated that from the description given by
them and by members of Mr. Langford's party, the whole
region should be made into a National Park and no private
proprietorship be allowed.
I was elected Delegate to Congress from Montana in
August, 1871, and after the election, Nathaniel P. Langford,
Cornelius Hedges and myself had a consultation in
Helena, and agreed that every effort should be made to
establish the Park as soon as possible, and before any person
had got a serious foot-hold--Mr. McCartney, at the
Mammoth Hot Springs, being the only one who at that time
had any improvements made. In December, 1871, Mr. Langford
came to Washington and remained there for some
time, and we two counseled together about the Park project.
I drew the bill to establish the Park, and never knew
Professor Hayden in connection with that bill, except that
I requested Mr. Langford to get from him a description of
the boundaries of the proposed Park. There was some
delay in getting the description, and my recollection is
that Langford brought me the description after consultation
with Professor Hayden. I then filled the blank in the
bill with the description, and the bill passed both Houses
of Congress just as it was drawn and without any change
or amendment whatsoever.
After the bill was drawn, Langford stated to me that
Senator Pomeroy of Kansas was very anxious to have the
honor of introducing the bill in the Senate; and as he
(Pomeroy) was the chairman of the Senate committee on
Public Lands, in order to facilitate its passage, I had a
clean copy made of the bill and on the first call day in the
House, introduced the original there, and then went over
to the Senate Chamber and handed the copy to Senator
Pomeroy, who immediately introduced it in the Senate.
The bill passed the Senate first and came to the House,
and passed the House without amendment, at a time when
I happened to be at the other end of the Capitol, and hence
I was not present when it actually passed the House.
Since the passage of this bill there have been so many
men who have claimed the exclusive credit for its passage,
that I have lived for twenty years, suffering from a
chronic feeling of disgust whenever the subject was mentioned.
So far as my personal knowledge goes, the first
idea of making it a public park occurred to myself; but
from information received from Langford and others, it
has always been my opinion that Hedges, Langford, and
myself formed the same idea about the same time, and
we all three acted together in Montana, and afterwards
Langford and I acted with Professor Hayden in Washington,
in the winter of 1871-2.
The fact is that the matter was well under way before
Professor Hayden was ever heard of in connection with
that measure. When he returned to Washington in 1871,
he brought with him a large number of specimens from
different parts of the Park, which were on exhibition in
one of the rooms of the Capitol or in the Smithsonian Institute
(one or the other), while Congress was in session,
and he rendered valuable services, in exhibiting these specimens
and explaining the geological and other features of
the proposed Park, and between him, Langford and myself,
I believe there was not a single member of Congress
in either House who was not fully posted by one or the
other of us in personal interviews; so much so, that the
bill practically passed both Houses without objection.
It has always been a pleasure to me to give to Professor
Hayden and to Senator Pomeroy, and Mr. Dawes of Mass,
all of the credit which they deserve in connection with
the passage of that measure, but the truth of the matter
is that the origin of the movement which created the Park
was with Hedges, Langford and myself; and after Congress
met, Langford and I probably did two-thirds, if not
three-fourths of all the work connected with its passage.
I think that the foregoing letter contains a full statement
of what you wish, and I hope that you will be able
to correct, at least to some extent, the misconceptions
which the selfish vanity of some people has occasioned on
the subject.
Very truly yours,
Wm. H. Clagett.
[Illustration: Wm. H. Clagett]
It is true that Professor Hayden joined with Mr. Clagett and myself in
working for the passage of the act of dedication, but no person can
divide with Cornelius Hedges and David E. Folsom the honor of
_originating the idea_ of creating the Yellowstone Park.
By direction of Major Hiram M. Chittenden there has been erected at the
junction of the Firehole and Gibbon rivers a large slab upon which is
inscribed the following legend:
JUNCTION
OF THE
GIBBON AND FIREHOLE RIVERS,
FORMING THE MADISON FORK OF THE MISSOURI.
* * * * *
ON THE POINT OF LAND BETWEEN THE TRIBUTARY STREAMS,
SEPTEMBER 19, 1870, THE CELEBRATED WASHBURN EXPEDITION,
WHICH FIRST MADE KNOWN TO THE WORLD THE WONDERS
OF THE YELLOWSTONE, WAS ENCAMPED, AND HERE WAS
FIRST SUGGESTED THE IDEA OF SETTING APART THIS REGION
AS A NATIONAL PARK.
On the south bank of the Madison, just below the junction of these two
streams, and overlooking this memorable camping ground, is a lofty
escarpment to which has appropriately been given the name "National
Park mountain."
I take occasion here to refer to my personal connection with the Park.
Upon the passage by Congress, on March 1, 1872, of the act of
dedication, I was appointed superintendent of the Park. I discharged the
duties of the office for more than five years, without compensation of
any kind, and paying my own expenses. Soon after the creation of the
Park the Secretary of the Interior received many applications for leases
to run for a long term of years, of tracts of land in the vicinity of
the principal marvels of that region, such as the Grand Cañon and Falls,
the Upper Geyser basin, etc. These applications were invariably referred
to me by the Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Hon. B.R. Cowen. It
was apparent from an examination of these applications that the purpose
of the applicants was to enclose with fences their holdings, and charge
visitors an admission fee. To have permitted this would have defeated
the purpose of the act of dedication. In many instances the applicants
made earnest pleas, both personally and through their members in
Congress, to the Interior Department and to myself for an approval of
their applications, offering to speedily make improvements of a value
ranging from $100,000 to $500,000. I invariably reported unfavorably
upon these alluring propositions, and in no instance was my
recommendation overruled by Secretary Cowen, to whom Secretary Delano
had given the charge of the whole matter, and to Judge Cowen's firmness
in resisting the political and other influences that were brought to
bear is largely due the fact that these early applications for
concessions were not granted. A time should never come when the American
people will have forgotten the services, a generation ago, of Judge
Cowen, in resisting the designs of unscrupulous men in their efforts to
secure possession of the most important localities in the Park, nor
the later services of George Bird Grinnell, William Hallett Phillips and
U.S. Senator George Graham Vest, in the preservation of the wild game of
the Park and of the Park itself from the more determined encroachments
of private greed.
[Illustration: Hiram M. Chittenden]
The second year of my services as superintendent, some of my friends in
Congress proposed to give me a salary sufficiently large to pay actual
expenses. I requested them to make no effort in this behalf, saying that
I feared that some successful applicant for such a salaried position,
giving little thought to the matter, would approve the applications for
leases; and that as long as I could prevent the granting of any
exclusive concessions I would be willing to serve as superintendent
without compensation.
Apropos of my official connection with the Park a third of a century
ago, is the following letter to me, written by George Bird Grinnell.
This personal tribute from one who himself has done so much in behalf of
the Park was very gratifying to me.
New York, April 29th, 1903.
_Mr. N.P. Langford St. Paul, Minn_.,
Dear Sir: I am glad to read the newspaper cutting from
the Pioneer Press of April 19th, which you so kindly sent me.
In these days of hurry and bustle, when events of importance
crowd so fast on each other that the memory of each
is necessarily short lived, it is gratifying to be reminded
from time to time of important services rendered to the nation
in a past which, though really recent, seems to the
younger generation far away.
The service which you performed for the United States,
and indeed for the world, in describing the Yellowstone
Park, and in setting on foot and persistently advocating the
plan to make it a national pleasure ground, will always be
remembered; and it is well that public acknowledgment
should be made of it occasionally, so that the men of this
generation may not forget what they owe to those of the
past.
Yours very truly,
GEO. BIRD GRINNELL.
The Act of Congress creating the Park provided that this region should
be "set apart for a public park or pleasuring ground for the benefit and
enjoyment of the people," but this end has not been accomplished except
as the result of untiring vigilance and labor on the part of a very few
persons who have never wavered in their loyalty to the Park. It may
never be known how nearly the purposes of the Act of Dedication have
escaped defeat; but a letter written to me by George Bird Grinnell and
an editorial from _Forest and Stream_ may reveal to visitors who now
enjoy without let or hindrance the wonders of that region, how narrowly
this "Temple of the living God," as it has been termed, has escaped
desecration at the hands of avaricious money-getters, and becoming a
"Den of Thieves."
New York, July 25, 1905.
_Mr. N.P. Langford_.
Dear Sir: I am very glad that your diary is to be published.
It is something that I have long hoped that we
might see.
It is true, as you say, that I have for a good many years
done what I could toward protecting the game in the Yellowstone
Park; but what seems to me more important than
that is that _Forest and Stream_ for a dozen years carried on,
almost single handed, a fight for the integrity of the National
Park. If you remember, all through from 1881 or thereabouts
to 1890 continued efforts were being made to gain
control of the park by one syndicate and another, or to run
a railroad through it, or to put an elevator down the side
of the cañon--in short, to use this public pleasure ground
as a means for private gain. There were half a dozen of us
who, being very enthusiastic about the park, and, being in a
position to watch legislation at Washington, and also to
know what was going on in the Interior Department, kept
ourselves very much alive to the situation and succeeded in
choking off half a dozen of these projects before they grew
large enough to be made public.
One of these men was William Hallett Phillips, a dear
friend of mine, a resident of Washington, a Supreme Court
lawyer with a large acquaintance there, and a delightful
fellow. He was the best co-worker that any one could have
had who wanted to keep things straight and as they ought
to be.
At rare intervals I get out old volumes of the _Forest and
Stream_ and look over the editorials written in those days
with a mingling of amusement and sadness as I recall how
excited we used to get, and think of the true fellows who
used to help, but who have since crossed over to the other
side.
Yours sincerely,
GEO. BIRD GRINNELL.
[Illustration: NATIONAL PARK MOUNTAIN. AT JUNCTION OF FIREHOLE AND
GIBBON RIVERS.]
[Illustration: Geo. Bird Grinnell]
From _Forest and Stream_, August 20, 1904.
SENATOR VEST AND THE NATIONAL PARK.
In no one of all the editorials and obituaries written last
week on the death of Senator Vest did we see mention made
of one great service performed by him for the American people,
and for which they and their descendants should always
remember him. It is a bit of ancient history now, and
largely forgotten by all except those who took an active part
in the fight. More than twenty years ago strong efforts were
made by a private corporation to secure a monopoly of the
Yellowstone National Park by obtaining from the government,
contracts giving them exclusive privileges within the
Park. This corporation secured an agreement from the Interior
Department by which six different plots in the Yellowstone
Park, each one covering about one section of land--a
square mile--were to be leased to it for a period of ten
years. It was also to have a monopoly of hotel, stage and
telegraph rights, and there was a privilege of renewal of the
concession at the end of the ten years. The rate to be paid
for the concession was $2 an acre.
When the question of this lease came before Congress, it
was referred to a sub-committee of the Committee on Territories,
of which Senator Vest was chairman. He investigated
the question, and in the report made on it used these
words: "Nothing but absolute necessity, however, should
permit the Great National Park to be used for money-making
by private persons, and, in our judgment, no such necessity
exists. The purpose to which this region, matchless in
wonders and grandeur, was dedicated--'a public park and a
pleasure ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people'--is
worthy the highest patriotism and statesmanship."
The persons interested in this lease came from many sections
of the country, and were ably represented by active
agents in Washington. The pressure brought to bear on
Congress was very great, and the more effectively applied,
since few men knew much about conditions in the Yellowstone
Park, or even where the Yellowstone Park was. But
pressure and influence could not move Senator Vest when
he knew he was right. He stood like a rock in Congress, resisting
this pressure, making a noble fight in behalf of the
interests of the people, and at last winning his battle. For
years the issue seemed doubtful, and for years it was true
that the sole hope of those who were devoted to the interests
of the Park, and who were fighting the battle of the public,
lay in Senator Vest. So after years of struggle the right
triumphed, and the contract intended to be made between
the Interior Department and the corporation was never consummated.
This long fight made evident the dangers to which the
Park was exposed, and showed the necessity of additional
legislation.
A bill to protect the Park was drawn by Senator Vest and
passed by Congress, and from that time on, until the day
of his retirement from public life, Senator Vest was ever a
firm and watchful guardian of the Yellowstone National
Park, showing in this matter, as in many others, "the highest
patriotism and statesmanship." For many years, from
1882 to 1894, Senator Vest remained the chief defender of a
National possession that self-seeking persons in many parts
of the country were trying to use for their own profit.
[Illustration: W. Hallett Phillips]
[Illustration: GEORGE GRAHAM VEST.]
If we were asked to mention the two men who did more
than any other two men to save the National Park for the
American people, we should name George Graham Vest and
William Hallett Phillips, co-workers in this good cause.
There were other men who helped them, but these two easily
stand foremost.
In the light of the present glorious development of the Park it can be
said of each one who has taken part in the work of preserving for all
time this great national pleasuring ground for the enjoyment of the
American people, "He builded better than he knew."
An amusing feature of the identity of my name with the Park was that my
friends, with a play upon my initials, frequently addressed letters to
me in the following style:
[Illustration: National Park Langford]
The fame of the Yellowstone National Park, combining the most extensive
aggregation of wonders in the world--wonders unexcelled because nowhere
else existing--is now world-wide. The "Wonderland" publications issued
by the Northern Pacific Railway, prepared under the careful supervision
of their author, Olin D. Wheeler, with their superb illustrations of the
natural scenery of the park, and the illustrated volume, "The
Yellowstone," by Major Hiram M. Chittenden, U.S. Engineers, under whose
direction the roads and bridges throughout the Park are being
constructed, have so confirmed the first accounts of these wonders that
there remains now little of the incredulity with which the narrations of
the members of our company were first received. The articles written by
me on my return from the trip described in this diary, and published in
Scribner's (now Century) Magazine for May and June, 1871, were regarded
more as the amiable exaggerations of an enthusiastic Munchausen, who is
disposed to tell the whole truth, and as much more as is necessary to
make an undoubted sensation, than as the story of a sober,
matter-of-fact observer who tells what he has seen with his own eyes,
and exaggerates nothing. Dr. Holland, one of the editors of that
magazine, sent to me a number of uncomplimentary criticisms of my
article. One reviewer said: "This Langford must be the champion liar of
the Northwest." Resting for a time under this imputation, I confess to a
feeling of satisfaction in reading from a published letter, written
later in the summer of 1871 from the Upper Geyser basin by a member of
the U.S. Geological Survey, the words: "Langford did not dare tell
one-half of what he saw."