YELLOWSTONE PARK.
MAMMOTH SPRINGS HOTEL, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, June 23, 1892.
Leaving Livingston at 9 A.M., we travelled by rail forty-two miles to
Cinnabar, the entrance to the National Park. We passed along the
valley of the Yellowstone River, now a much swollen, turbulent, and
rushing stream, hemmed in by mountains reaching their lofty heads
thousands of feet high. In one place there had been a land-slide some
hundreds of feet long, which had carried down all the earth and trees
into the valley, leaving the rock bare, and presenting a very rugged
appearance. There were numerous farms and ranches on the route, with
cattle and cultivated fields. The road bed was in good order, the cars
excellent, and the trip exceedingly interesting and enjoyable. At
Cinnabar, we took a stage for eight miles to this hotel. The road is a
very good one, passing over rushing streams and along the bases of
great mountains, amidst magnificent scenery. Beautiful flowers line
the way and are in the fields, while the mountains are partly covered
with snow. We hear that the road to the lake is blocked with snow, and
impassable. This hotel is an excellent one, the food, attendance, and
rooms are good, and for a day we are resting preparatory to commencing
the tour of the park. Here are located the barracks for the United
States soldiers in charge of the reservation, these being now two
hundred mounted men, who act as police, and constantly patrol the
roads, watching for poachers, and generally keeping everything in
order. From the front of the hotel we look upon the hot springs, which
have been throwing out hot water and steam, no doubt for ages, and
have formed a large terraced hill of soda or lime-like material, the
surplus water finding its way, partly through subterranean passages,
to the river.