22
YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1870
of lakes at the foot of high ridges, on the west side. Presently the trail turned up the slope of the mountain, where night overtook us. After traveling some distance I discovered we were following a band of elk, having missed the trail in the darkness. We then struck out for the lake shore, on which our course was regained, but presently lost again after more elk. We then built a fire and examined the ground carefully for tracks, found the right direction, and at 10 o'clock at night arrived in camp on the lake shore, to the relief of our companions, who supposed us lost in the mountains. Our camp to-night is due south from the head of the Yellowstone, on the other side of the lake. Long, wooded promontories here extend out into the basin, inclosing bays several miles in length. These are so numerous as to render it impossible to give a correct profile of the shore without actual measurement, the perspective in such distances rendering appearances very deceiving. Distance, 9 miles.

Eighteenth day -- September 8. -- We traveled across a high promontory running into the lake, winding among steep ravines and through fallen timber lying in heaps, with full-grown, living forest above it. This timber must have been deadened by fire, the trunks being bare of limbs and much decayed, but in such masses as to be impassable in many places, causing us to make wide detours to find a trail. The standing forest is very dense; the pack-animals ran between trees, often wedging themselves in so tightly as to require some trouble in extricating them; several of the packs burst, causing numerous delays. Our faces were scratched, clothes torn, and limbs bruised squeezing through between saplings. After a hard day's work, traveling at all points of the compass for a distance of at least 15 miles, we struck a stream leading north through a deep ravine and followed it down. Presently the ranges opened out, skirting a pretty little bottom, in which we camped. Distance direct, 7 miles.

Messrs. Hedges and Stickney wandered off from the party in the morning, but struck the shore of the lake and followed it, meeting us shortly after going into camp. In the evening a grizzly bear, with cubs, was roused by some of the party, but as they had not lost any bears she got away with her interesting family undisturbed. These animals are very numerous in the basin, the green grasses, berries, and pine nuts affording them abundant supplies of food; but our party kept up such a racket of yelling and firing as to drive off all game for miles ahead of us. The numbers of springs of water on the slopes of these ridges is surprising, large districts on the hill-sides being swampy and often impassable. The water from the granite rocks is always good; from all others bad. The small lakes are perfectly alive with otter, which may be seen playing upon their surfaces at night-fall by hundreds. Beaver, mink, and muskrat are also abundant.

Nineteenth day -- September 9. -- We moved in a westerly course over the summit of a high promontory, thence descending into a narrow open valley, and crossing a small stream rising in the promontory between two arms of the lake and flowing south.  This creek, rising as it were in the very midst of the Yellowstone Lake, is the source proper of Snake River; five miles below it empties into a stream flowing from a heart-shaped lake five miles in diameter. This stream is about 70 feet wide, 3 feet in depth, and is the main fork of Snake River. This explains the origin of the old story of the "Two Water" Lake, or Spring, to the effect that the two streams, the Yellowstone emptying into the Gulf, and the Snake river into the Pacific, had a common source. The proximity is truly unparalleled, the waters of one stream actually running from be Go to next page



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