Twenty-second day -- September 12. -- To-day parties wen out in couples on the search. Messrs. Smith and Trumbull followed the lake shore around the head of the promontory to within sight of our previous camp. They returned in the evening and reported having seen human footsteps in the sands of the beach. Mr. Smith was positive he saw several Indians on foot, who retreated into the woods on being approached. They were probably white men, as a man was met in the neighborhood a few days afterward who stated that he belonged to a small party in the vicinity. In the middle of this promontory is one lake of considerable size, and at a high elevation above that of the Yellowstone. Messrs. Washburn and Langford took a southerly direction toward the base of the Yellow Mountain, for a distance of eleven miles. They saw from the divide the lake from which Snake River issues, also a small lake at an elevation of 800 feet above it. Beyond this divide they became entangled in an immense swampy brimstone basin, miles in extent, abounding in sulphur springs, small geysers, and steam jets. The ground was covered with tufa, or calcareous deposits in a thin scale, overlying hot white mud. Mr. Langford's horse broke through several times, coming back plastered with the white substance and badly scalded. They were unable to penetrate to the lake on account of the instability of the footing.
Twenty-third day September 13. -- The snowy
weather continued with intervals of hail and rain; large fires were kept
up, and the search continued. I rode around the head of the lake to the
steam jets visible from camp; this was the largest system we had yet seen,
located at the extreme point of the most westerly arm of the lake, and
on a gentle slope, reaching along the shore for a mile, and extending back
into the woods for the same distance; this system embraced every variety
of hot water and mud springs seen thus far on the route, with many other
heretofore unseen. Four hundred yard from the lake shore is a basin of
mud having a bright pink color; this is a system of itself, being 70 feet
in diameter, and projecting thick mud through small craters of a conical
shape around the edge of the basin, while the center is one seething mass.
The deposit speedily hardens into a firm, laminated clay stone, of beautiful
texture, though the brilliant pink color fades to a chalky white. Near
and around this basin are a dozen springs, from 6 to 25 feet across, boiling
muddy water of paint-like consistency, in colors varying from a pure white
to a dark yellow; them come several flowing springs, from 10 to 50 feet
in diameter, of clear, hot water, the basins and channels of which were
lined with deposits of red, green, yellow, and black, giving them an appearance
of gorgeous splendor; these deposits were too friable to preserve, crumbling
at the touch. The bright colors were on the surface of the rock only, not
extending to it interior. Below these were several large craters of bluish
water impregnated with sulphate of copper; these boiled to the height of
two feet in the center and flowed large streams of water; their rims were
raised a few inches, in a delicate rocky margin of a fringe-like appearance,
deposited from the water. Beyond these are two lakes of purple water, hot,
but not boiling; these give deposits of great delicacy of coloring. Near
by are two more bluestone springs, the largest we have yet seen; one, 30
by 40 feet and of temperature 173, flows a stream into the other one about
70 feet distant, and six feet lower; this latter spring is 40 by 75 feet,
temperature 183; a stream of 100 inches of water flows from it. The craters
of these springs are of calcareous stalagmite, and lined with Go
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