37
YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1870
the Missouri. The formation of the Gallatin Valley
is of modified drift, in terraces falling successively to the lowest point.
Wood and grasses are abundant, and stock maintain themselves at large,
in good condition, without being fed at all during the winter. I arrived
at Fort Ellis in the afternoon; distance 35 miles. Privates Moore and Williamson
returned on the 2d of October. They had gone back on the trail to our second
camp, on the south side of the lake; thence struck the head of Snake River
and followed down the stream for a distance of twenty-five miles from the
Yellowstone Lake. They found game plentiful and tame, and had no difficulty
in obtaining an abundant supply. After an ineffectual search of five days
they followed our trail, arriving without accident at the above date.
Mr. Everts was found on the 10th of October by two men from the Yellowstone
agency. On the first day of his absence he had left his horse standing
unfastened, with all his arms and equipments strapped upon his saddle;
the animal became frightened, ran away into the woods, and he was left
without even a pocket-knife as a means of defense. Being very near-sighted,
and totally unused to traveling in a wild country without guides, he became
completely bewildered. He wandered down to the Snake River Lake, where
he remained twelve days, sleeping near the hot springs to keep from freezing
at night, and climbing to the summits each day in the endeavor to trace
out his proper course. Here he subsisted upon thistle-roots, boiled in
the springs, and was kept up a tree the greater part of one night by a
California lion. After gathering and cooking a supply of thistle-roots
he managed to strike the southwest point of the lake, and followed around
the north side to the Yellowstone, finally reaching our camp opposite the
Grand Cañon. He was twelve days out before he thought to kindle
a fire by using the lenses of his field-glass, but afterward carried a
burning brand with him in all his wanderings. Herds of game passed by him
during the night, on many occasions when he was on the verge of starvation.
In addition to a tolerable supply of thistle-roots, he had nothing for
over thirty days but a handful of minnows and a couple of snow-birds. Twice
he went five days without food, and three days without water, in that country
which is a network of streams and springs. He was found on the verge of
the great plateau, above the mouth of Gardiner's River. A heavy snow-storm
had extinguished his fire; his supply of thistle-roots was exhausted; he
was partially deranged, and perishing with cold. A large lion was killed
near him, on the trail, which he said had followed him at a short distance
for several days previously. It was a miraculous escape, considering the
utter helplessness of the man, lost in a forest wilderness, and with the
storms of winter at hand.
Thus the Yellowstone Expedition closed. We saw
many strange and wonderful phenomena, many things which would require volumes
for adequate description, and which in future geography will be classed
among the wonders of the earth; yet we only followed up the Yellowstone
River, passed around two sides of the lake, and down one branch of the
Madison to the main stream. We did not explore one-third of the Great Basin.
The district will be in easy reach of travel if the Union Pacific Railroad
comes by way of the lower Yellowstone Valley. The difficulties of the journey
amount to but little after the various routes had been laid down correctly.
From the 1st of June to the 1st of October the climate is very mild, considering
the location. As a country for sight-seers, it is without parallel; as
a field for scientific research, it promises great results; in the branches
of geology, mineralogy, botany, Go
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