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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.
of Montana, but which is now in Wyoming, be added to Montana. This will embrace nearly the entire park.
    The reason for such annexation is apparent, when it is considered that the park is only accessible from Montana. It is impossible to enter it from Wyoming. Attempts to scale the vast ridge of mountains on the eastern and southern borders have been made by several expeditions across the continent, commencing with that of Wilson G. Hunt, the chief of Astor's overland expedition in the year 1811. As late as 1833 the indomitable Captain Bonneville was thwarted in a similar effort, and after devising various modes of escape from the mountains labyrinth in which he was lost, he determined to make one more effort to ascend the range. Selecting one of the highest peaks, in company with one of his men, Washington Irving says:
    After much toil he reached the summit of a lofty cliff, but it was only to behold gigantic peaks rising all around and towering far into the snowy regions of the atmosphere. He soon found that he had undertaken a tremendous task; but the pride of man is never more obstinate than when climbing mountains. The ascent was so steep and rugged that he and his companion were frequently obliged to clamber on hands and knees, with their guns slung upon their backs. Frequently, exhausted with fatigue and dripping with perspiration, they threw themselves upon the snow and took handfuls of it to allay their parching thirst. At one place they even stripped off their coats and hung them upon the bushes, and thus lightly clad, proceeded to scramble over these eternal snows. As they ascended still higher there were cool breezes that refreshed and braced them, and springing with near ardor to their task, they at length attained the summit.
    As late as 1860 Captain Raynolds, foiled in repeated efforts to cross this barrier, was obliged to make a détour of four or five hundred miles, to reach a point on the head-waters of the Yellowstone not fifty miles distant from his camp. While camped at the southeastern base of this formidable range of mountains, Captain Raynolds (Senate Ex. Doc. No. 77, Fortieth Congress, first session) wrote:
    To our front and upon the right, the mountains towered above us to the height of from three thousand to five thousand feet, in the shape of bold, craggy peaks of basaltic formation, their summits crowned with glistening snow. It was my original desire to go from the head of the Wind River to the head of the Yellowstone, keeping on the Atlantic slope, thence down the Yellowstone, passing the lake and across by the Gallatin to the Three Forks of the Missouri. Bridger said at the outset that this would be impossible, and that it would be necessary to pass over to the head-waters of the Columbia and back again to the Yellowstone. I had not previously believed that crossing the main crest twice would be more easily accomplished than the transit over what was in effect only a spur, but the view from our present camp settled the question adversely to my opinion at once. Directly across our route lies a basaltic ridge, rising not less than 5,000 feet above us, its walls apparently vertical, with no visible pass or even cañon. On the opposite side of this are the head-waters of the Yellowstone. Bridger remarked triumphantly and forcibly to me upon reaching this spot, "I told you you could not go through. A bird can't fly over that without taking a supply of grub along." I had no reply to offer, and mentally conceded the accuracy of the information of the "old man of the mountains."
    As this portion of Wyoming Territory is thus entirely separated from the settled portions, which can only be reached by more than one thousand miles of travel, by way of Montana, Idaho, and Utah, and as there is not the most remote probability of any settlement in Wyoming in this region, except within the boundaries of the park, the annexation of the park to Montana for judicial purposes is an absolute necessity. It is not improbable that occasion may often render the services of the United States marshal necessary to eject defaulting or troublesome tenants. In such cases it would be impracticable to send a thousand miles for that officer, when, by the act of annexation, one could be obtained within a hundred. Aside from the delay which would thus be avoided, when haste might really be necessary, the expense would be so Go to next page

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