9
NO. II.
After remaining one day in the
vicinity of the first geyser, we forded the Yellowstone just above our
camp, and shaped our course for the lake. At the ford the river was
quite wide, and a narrow bench of rock rose up from the bottom, stretching
from bank to bank. On this bench the water was about three feet deep,
but on either side of it was a foot or two deeper. In fording the
stream, each man led a pack animal. All did very well while they
kept upon the bench. Occasionally some one would get into deeper
water, and become drenched, but he had the benefit of encouraging cheers
from those who had crossed in safety, and who stood ready to welcome him
upon the anticipated shore.
From the ford to the lake--a
distance of about ten miles--our course was generally through timber, much
of which had been blown down by strong winds, rendering traveling exceedingly
tedious and difficult. In open places near the river we were continually
meeting with mud-springs, some of them considerable magnitude. At
one point in the river we discovered a short series of rapids, between
high, rocky banks; the one on the east side rising to the proportion of
a bluff. After fording a stream, about one-third the size of the
Yellowstone, emptying into the lake, we camped on the edge of the timber,
about a hundred yards from the lake-shore.
Lake Yellowstone is a lonely,
but lovely inland sea, everywhere surrounded by "forests primeval," and
nestled in the bosom of the Rocky Mountains. Some trappers have insisted
that its waters ran both to the Atlantic and the Pacific, but such is not
the case. The summit of the main chain, however, approaches within
half a mile of is south shore, and in place the divide is very little above
the lake. Its shape resembles the broad hand of an honest German,
who has had his forefinger and the two adjoining shot off at the second
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