The Yellowstone National Park Part 4

[R] See Appendix E, "Transactions Montana Historical Society."

In 1844, a large party of trappers entered the Upper Yellowstone Valley from the south, pa.s.sed around the west sh.o.r.e of the Yellowstone Lake to the outlet, where they had a severe battle with the Blackfeet Indians, in a broad open tract at that point. The remains of their old corral were still visible as late as 1870.

There are numerous other interesting, though less definite, references to an early knowledge of the Yellowstone; but those we have given show their general character. The important fact to remember is that this knowledge was barren of result. For the most part it existed only in the minds of illiterate men, and perished with them. It never caught the public ear and did not in the least degree hasten the final discovery. Historically interesting these early adventures will always be; as are also the Norse voyages to America; but they are very far from being the Columbus voyage of discovery.

CHAPTER VI.

JAMES BRIDGER.

Of the early characters whose names are closely linked with the history of the Yellowstone, the most distinguished is James Bridger, a sketch of whose life is given in Appendix A, under "Bridger Lake."

That he had often been in the region of the Yellowstone Park, and was familiar with its unique features, is now well known. His first personal knowledge of them is believed to date from 1824, when he is supposed to have been upon the upper Yellowstone. It is certain that before 1840 he knew of the existence of the geysers in the Firehole Valley, although at that time he had probably not seen them himself.

Between 1841 and 1844 Bridger was leader of a grand hunting and trapping expedition, which for upward of two years, wandered over the country from the Great Falls of the Missouri to Chihuahua, Mexico. At some time during this expedition he entered the region of the upper Yellowstone and saw most of its wonders. His descriptions of the geysers and other remarkable features of that locality can be traced back nearly to this period and present an accuracy of detail which could come only from personal observation.

Among the records of these descriptions the earliest is that by Captain J. W. Gunnison, of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, who was a.s.sociated with Captain Howard Stansbury, of the same corps, in the Salt Lake Expedition of 1849-50. The record is found in Gunnison's History of the Mormons,[S] and dates back to this expedition. It reads:

"He [Bridger] gives a picture, most romantic and enticing, of the head waters of the Yellow Stone. A lake, sixty miles long, cold and pellucid, lies embosomed among high precipitous mountains. On the west side is a sloping plain, several miles wide, with clumps of trees and groves of pine. The ground resounds with the tread of horses. Geysers spout up seventy feet high, with a terrific, hissing noise, at regular intervals. Water-falls are sparkling, leaping and thundering down the precipices, and collect in the pool below. The river issues from this lake, and for fifteen miles roars through the perpendicular canon at the outlet. In this section are the 'Great Springs,' so hot that meat is readily cooked in them, and as they descend on the successive terraces, afford at length delightful baths. On the other side is an acid spring, which gushes out in a river torrent; and below is a cave, which supplies 'vermillion' for the savages in abundance."

[S] Page 151, Gunnison's History of the Mormons. See Appendix E.

In this admirable summary we readily discover the Yellowstone Lake, the Grand Canon, the Falls, the geyser basins, the Mammoth Hot Springs, and Cinnabar Mountain. Prior to 1860, Bridger had related these accounts to Captain Warren, Captain Raynolds, Doctor Hayden, and others, and although he seems to have convinced these gentlemen that there was something in his stories, they still attributed less to fact than to fancy.

In his efforts to disseminate a knowledge of this region, Bridger was as determined as Colter had been before him, and with little better success. He tried to have his narratives published, but no periodical would lend itself to his service. The editor of the _Kansas City Journal_ stated editorially in 1879 that Bridger had told him of these wonders fully thirty years before. He prepared an article from Bridger's description, but suppressed it because his friends ridiculed the whole thing as incredible. He later publicly apologized to Bridger, who was then living at Westport, Missouri.[T]

[T] Of interest in this connection is the following extract from a recent letter to the writer by the present managing editor of the _Kansas City Journal_:

"The interview had with Bridger was in the year 1856. He told Col. R.

T. Van Horn, Editor of the _Journal_, which was published at that time, the story of the Park with the geysers, and at the same time, drew with a piece of charcoal on a piece of wrapping paper an outline of the route necessary to be taken by a railroad should it ever cross the continent, which route is exactly on the line that is now crossed by the Union Pacific.

In this conversation, he told the Colonel about the mud springs and the other wonders of that part of the country, or to use his own expression, 'it was a place where h.e.l.l bubbled up.'

The Colonel was much interested in the matter at the time and took notes of the account, but did not print it because a man who claimed to know Bridger, told him that he would be laughed out of town if he printed 'any of old Jim Bridger's lies.'"

The persistent incredulity of his countrymen, and their ill-concealed suspicion of his honesty, to say nothing of his mental soundness, were long a cloud upon Bridger's life; but, more fortunate than his prototype, Colter, he lived to see himself triumphantly vindicated.

Whether from disgust at this unmerited treatment, or because of his love of a good story, Bridger seems finally to have resolved that distrust of his word, if it must exist, should at least have some justification. He was in fact noted for "drawing the long bow to an unparalleled tension," and for never permitting troublesome scruples of conscience to interfere with the proper embellishment of his yarns.

These were generally based upon fact, and diligent search will discover in them the "soul of truth" which, according to Herbert Spencer, always exists "in things erroneous." These anecdotes are current even yet among the inhabitants of the Yellowstone, and the tourist who remains long in the Park will not fail to hear them.

When Bridger found that he could not make his hearers believe in the existence of a vast ma.s.s of volcanic gla.s.s, now known to all tourists as the interesting Obsidian Cliff, he supplied them with another gla.s.s mountain of a truly original sort. Its discovery was the result of one of his hunting trips and it happened in this wise.

Coming one day in sight of a magnificent elk, he took careful aim at the unsuspecting animal and fired. To his great amazement, the elk not only was not wounded, but seemed not even to have heard the report of the rifle. Bridger drew considerably nearer and gave the elk the benefit of his most deliberate aim; but with the same result as before. A third and a fourth effort met with a similar fate. Utterly exasperated, he seized his rifle by the barrel, resolved to use it as a club since it had failed as a firearm. He rushed madly toward the elk, but suddenly crashed into an immovable vertical wall which proved to be a mountain of perfectly transparent gla.s.s, on the farther side of which, still in peaceful security, the elk was quietly grazing.

Stranger still, the mountain was not only of pure gla.s.s, but was a perfect telescopic lens, and, whereas, the elk seemed but a few hundred yards off, it was in reality twenty-five miles away!

Another of Bridger's discoveries was an ice-cold spring near the summit of a lofty mountain, the water from which flowed down over a long smooth slope, where it acquired such a velocity that it was boiling hot when it reached the bottom.[U]

[U] This story, which is taken from the report of Captain W. F.

Raynolds, was one of Bridger's favorites, and it is even said that he did not regard it as pleasantry at all, but as plain matter of fact.

Mr. Langford, who often heard him relate it, says that he generally described the stream as flowing over the smooth surface of a rock, and reasoned that, as two sticks rubbed together produce heat by friction, so the water rubbing over the rock became hot. In proof, he cited an instance where the water was hot only in close proximity to the rock and not at the surface. Mr. Langford found a partial confirmation of the fact, but not of the theory, in fording the Firehole River in 1870. He pa.s.sed over the smooth deposit of an active hot spring in the bed of the stream, and found that the stream bottom and the water in contact with it were hot.

An account, in which the "soul of truth" is not so readily apparent, is that of a mining prospector of this region, who, in later times, met a unique and horrible fate. He had for days been traveling with a party toward a prodigious diamond set in the top of a mountain, where, even at noonday, it shone with a l.u.s.ter surpa.s.sing the sun. He arrived at length on the top of the mountain only to see the diamond on another summit apparently as far away as ever. Disheartened and weary, he thought to save the labor of descent by taking advantage of an extremely smooth face of the mountain, and accordingly sat down upon his shovel, as upon a toboggan, and let slide. There was a vacant place around the camp-fire that evening, and next day the rest of the party, pa.s.sing along the base of the mountain, found an infusible clay pipe and the molten remains of a shovel. Warned by the fate of their comrade, the superst.i.tious survivors forbore any further search for the diamond.

To those who have visited the west sh.o.r.e of the Yellowstone Lake, and know how simple a matter it is to catch the lake trout and cook them in the boiling pools without taking them from the line, the ground work of the following description will be obvious enough. Somewhere along the sh.o.r.e an immense boiling spring discharges its overflow directly into the lake. The specific gravity of the water is less than that of the lake, owing probably to the expansive action of heat, and it floats in a stratum three or four feet thick upon the cold water underneath. When Bridger was in need of fish it was to this place that he went. Through the hot upper stratum he let fall his bait to the subjacent habitable zone, and having hooked his victim, cooked him _on the way out_!

In like manner the visitor to the region of petrifactions on Specimen Ridge in the north-east corner of the Park, and to various points in the hot springs districts, will have no difficulty in discovering the base material out of which Bridger contrived the following picturesque yarn. According to his account there exists in the Park country a mountain which was once cursed by a great medicine man of the Crow nation. Every thing upon the mountain at the time of this dire event became instantly petrified and has remained so ever since. All forms of life are standing about in stone where they were suddenly caught by the petrifying influences, even as the inhabitants of ancient Pompeii were surprised by the ashes of Vesuvius. Sage brush, gra.s.s, prairie fowl, antelope, elk, and bears may there be seen as perfect as in actual life. Even flowers are blooming in colors of crystal, and birds soar with wings spread in motionless flight, while the air floats with music and perfumes siliceous, and the sun and the moon shine with petrified light!

In this way Bridger avenged himself for the spirit of distrust so often shown for what he had related. The time presently came, however, when the public learned, not only how large a measure of truth there was in his stories, but also how ingenious a tale he could weave from very inadequate material.

CHAPTER VII.

RAYNOLDS' EXPEDITION.

On the 13th of April, 1859, Captain W. F. Raynolds, of the Corps of Topographical Engineers, U. S. A., was ordered to explore "the region of country through which flow the princ.i.p.al tributaries of the Yellowstone River, and the mountains in which they, and the Gallatin and Madison Forks of the Missouri, have their source." This was the first government expedition[V] directed to the precise locality which is now embraced in the Yellowstone National Park. It is interesting to us, not for what it accomplished--for it fortunately failed to penetrate the Upper Yellowstone country--but because it gives an admirable _resume_, in the form of a report and a map, of the geographical knowledge of that country down to the date of actual discovery.

[V] Accompanying this expedition as geologist was Dr. F. V. Hayden, whose name is so intimately connected with the history of the Yellowstone Park. James Bridger was guide to the party.

Captain Raynolds was in the field during the two seasons of 1859 and 1860; but it was only in the summer of 1860 that he directed his efforts toward the country in which we are particularly interested. In May of that year the expedition left its winter quarters at Deer Creek, Wyo., and marched to the junction of the Wind River and the Popo Agie where these streams unite under the name of Bighorn River.

Here the party divided. One division under Captain Raynolds was to ascend the Wind River to its source and then cross to the head waters of the Yellowstone. This stream they were to follow down to the Great Bend, and then cross over to the Three Forks of the Missouri. The other party, under Lieutenant Maynadier, was to skirt the east and north flanks of the Absaroka Range and to join the first party at the Three Forks, if possible, not later than July 1st.

Captain Raynolds was charged with other instructions than those mentioned in his order, which must be kept in mind in order properly to account for the final outcome of the expedition. A total eclipse of the sun was to occur on July 18th of that year, and its line of greatest occultation lay north of the British boundary. It was desired that Captain Raynolds should be present in that locality in time to observe the eclipse. This condition, rather than impa.s.sable mountains or unmelted snows, was the chief obstacle to a thorough exploration of the Upper Yellowstone.

The two parties separated May 24th. Captain Raynolds, according to his programme, kept up the Wind River valley, and with much difficulty effected a crossing by way of Union Pa.s.s--which he named--to the western slope of the mountains. He then turned north seeking a pa.s.sage to the head waters of the Yellowstone. When nearly opposite Two-Ocean Pa.s.s, he made a strenuous effort to force his way through, spending two days in the attempt. But it was still June and the snow lay deep on the mountains. It was a physical impossibility to get through at that point, and the risk of missing the eclipse forebade efforts elsewhere. The Captain was deeply disappointed at this result. He writes:

"My fondly cherished schemes of this nature were all dissipated by the prospect before us; ... and I therefore very reluctantly decided to abandon the plan to which I had so steadily clung."

It seems not a little singular that so experienced a guide as Bridger should not have conducted the party up the valley of the Snake River and thence over the low divide between that stream and the Yellowstone Lake--a route which was perfectly practicable even as early as June.

But the plan does not appear to have been entertained, and the expedition pa.s.sed around the Park region to the west, arriving at the Three Forks on the 29th of June.

Lieutenant Maynadier wisely made no attempt to cross the Absaroka Range, which rose continuously on his left. Had he done so, the deep snow at that season would have rendered his efforts futile. He kept close to the flank of the mountains until he reached the valley of the Yellowstone north of the Park, and then hastened to join his commanding officer at the appointed rendezvous. He reached the Three Forks on the 3d day of July.

The expedition had now completely encircled the region of the Upper Yellowstone. At one point Captain Raynolds had stood where his eye could range over all that country which has since become so famous; but this was the limit of his endeavor. The Yellowstone wonderland was spared the misfortune of being discovered at so early a day--a fact quite as fortunate as any in its history.

It will be interesting now to survey this region as known at the time of the Raynolds Expedition. Nothing of importance occurred to increase public knowledge of it until 1870, and Captain Raynolds'[W] Report is therefore the latest authentic utterance concerning it prior to the date of actual discovery. In this report Captain Raynolds says:

"Beyond these [the mountains south-east of the Park], is the valley of the Upper Yellowstone, which is as yet a _terra incognita_. My expedition pa.s.sed entirely around, but could not penetrate it....

Although it was June, the immense body of snow baffled all our exertions, and we were compelled to content ourselves with listening to marvelous tales of burning plains, immense lakes, and boiling springs, without being able to verify these wonders. I know of but two men who claim to have ever visited this part of the Yellowstone Valley--James Bridger and Robert Meldrum. The narratives of both these men are very remarkable, and Bridger, in one of his recitals, described an immense boiling spring, that is a perfect counterpart of the geysers of Iceland. As he is uneducated, and had probably never heard of the existence of such natural wonders elsewhere, I have little doubt that he spoke of that which he had actually seen....

Bridger also insisted that immediately west[X] of the point at which we made our final effort to penetrate this singular valley, there is a stream of considerable size, which divides and flows down either side of the water-shed, thus discharging its waters into both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans."

[W] See Bibliography. Appendix E, "Explorations of the Yellowstone,"

etc.

[X] Actually north-east.

The Captain concludes this particular part of his report as follows: