following about 11 o'clock, and soon struck the trail of Lieutenant
Doane, which proved to be the route traveled by the Indians. The marks
of their lodge poles were plainly visible. At about four miles from our
morning camp we discovered at some distance ahead of us what first
appeared to be a young elk, but which proved to be a colt that had
become separated from the camp of Indians to which it belonged. We think
the Indians cannot be far from us at this time. Following the trail up
the ascent leading from Antelope creek, we entered a deep cut, the sides
of which rise at an angle of 45 degrees, and are covered with a
luxuriant growth of grass. Through this cut we ascended by a grade
entirely practicable for a wagon road to the summit of the divide
separating the waters of Antelope creek from those of [F]---- creek, and
from the summit descended through a beautiful gorge to a small tributary
of the Yellowstone, a distance of two miles, dismounting and leading our
horses almost the entire distance, the descent being too precipitous for
the rider's comfort or for ease to the horse. We were now within four
miles of[F]---- creek, and within two miles of the Yellowstone. On the
right of the trail, two miles farther on, we found a small hot sulphur
spring, the water of which was at a temperature a little below the
boiling point, which at this elevation is about 195 degrees. Ascending a
high ridge we had a commanding view of a basaltic formation of
palisades, about thirty feet in height, on the opposite bank of the
Yellowstone, overlooking a stratum of cement and gravel nearly two
hundred feet thick, beneath which is another formation of the basaltic
rock, and beneath this another body of cement and gravel. We named this
formation "Column Rock." The upper formation, from which the rock takes
its name, consists of basaltic columns about thirty feet high, closely
touching each other, the columns being from three to five feet in
diameter. A little farther on we descended the sides of the canon,
through which runs a large creek. We crossed this creek and camped on
the south side. Our camp is about four hundred feet in elevation above
the Yellowstone, which is not more than two miles distant. The creek is
full of granite boulders, varying in size from six inches to ten feet in
diameter.

General Washburn was on guard last night, and to-night he seems somewhat
fatigued. Mr. Hedges has improvised a writing stool from a sack of
flour, and I have appropriated a sack of beans for a like use; and, as
we have been writing, there has been a lively game of cards played near
my left side, which Hedges, who has just closed his diary, says is a
game of poker. I doubt if Deacon Hedges is sufficiently posted in the
game to know to a certainty that poker is the game which is being
played; but, putting what Hedges tells me with what I see and hear, I
find that these infatuated players have put a valuation of five (5)
cents per bean, on beans that did not cost more than $1 quart in Helena,
and Jake Smith exhibits a marvelous lack of veneration for his
kinswoman, by referring to each bean, as he places it before him upon
the table, as his "aunt," or, more flippantly, his "auntie." Walter
Trumbull has been styled the "Banker," and he says that at the
commencement of the game he sold forty of these beans to each of the
players, himself included (200 in all), at five (5) cents each, and that
he has already redeemed the entire 200 at that rate; and now Jake Smith
has a half-pint cup nearly full of beans, and is demanding of Trumbull
that he redeem them also; that is, pay five (5) cents per bean for the
contents of the cup. Trumbull objects. Jake persists. Reflecting upon
their disagreement I recall that about an hour ago Jake, with an
apologetic "Excuse me!" disturbed me while I was writing and untied the
bean sack on which I am now sitting, and took from it a double handful
of beans.

It seems to me that a game of cards which admits of such latitude as
this, with a practically unlimited draft upon outside resources, is
hardly fair to all parties, and especially to "The Banker."


Sunday, August 28.--To-day being Sunday, we remained all day in our
camp, which Washburn and Everts have named "Camp Comfort," as we have an
abundance of venison and trout.

We visited the falls of the creek, the waters of which tumble over the
rocks and boulders for the distance of 200 yards from our camp, and then
fall a distance of 110 feet, as triangulated by Mr. Hauser. Stickney
ventured to the verge of the fall, and, with a stone attached to a
strong cord, measured its height, which he gives as 105 feet.

The stream, in its descent to the brink of the fall, is separated into
half a dozen distorted channels which have zig-zagged their passage
through the cement formation, working it into spires, pinnacles, towers
and many other capricious objects. Many of these are of faultless
symmetry, resembling the minaret of a mosque; others are so grotesque as
to provoke merriment as well as wonder. One of this latter character we
named "The Devil's Hoof," from its supposed similarity to the proverbial
foot of his Satanic majesty. The height of this rock from its base is
about fifty feet.

[Illustration: DEVIL'S HOOF.]

The friable rock forming the spires and towers and pinnacles crumbles
away under a slight pressure. I climbed one of these tall spires on the
brink of the chasm overlooking the fall, and from the top had a
beautiful view, though it was one not unmixed with terror. Directly
beneath my feet, but probably about one hundred feet below me, was the
verge of the fall, and still below that the deep gorge through which the
creek went bounding and roaring over the boulders to its union with the
Yellowstone. The scenery here cannot be called grand or magnificent, but
it is most beautiful and picturesque. The spires are from 75 to 100 feet
in height. The volume of water is about six or eight times that of
Minnehaha fall, and I think that a month ago, while the snows were still
melting, the creek could not easily have been forded. The route to the
foot of the fall is by a well worn Indian trail running to the mouth of
the creek over boulders and fallen pines, and through thickets of
raspberry bushes.

At the mouth of the creek on the Yellowstone is a hot sulphur spring,
the odor from which is perceptible in our camp to-day. At the base of
the fall we found a large petrifaction of wood imbedded in the debris of
the falling cement and slate rock. There are several sulphur springs at
the mouth of the creek, three of them boiling, others nearly as hot as
boiling water. There is also a milky white sulphur spring. Within one
yard of a spring, the temperature of which is little below the boiling
point, is a sulphur spring with water nearly as cold as ice water, or
not more than ten degrees removed from it.

I went around and almost under the fall, or as far as the rocks gave a
foot-hold, the rising spray thoroughly wetting and nearly blinding me.
Some two hundred yards below the fall is a huge granite boulder about
thirty feet in diameter. Where did it come from?

In camp to-day several names were proposed for the creek and fall, and
after much discussion the name "Minaret" was selected. Later, this
evening, this decision has been reconsidered, and we have decided to
substitute the name "Tower" for "Minaret," and call it "Tower Fall."[G]

General Washburn rode out to make a _reconnaissance_ for a route to the
river, and returned about 3 o'clock in the afternoon with the
intelligence that from the summit of a high mountain he had seen
Yellowstone lake, the proposed object of our visit; and with his compass
he had noted its direction from our camp. This intelligence has greatly
relieved our anxiety concerning the course we are to pursue, and has
quieted the dread apprehensions of some of our number, lest we become
inextricably involved in the wooded labyrinth by which we are
surrounded; and in violation of our agreement that we would not give the
name of any member of our party to any object of interest, we have
spontaneously and by unanimous vote given the mountain the name by which
it will hereafter and forever be known, "Mount Washburn."

In addition to our saddle horses and pack horses, we have another
four-footed animal in our outfit--a large black dog of seeming little
intelligence, to which we have given the name of "Booby." He is owned
by "Nute," one of our colored boys, who avers that he is a very knowing
dog, and will prove himself so before our journey is ended. The poor
beast is becoming sore-footed, and his sufferings excite our sympathy,
and we are trying to devise some kind of shoe or moccasin for him. The
rest to-day in camp will benefit him. Lieutenant Doane is suffering
greatly with a felon on his thumb. It ought to be opened, but he is
unwilling to submit to a thorough operation. His sufferings kept him
awake nearly all of last night.


Monday, August 29.--We broke camp about 8 o'clock, leaving the trail,
which runs down to the mouth of the creek, and passed over a succession
of high ridges, and part of the time through fallen timber. The trail of
the Indians leads off to the left, to the brink of the Yellowstone,
which it follows up about three-fourths of a mile, and then crosses to
the east side. Hauser, Gillette, Stickney, Trumbull and myself rode out
to the summit of Mount Washburn, which is probably the highest peak on
the west side of the river. Having an aneroid barometer with us, we
ascertained the elevation of the mountain to be about 9,800 feet. The
summit is about 500 feet above the snow line.

Descending the mountain on the southwest side, we came upon the trail of
the pack train, which we followed to our camp at the head of a small
stream running into the Yellowstone, which is about five miles distant.
As we came into camp a black bear kindly vacated the premises. After
supper some of our party followed down the creek to its mouth. At about
one mile below our camp the creek runs through a bed of volcanic ashes,
which extends for a hundred yards on either side. Toiling on our course
down this creek to the river we came suddenly upon a basin of boiling
sulphur springs, exhibiting signs of activity and points of difference
so wonderful as to fully absorb our curiosity. The largest of these,
about twenty feet in diameter, is boiling like a cauldron, throwing
water and fearful volumes of sulphurous vapor higher than our heads. Its
color is a disagreeable greenish yellow. The central spring of the
group, of dark leaden hue, is in the most violent agitation, its
convulsive spasms frequently projecting large masses of water to the
height of seven or eight feet. The spring lying to the east of this,
more diabolical in appearance, filled with a hot brownish substance of
the consistency of mucilage, is in constant noisy ebullition, emitting
fumes of villainous odor. Its surface is covered with bubbles, which are
constantly rising and bursting, and emitting sulphurous gases from
various parts of its surface. Its appearance has suggested the name,
which Hedges has given, of "Hell-Broth springs;" for, as we gazed upon
the infernal mixture and inhaled the pungent sickening vapors, we were
impressed with the idea that this was a most perfect realization of
Shakespeare's image in Macbeth. It needed but the presence of Hecate and
her weird band to realize that horrible creation of poetic fancy, and I
fancied the "black and midnight hags" concocting a charm around this
horrible cauldron. We ventured near enough to this spring to dip the end
of a pine pole into it, which, upon removal, was covered an eighth of an
inch thick with lead-colored sulphury slime.

There are five large springs and half a dozen smaller ones in this
basin, all of them strongly impregnated with sulphur, alum and arsenic.
The water from all the larger springs is dark brown or nearly black. The
largest spring is fifteen to eighteen feet in diameter, and the water
boils up like a cauldron from 18 to 30 inches, and one instinctively
draws back from the edge as the hot sulphur steam rises around him.
Another of the larger springs is intermittent. The smaller springs are
farther up on the bank than the larger ones. The deposit of sinter
bordering one of them, with the emission of steam and smoke combined,
gives it a resemblance to a chimney of a miner's cabin. Around them all
is an incrustation formed from the bases of the spring deposits,
arsenic, alum, sulphur, etc. This incrustation is sufficiently strong in
many places to bear the weight of a man, but more frequently it gave
way, and from the apertures thus created hot steam issued, showing it to
be dangerous to approach the edge of the springs; and it was with the
greatest difficulty that I obtained specimens of the incrustation. This
I finally accomplished by lying at full length upon that portion of the
incrustation which yielded the least, but which was not sufficiently
strong to bear my weight while I stood upright, and at imminent risk of
sinking in the infernal mixture, I rolled over and over to the edge of
the opening; and, with the crust slowly bending and sinking beneath me,
hurriedly secured the coveted prize of black sulphur, and rolled back to
a place of safety.

[Illustration: SECURING A SPECIMEN AT HELL-BROTH SPRINGS.]

From the springs to the mouth of the creek we followed along the bank,
the bed or bottom being too rough and precipitous for us to travel in
it, the total fall in the creek for the three miles being about fifteen
hundred feet. Standing upon the high point at the junction of the creek
with the Yellowstone, one first gets some idea of the depth of the canon
through which the river runs. From this height the sound of the waters
of the Yellowstone, tumbling over tremendous rocks and boulders, could
not be heard. Everything around us--mountains, valleys, canon and trees,
heights and depths--all are in such keeping and proportion that all our
estimates of distances are far below the real truth. To-day we passed
the mouth of Hell-Roaring river on the opposite side of the Yellowstone.

It was again Jake Smith's turn for guard duty last night, but this
morning Jake's countenance wore a peculiar expression, which indicated
that he possessed some knowledge not shared by the rest of the party. He
spoke never a word, and was as serene as a Methodist minister behind
four aces. My interpretation of this self-satisfied serenity is that his
guard duty did not deprive him of much sleep. When it comes to
considering the question of danger in this Indian country, Jake thinks
that he knows more than the veteran Jim Stuart, whom we expected to join
us on this trip, and who has given us some salutary words of caution. In
a matter in which the safety of our whole party is involved, it is
unfortunate that there are no "articles of war" to aid in the
enforcement of discipline, in faithful guard duty.


Tuesday, August 30.--We broke camp about 9 o'clock a.m., traveling in a
southerly direction over the hills adjoining our camp, and then
descended the ridge in a southwesterly direction, heading off several
ravines, till we came into a small valley; thence we crossed over a
succession of ridges of fallen timber to a creek, where we halted about
ten miles from our morning camp and about a mile from the upper fall of
the Yellowstone. Mr. Hedges gave the name "Cascade creek" to this
stream.

When we left our camp this morning at Hell-Broth springs, I remarked to
Mr. Hedges and General Washburn that the wonders of which we were in
pursuit had not disappointed us in their first exhibitions, and that I
was encouraged in the faith that greater curiosities lay before us. We
believed that the great cataracts of the Yellowstone were within two
days', or at most three days', travel. So when we reached Cascade creek,
on which we are now encamped, after a short day of journeying, it was
with much astonishment as well as delight that we found ourselves in the
immediate presence of the falls. Their roar, smothered by the vast depth
of the canon into which they plunge, was not heard until they were
before us. With remarkable deliberation we unsaddled and lariated our
horses, and even refreshed ourselves with such creature comforts as our
larder readily afforded, before we deigned a survey of these great
wonders of nature. On our walk down the creek to the river, struck with
the beauty of its cascades, we even neglected the greater, to admire the
lesser wonders. Bushing with great celerity through a deep defile of
lava and obsidian, worn into caverns and fissures, the stream,
one-fourth of a mile from its debouchure, breaks into a continuous
cascade of remarkable beauty, consisting of a fall of five feet,
succeeded by another of fifteen into a grotto formed by proximate rocks
imperfectly arching it, whence from a crystal pool of unfathomable depth
at their base, it lingers as if half reluctant to continue its course,
or as if to renew its power, and then glides gracefully over a
descending, almost perpendicular, ledge, veiling the rocks for the
distance of eighty feet. Mr. Hedges gave to this succession of cascades
the name "Crystal fall." It is very beautiful; but the broken and
cavernous gorge through which it passes, worn into a thousand fantastic
shapes, bearing along its margin the tracks of grizzly bears and lesser
wild animals, scattered throughout with huge masses of obsidian and
other volcanic matter--the whole suggestive of nothing earthly nor
heavenly--received at our hands, and not inaptly as I conceive, the name
of "The Devil's Den."

I presume that many persons will question the taste evinced by our
company in the selection of names for the various objects of interest we
have thus far met with; but they are all so different from any of
Nature's works that we have ever seen or heard of, so entirely out of
range of human experience, and withal so full of exhibitions which can
suggest no other fancy than that which our good grandmothers have
painted on our boyish imaginations as a destined future abode, that we
are likely, almost involuntarily, to pursue the system with which we
have commenced, to the end of our journey. A similar imagination has
possessed travelers and visitors to other volcanic regions.

We have decided to remain at this point through the entire day
to-morrow, and examine the canon and falls. From the brief survey of the
canon I was enabled to make before darkness set in, I am impressed with
its awful grandeur, and I realize the impossibility of giving to any one
who has not seen a gorge similar in character, any idea of it.

[Illustration: Cornelius Hedges.]

It is getting late, and it is already past our usual bedtime, and Jake
Smith is calling to me to "turn in" and give him a chance to sleep.
There is in what I have already seen so much of novelty to fill the
mind and burden the memory, that unless I write down in detail the
events of each day, and indeed almost of each hour as it passes, I shall
not be able to prepare for publication on my return home any clear or
satisfactory account of these wonders. So Jake may go to. I will write
until my candle burns out. Jacob is indolent and fond of slumber, and I
think that he resents my remark to him the other day, that he could burn
more and gather less wood than any man I ever camped with. He has dubbed
me "The Yellowstone sharp." Good! I am not ashamed to have the title.
Lieutenant Doane has crawled out of his blankets, and is just outside
the tent with his hand and fore-arm immersed in water nearly as cold as
ice. I am afraid that lock-jaw will set in if he does not consent to
have the felon lanced.


Wednesday, August 31.--This has been a "red-letter" day with me, and one
which I shall not soon forget, for my mind is clogged and my memory
confused by what I have to-day seen. General Washburn and Mr. Hedges are
sitting near me, writing, and we have an understanding that we will
compare our notes when finished. We are all overwhelmed with
astonishment and wonder at what we have seen, and we feel that we have
been near the very presence of the Almighty. General Washburn has just
quoted from the psalm:

"When I behold the work of Thy hands, what is man
that Thou art mindful of him!"

My own mind is so confused that I hardly know where to commence in
making a clear record of what is at this moment floating past my mental
vision. I cannot confine myself to a bare description of the falls of
the Yellowstone alone, for these two great cataracts are but one feature
in a scene composed of so many of the elements of grandeur and
sublimity, that I almost despair of giving to those who on our return
home will listen to a recital of our adventures, the faintest conception
of it. The immense canon or gorge of rocks through which the river
descends, perhaps more than the falls, is calculated to fill the
observer with feelings of mingled awe and terror. This chasm is
seemingly about thirty miles in length. Commencing above the upper fall,
it attains a depth of two hundred feet where that takes its plunge, and
in the distance of half a mile from that point to the verge of the lower
fall, it rapidly descends with the river between walls of rock nearly
six hundred feet in vertical height, to which three hundred and twenty
feet are added by the fall. Below this the wall lines marked by the
descent of the river grow in height with incredible distinctness, until
they are probably two thousand feet above the water. There is a
difference of nearly three thousand feet in altitude between the surface
of the river at the upper fall and the foot of the canon. Opposite Mount
Washburn the canon must be more than half a vertical mile in depth. As
it is impossible to explore the entire canon, we are unable to tell
whether the course of the river through it is broken by other and larger
cataracts than the two we have seen, or whether its continuous descent
alone has produced the enormous depth to which it has attained. Rumors
of falls a thousand feet in height have often reached us before we made
this visit. At all points where we approached the edge of the canon the
river was descending with fearful momentum through it, and the rapids
and foam from the dizzy summit of the rock overhanging the lower fall,
and especially from points farther down the canon, were so terrible to
behold, that none of our company could venture the experiment in any
other manner than by lying prone upon the rock, to gaze into its awful
depths; depths so amazing that the sound of the rapids in their course
over immense boulders, and lashing in fury the base of the rocks on
which we were lying, could not be heard. The stillness is horrible, and
the solemn grandeur of the scene surpasses conception. You feel the
absence of sound--the oppression of absolute silence. Down, down, down,
you see the river attenuated to a thread. If you could only hear that
gurgling river, lashing with puny strength the massive walls that
imprison it and hold it in their dismal shadow, if you could but see a
living thing in the depth beneath you, if a bird would but fly past you,
if the wind would move any object in that awful chasm, to break for a
moment the solemn silence which reigns there, it would relieve that
tension of the nerves which the scene has excited, and with a grateful
heart you would thank God that he had permitted you to gaze unharmed
upon this majestic display of his handiwork. But as it is, the spirit of
man sympathizes with the deep gloom of the scene, and the brain reels as
you gaze into this profound and solemn solitude.

[Illustration: GRAND CANON.]

The place where I obtained the best and most terrible view of the canon
was a narrow projecting point situated two or three miles below the
lower fall.[H] Standing there or rather lying there for greater safety,
I thought how utterly impossible it would be to describe to another the
sensations inspired by such a presence. As I took in this scene, I
realized my own littleness, my helplessness, my dread exposure to
destruction, my inability to cope with or even comprehend the mighty
architecture of nature. More than all this I felt as never before my
entire dependence upon that Almighty Power who had wrought these
wonders. A sense of danger, lest the rock should crumble away, almost
overpowered me. My knees trembled, and I experienced the terror which
causes, men to turn pale and their countenances to blanch with fear, and
I recoiled from the vision I had seen, glad to feel the solid earth
beneath me and to realize the assurance of returning safety.

The scenery surrounding the canon and falls on both banks of the
Yellowstone is enlivened by all the hues of abundant vegetation. The
foot-hills approach the river, crowned with a vesture of evergreen
pines. Meadows verdant with grasses and shrubbery stretch away to the
base of the distant mountains, which, rolling into ridges, rising into
peaks, and breaking into chains, are defined in the deepest blue upon
the horizon. To render the scene still more imposing, remarkable
volcanic deposits, wonderful boiling springs, jets of heated vapor,
large collections of sulphur, immense rocks and petrifications abound in
great profusion in this immediate vicinity. The river is filled with
trout, and bear, elk, deer, mountain lions and lesser game roam the
plains, forests and mountain fastnesses.

The two grand falls of the Yellowstone form a fitting completion to this
stupendous climax of wonders. They impart life, power, light and majesty
to an assemblage of elements, which without them would be the most
gloomy and horrible solitude in nature. Their eternal anthem, echoing
from canon, mountain, rock and woodland, thrills you with delight, and
you gaze with rapture at the iris-crowned curtains of fleecy foam as
they plunge into gulfs enveloped in mist and spray. The stillness which
held your senses spellbound, as you peered into the dismal depths of the
canon below, is now broken by the uproar of waters; the terror it
inspired is superseded by admiration and astonishment, and the scene,
late so painful from its silence and gloom, is now animate with joy and
revelry.

The upper fall, as determined by the rude means of measurement at our
command, is one hundred and fifteen feet in height. The river approaches
it through a passage of rocks which rise one hundred feet on either side
above its surface. Until within half a mile of the brink of the fall the
river is peaceful and unbroken by a ripple. Suddenly, as if aware of
impending danger, it becomes lashed into foam, circled with eddies, and
soon leaps into fearful rapids. The rocky jaws confining it gradually
converge as it approaches the edge of the fall, bending its course by
their projections, and apparently crowding back the water, which
struggles and leaps against their bases, warring with its bounds in the
impatience of restraint, and madly leaping from its confines, a liquid
emerald wreathed with foam, into the abyss beneath. The sentinel rocks,
a hundred feet asunder, could easily be spanned by a bridge directly
over and in front of the fall, and fancy led me forward to no distant
period when such an effort of airy architecture would be crowded with
happy gazers from all portions of our country. A quarter of the way
between the verge and the base of the fall a rocky table projects from
the west bank, in front of and almost within reaching distance of it,
furnishing a point of observation where the finest view can be obtained.
In order to get a more perfect view of the cataract, Mr. Hedges and I
made our way down to this table rock, where we sat for a long time. As
from this spot we looked up at the descending waters, we insensibly felt
that the slightest protrusion in them would hurl us backwards into the
gulf below. A thousand arrows of foam, apparently _aimed at us_, leaped
from the verge, and passed rapidly down the sheet. But as the view grew
upon us, and we comprehended the power, majesty and beauty of the scene,
we became insensible to danger and gave ourselves up to the full
enjoyment of it.

Very beautiful as is this fall, it is greatly excelled in grandeur and
magnificence by the cataract half a mile below it, where the river takes
another perpendicular plunge of three hundred and twenty feet into the
most gloomy cavern that ever received so majestic a visitant. Between
the two falls, the river, though bordered by lofty precipices, expands
in width and flows gently over a nearly level surface until its near
approach to the verge. Here a sudden convergence in the rocks compresses
its channel, and with a gurgling, choking struggle, it leaps with a
single bound, sheer from an even level shelf, into the tremendous
chasm. The sheet could not be more perfect if wrought by art. The
Almighty has vouchsafed no grander scene to human eyes. Every object
that meets the vision increases its sublimity. There is a majestic
harmony in the whole, which I have never seen before in nature's
grandest works. The fall itself takes its leap between the jaws of rocks
whose vertical height above it is more than six hundred feet, and more
than nine hundred feet above the chasm into which it falls. Long before
it reaches the base it is enveloped in spray, which is woven by the
sun's rays into bows radiant with all the colors of the prism, and
arching the face of the cataract with their glories. Five hundred feet
below the edge of the canon, and one hundred and sixty feet above the
verge of the cataract, and overlooking the deep gorge beneath, on the
flattened summit of a projecting crag, I lay with my face turned into
the boiling chasm, and with a stone suspended by a large cord measured
its profoundest depths. Three times in its descent the cord was parted
by abrasion, but at last, securing the weight with a leather band, I was
enabled to ascertain by a measurement which I think quite exact, the
height of the fall. It is a little more than three hundred and twenty
feet; while the perpendicular wall down which I suspended the weight was
five hundred and ten feet.

[Illustration: LOWER FALL OF THE YELLOWSTONE.]

Looking down from this lofty eminence through the canon below the falls,
the scene is full of grandeur. The descent of the river for more than a
mile is marked by continuous cascades varying in height from five to
twenty feet, and huge rapids breaking over the rocks, and lashing with
foam the precipitous sides of the gorge. A similar descent through the
entire canon (thirty miles), is probable, as in no other way except by
distinct cataracts of enormous height can the difference in altitude
between this point and its outlet be explained. The colors of the rock,
which is shaly in character, are variegated with yellow, gray and brown,
and the action of the water in its rapid passage down the sides of the
canon has worn the fragments of shale into countless capricious forms.
Jets of steam issue from the sides of the canon at frequent intervals,
marking the presence of thermal springs and active volcanic forces. The
evidence of a recession of the river through the canon is designated by
the ridges apparent on its sides, and it is not improbable that at no
distant day the lower fall will become blended by this process with the
upper, forming a single cataract nearly five hundred feet in height.

There are but few places where the sides of the Grand canon can be
descended with safety. Hauser and Stickney made the descent at a point
where the river was 1,050 feet below the edge of the canon, as
determined by triangulation by Mr. Hauser. Lieutenant Doane, accompanied
by his orderly, went down the river several miles, and following down
the bed of a lateral stream reached its junction with the Yellowstone at
a point where the canon was about 1,500 feet in depth--the surface of
the ground rising the farther he went down the river.

Mr. Hedges and I sat on the table-rock to which I have referred,
opposite the upper fall, as long as our limited time would permit; and
as we reluctantly left it and climbed to the top, I expressed my regret
at leaving so fascinating a spot, quoting the familiar line:

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever."

Mr. Hedges asked me who was the author of the line, but I could not
tell. I will look it up on my return.[I]

Yes! This stupendous display of nature's handiwork will be to me "a joy
forever." It lingers in my memory like the faintly defined outlines of a
dream. I can scarcely realize that in the unbroken solitude of this
majestic range of rocks, away from civilization and almost inaccessible
to human approach, the Almighty has placed so many of the most wonderful
and magnificent objects of His creation, and that I am to be one of the
few first to bring them to the notice of the world. Truly has it been
said, that we live to learn how little may be known, and of what we see,
how much surpasses comprehension.


Thursday, September 1.--We did not break camp till nearly ten o'clock
this morning, the pack-train crossing Cascade creek at its head, and
coming into the river trail about two miles above the upper fall. The
more direct trail--shorter by one and a half miles--runs along the bank
of the river.

If we had not decided, last night, that we would move on to-day, I think
that every member of the party would have been glad to stay another day
at the canon and falls. I will, however, except out of the number our
comrade Jake Smith. The afternoon of our arrival at the canon (day
before yesterday), after half an hour of inspection of the falls and
canon, he said: "Well, boys, I have seen all there is, and I am ready to
move on."

However, the perceptible decline in our larder, and the uncertainty of
the time to be occupied in further explorations, forbid more than these
two days' stay at the falls and canon. The sun this morning shone
brightly, and its rays were reflected upon the sides of the dismal
canon--so dark, and gray, and still--enlivening and brightening it.
To-day has been warm, and nature this morning seemed determined that our
last look should be the brightest, for the beauties of the entire
landscape invited us to make a longer stay, and we lingered till the
last moment, that the final impression might not be lost.

Pursuing our journey, at two miles above the falls we crossed a small
stream which we named "Alum" creek, as it is strongly impregnated with
alum.

[Illustration: W.C. Gillette.]

Six miles above the upper fall we entered upon a region remarkable for
the number and variety of its hot springs and craters. The principal
spring, and the one that first meets the eye as you approach from the
north, is a hot sulphur spring, of oval shape, the water of which is
constantly boiling and is thrown up to the height of from three to seven
feet. Its two diameters are about twelve feet and twenty feet, and it
has an indented border of seemingly pure sulphur, about two feet wide
and extending down into the spring or cauldron to the edge of the water,
which at the time of our visit, if it had been at rest, would have been
fifteen or eighteen inches below the rim of the spring. This spring is
situated at the base of a low mountain, and the gentle slope below and
around the spring for the distance of two hundred or three hundred feet
is covered to the depth of from three to ten inches with the sulphurous
deposit from the overflow of the spring. The moistened bed of a dried-up
rivulet, leading from the edge of the spring down inside through this
deposit, showed us that the spring had but recently been overflowing.
Farther along the base of this mountain is a sulphurous cavern about
twenty feet deep, and seven or eight feet in diameter at its mouth, out
of which the steam is thrown in jets with a sound resembling the puffing
of a steam-boat when laboring over a sand-bar, and with as much
uniformity and intonation as if emitted by a high-pressure engine. From
hundreds of fissures in the adjoining mountain from base to summit,
issue hot sulphur vapors, the apertures through which they escape being
encased in thick incrustations of sulphur, which in many instances is
perfectly pure. There are nearby a number of small sulphur springs, not
especially remarkable in appearance.

About one hundred yards from these springs is a large hot spring of
irregular shape, but averaging forty feet long by twenty-five wide, the
water of which is of a dark muddy color. Still farther on are twenty or
thirty springs of boiling mud of different degrees of consistency and
color, and of sizes varying from two to eight feet in diameter, and of
depths below the surface varying from three to eight feet. The mud in
these springs is in most cases a little thinner than mortar prepared
for plastering, and, as it is thrown up from one to two feet, I can
liken its appearance to nothing so much as Indian meal hasty pudding
when the process of boiling is nearly completed, except that the
puffing, bloated bubbles are greatly magnified, being from a few inches
to two feet in diameter. In some of the springs the mud is of dark brown
color, in others nearly pink, and in one it was almost yellow. Springs
four or five feet in diameter and not over six feet apart, have no
connection one with another either above or beneath the surface, the mud
in them being of different colors. In some instances there is a
difference of three feet in the height to which the mud in adjoining
springs attains. There may be in some instances two or more springs
which receive their supply of mud and their underground pressure from
the same general source, but these instances are rare, nor can we
determine positively that such is the case. This mud having been worked
over and over for many years is as soft as the finest pigments.

All of these springs are embraced within a circle the radius of which is
from a thousand to twelve hundred feet, and the whole of this surface
seems to be a smothered crater covered over with an incrustation of
sufficient strength and thickness to bear usually a very heavy weight,
but which in several instances yielded and even broke through under the
weight of our horses as we rode over it. We quickly dismounted, and as
we were making some examinations, the crust broke through several times
in some thin places through which vapor was issuing. Under the whole of
this incrustation the hottest fires seem to be raging, and the heat
issuing from the vents or from the crevices caused from the breaking in
of the surface is too intense to be borne by the gloved hand for an
instant. Surrounding the natural vents are deposits of pure sulphur,
portions of which in many instances we broke off, and after allowing
them to cool, brought them away with us. On the top of the mountain
overlooking the large sulphur spring is a small living crater about six
inches in diameter, out of which issue hot vapor and smoke. On the slope
adjoining the mud spring is another crater of irregular shape, but
embracing about one hundred square inches, out of which issues hot
vapor, the rocks adjoining changing color under the intense heat with
every breath blown upon them.

The tramp of our horses' feet as we rode over the incrustation at the
base of the mountain returned a hollow sound; yet while some of our
party were not disposed to venture upon it with their horses, still I
think with care in selecting a route there is very little danger in
riding over it.

On the mountain, large quantities of sulphur formed by the condensation
of the vapor issuing from the crevices, now closed, but once in activity
in the incrusted covering, have been deposited, and we collected many
specimens of pure and crystallized sulphur. Thousands of pounds of pure
and nearly pure sulphur are now lying on the top and sides of the
mountain, all of which can be easily gathered with the aid of a spade to
detach it from the mountain side incrustations to which it adheres in
the process of condensation. We gave to this mountain the name "Crater
hill."

Five miles further on we camped near the "Mud geyser." Our course to-day
has been for the greater part over a level valley, which was plainly
visible from the top of Mount Washburn. The water of the river at this
point is strongly impregnated with the mineral bases of the springs
surrounding our camp, and that empty into the river above it.


Friday, September 2.--To-day we have occupied ourselves in examining the
springs and other wonders at this point. At the base of the foot-hills
adjoining our camp are three large springs of thick boiling mud, the
largest of which resembles an immense cauldron. It is about thirty feet
in diameter, bordered by a rim several feet wide, upon which one can
stand within reach of the boiling mass of mud, the surface of which is
four or five feet below the rim enclosing it, the rim being a little
raised above the surrounding level. Some twelve or fifteen rods from
this spring are two other springs from ten to twelve feet in diameter.
Near by is a hot (not boiling) spring of sulphur, fifteen to eighteen
feet in diameter, too hot to bathe in. From these we passed over the
timbered hill at the base of which these springs are situated. In the
timber along the brow of the hill and near its summit, and immediately
under the living trees, the hot sulphur vapor and steam issue from
several fissures or craters, showing that the hottest fires are raging
at some point beneath the surface crust, which in a great many places
gives forth a hollow sound as we pass over it. Through a little coulee
on the other side of the hill runs a small stream of greenish water,
which issues from a small cavern, the mouth of which is about five feet
high and the same dimension in width. From the mouth, the roof of the
cavern descends at an angle of about fifteen degrees, till at the
distance of twenty feet from the entrance it joins the surface of the
water. The bottom of the cavern under the water seems to descend at
about the same angle, but as the water is in constant ebullition, we
cannot determine this fact accurately. The water is thrown out in
regular spasmodic jets, the pulsations occurring once in ten or twelve
seconds. The sides and mouth of this cavern are covered with a dark
green deposit, some of which we have taken with us for analysis. About
two hundred yards farther on is another geyser, the flow of which occurs
about every six hours, and when the crater is full the diameter of the
surface is about fourteen feet, the sides of the crater being of an
irregular funnelshape, and descending at an angle of about forty-five
degrees. At the lowest point at which we saw the water it was about
seven feet in diameter on the surface. One or another of our party
watched the gradual rise of the water for four or five hours. The
boiling commenced when the water had risen half way to the surface,
occasionally breaking forth with great violence. When the water had
reached its full height in the basin, the stream was thrown up with
great force to a height of from twenty to thirty feet, the column being
from seven to ten feet in diameter at the midway height of the column,
from bottom to top. The water was of a dark lead color, and those
portions of the sides of the crater that were overflowed and then
exposed by the rise and fall of the water were covered with stalagmites
formed by the deposit from the geyser.

While surveying these wonders, our ears were constantly saluted by dull,
thundering, booming sounds, resembling the reports of distant artillery.
As we approached the spot whence they proceeded, the ground beneath us
shook and trembled as from successive shocks of an earthquake. Ascending
a small hillock, the cause of the uproar was found to be a mud
volcano--the greatest marvel we have yet met with. It is about midway up
a gentle pine-covered slope, above which on the lower side its crater,
thirty feet in diameter, rises to a height of about thirty-five feet.
Dense masses of steam issue with explosive force from this crater, into
whose tapering mouth, as they are momentarily dispelled by the wind, we
can see at a depth of about forty feet the regurgitating contents. The
explosions are not uniform in force or time, varying from three to eight
seconds, and occasionally with perfect regularity occurring every five
seconds. They are very distinctly heard at the distance of half a mile,
and the massive jets of vapor which accompany them burst forth like the
smoke of burning gunpowder.

Some of these pulsations are much more violent than others, but each one
is accompanied by the discharge of an immense volume of steam, which at
once shuts off all view of the inside of the crater; but sometimes,
during the few seconds intervening between the pulsations, or when a
breeze for a moment carries the steam to one side of the crater, we can
see to the depth of thirty feet into the volcano, but cannot often
discover the boiling mud; though occasionally, when there occurs an
unusually violent spasm or concussion, a mass of mud as large in bulk as
a hogshead is thrown up as high as our heads, emitting blinding clouds
of steam in all directions, and crowding all observers back from the
edge of the crater. We were led to believe that this volcano has not
been long in existence; but that it burst forth the present summer but a
few months ago. The green leaves and the limbs of the surrounding forest
trees are covered with fresh clay or mud, as is also the newly grown
grass for the distance of 180 feet from the crater. On the top branches
of some of the trees near by--trees 150 feet high--we found particles of
dried mud that had fallen upon the high branches in their descent just
after this first outburst, which must have thrown the contents of the
volcano as high as 250 or 300 feet. Mr. Hauser, whose experience as an
engineer and with projectile forces entitles his opinion to credit,