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Trumball Journal
Index
THE WASHBURN YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION.
NO. I.
Page 5
Between the two falls the river flows quietly, in
a wide channel, between steep, timbered bluffs, four hundred feet high.
Just above the lower falls the bluffs again converge; the one from the west
stretching out as if to dam up the river, which has, however, forced its way
through a break, forty yards wide. The rocky cliffs rise perpendicularly
from the brink of the falls, to a height of several hundred feet. The rocky
formation is of a shelly character, and slightly colored with flowers of
sulphur. The plunge of the water is in the direct course of the stream, and
at the brink of the falls it appears to be of uniform depth. It clears its
bed at a bound, and takes a fearful leap of 350 feet. The volume of water
is about half as great as that which passes over the American Fall, at
Niagara, and it falls more than twice the distance. The adjacent scenery is
infinitely grander. Having passed over the precipice, the clear, unbroken,
greenish mass is in an instant transformed by the jagged edges of the
precipice into many streams, apparently separated, yet still united, and
having the appearance of molten silver. These streams, or jets, are shaped
like a comet, with nucleus and trailing coma, following in quick
succession; or they look like foaming, crested tongues, constantly
overlapping each other. The outer jets decrease in size as they descend,
curl outward, and break into mist. In the sunlight, a rainbow constantly
spans the chasm. the foot of the falls is enveloped in mist, which conceals
the river for more than a hundred yards below.
These falls are exactly the same in height as the
Vernal Falls in the Yosemite Valley, but the volume of water is at least
five times as great. I think I never saw a water-fall more beautiful than
the Vernal, and its surroundings are sublime. Its Indian name is said to
mean "Crown of Diamonds;" and it certainly deserves the name. I remember
sitting on the rocky ledge just at the edge of the falls, and with an
opera-glass watching the water as they plunged downward, breaking into
myriads of drops; each drop, like a lens, gathering prismatic tints from the
shining sun, and flashing like diamonds of the purest brilliancy. The lower
fall of the Yellowstone reminds me of the Vernal Fall, on the Merced.
Though nothing, perhaps, can equal the sublime scenery of the Yosemite, yet
that only excels the lower falls of the Yellowstone, and the grand cañon
which extends for many miles below them.
Below the falls the hills gradually increase in
height, while the river descends in a succession of rapids through the
cañon. At the falls the cañon is not more than twelve hundred
feet deep, but a few miles lower down it is nearly eighteen hundred feet
deep. Its average width at the top is about a third of a mile. The east
wall is nearly vertical for its entire height, and presents an almost
unbroken face. The west wall is much cut by re-entering angles, or steep,
lateral ravines, leaving between them rocky, projecting points, or cliffs,
from which can be obtained a magnificent view of the falls and cañon.
These cliffs have perpendicular faces, varying from four to eight hundred
feet in height, below which the cañon, composed mostly of the
débris which have fallen from above, slopes steeply to the water's edge.
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