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Washburn
Report Index
YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1870
Page 10
reaches the ear from the bottom of the abyss; the
sun's rays are reflected on the further wall and then lost in the darkness
below. The mind struggles and then falls back upon itself despairing in the
effort to grasp by a single thought the idea of its immensity. Beyond, a
gentle declivity, sloping from the summit of the broken range, extends to
the limit of vision, a wilderness of unbroken pine forest.
Turning southward, a new and strange scene bursts
upon the view. Filling the whole field of vision, and with its boundaries in
the verge of the horizon, lies the great volcanic basin of the Yellowstone.
Nearly circular in form, from fifty to seventy-five miles in diameter, and
with a general depression of about 2,000 feet below the summits of the great
ranges which forms its outer rim, Mount Washburn lies in the point of the
circumference, northeast from the center of the basin. Far away in the
southwest, the three great Tetons on Snake river fill another space in the
circle, and connecting these two highest are crescent ranges, one westward
and south, past the Gardiner's River and Gallatin, bounding the lower
Madison and thence to the Jefferson, and by the Snake River range to the
Tetons. Another eastward and south, a continuous range by the head of Rose
Bud, inclosing the sources of the Snake, and joining the Tetons beyond.
Between the south and west points, this vast circle is broken through in
many places for the passage of the rivers; but a single glance at the
interior slopes of the ranges shows that a former complete connection
existed, and that the great basin has been formerly one vast crater of a now
extinct volcano. The nature of the rocks, the steepness and outline of the
interior walls, together with other peculiarities to be mentioned hereafter,
render this conclusion a certainty. The lowest point in this great
amphitheater lay directly in front us, and about eight miles distant. A
grassy valley, branching between low ridges, running from the river toward
the center of the basin. A small stream rose in this valley, breaking
through the ridges to the west in a deep caņon, and falling into the channel
of the Yellowstone, which here bears in a northeast course, flowing in view
as far as the confluence of the small stream, thence plunged into the Grand
Caņon, and hidden from sight. No falls can be seen, but their location is
readily detected by the sudden disappearance of the river; beyond this open
valley the basin appears to be filled with a succession of low, converging
ridges, heavily timbered, and all of about an equal altitude.
To the south appears a broad sheet of water -- the
Yellowstone Lake. Across the Grand Caņon, on the slope of the great mountain
wall, is the steam jet seen this morning; and in the next ravine beyond it,
are six more of inferior volume. Still further south are others, to the
number of perhaps twenty, and to the southwest more of them, scattered over
the vast expanse of the basin, rising from behind the wooded hills in every
direction. The view in this respect strongly resembles that from the
Alleghenies, where they overlook iron and coal districts, with all their
furnaces in active operation, save that one looks in vain here for the
thrifty towns, country villas, steamboats, and railroad depots.
The surface formation of Mount Washburn on the
northern or outside slope is a spongy lava. The body of the peak is of
feldspathic granite. Its southward, or inward slope, is very precipitous,
with evidence of once having been much more so; at present, however, having
a talus of material broken away by the elements. Scattered over the outside
slopes we found beautiful specimens of sardonyx, identical with those found
on the Sierra Nevada. Descending the mountain side a couple of miles, we
camped on the head of a small stream, flowing west into the Grand Caņon.
Distance traveled, 12 miles.
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