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Washburn
Report Index
YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1870
Page 2
carried for the accommodation of the whole party,
in case of stormy weather being encountered; also forty days’ rations and an
abundant supply of ammunition. The party of civilians from Helena consisted
of General H. D. Washburn, surveyor general of Montana, Hon. N. P.
Langford, Hon. T. C. Everts, Judge C. Hedges, Samuel
T. Hauser, Warren C. Gillette, Benjamin C. Stickney, jr., Walter Trumbull,
and Jacob Smith, all of Helena, together with two packers and two cooks.
They were furnished with a saddle horse apiece, and nine pack animals for
the whole outfit; they were provided with one aneroid barometer and one
thermometer, and several pocket compasses, by means of which observations
were to be taken at different points on the Route.
First day.—We left Fort Ellis on the morning
of the 22d, taking the road to the Yellowstone River, in an easterly
direction.
Barometer, 25.25; thermometer, 92° noon; elevation,
4,911 feet.
This road follows the general course of the East
Gallatin, over hilly country of limestone formation, with scattering pine
timber on the northern slopes. The ravines and small valleys are grown up
with quaking aspens and willows. The strata of rock are nearly
perpendicular, composed of cliff limestones, interspersed with shales and
slate, having nearly a vertical dip to the westward, and greatly broken up
by volcanic agencies underneath. Six miles from Fort Ellis we crossed the
Yellowstone divide, a ridge of considerable height, forming the apex of two
water sheds; one sloping to the Gallatin, the other to the Yellowstone. At
the point of crossing the ridge is depressed several hundred feet below its
usual altitude, allowing a tolerable wagon road over the pass. The summit
affords a fine view of the beautiful Gallatin Valley, with its cordon of
snow-capped peaks, its finely timbered water-courses, and its long grassy
declivities, dotted with the habitations of pioneers, and blooming with the
fruits of industry now ready for harvest.
Barometer, 24.10; thermometer, 70°; elevation 6,140
feet.
At the head of the East Gallatin ravine a fine seam
of coal has been struck in the bed of the stream, where it can be worked to
advantage, beneath the carboniferous limestone found in such localities. We
traveled thence through a natural pass between high ridges, and down a
gentle declivity about three miles, striking the valley of Trail creek
leading to the Yellowstone, and camping on this creek at a point distant
about fifteen miles from Fort Ellis. This stream is shut in by high hills,
wooded at the summits, and with grassy slopes. Occasionally masses of lava
are seen projecting from the highest points. The valley formation is
composed of the debris washed down from the hills together with traces of
original drift. Trail Creek at the place of our encampment is a small sized
trout stream of great clearness and purity; the general direction of the
stream is southeast.
Barometer, 24.30; morning, thermometer, 34°;
elevation 5,803 feet.
Second day.—On the 23d we followed the
valley of Trail Creek twelve miles, to within sight of the valley of the
Yellowstone. Approaching the river the country became more and more
volcanic in appearance, with large masses of basaltic lava cropping out from
the high ridges on the right and left. Many of these masses showed a
perpendicular from of several hundred feet, with projections resembling
towers, castles, and other objects of interest. Several miles away on the
right, in the highest range bordering the valley, is Pyramid Mountain, a
snow-capped peak, and further to the southward a long range, also covered
with snow. On the left of the valley the foot-hills were clothed with
beautiful verdure, and the higher summits of the ranges grown up with pine
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