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Washburn
Report Index
YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1870
Page 22
of lakes at the foot of high ridges, on the west
side. Presently the trail turned up the slope of the mountain, where night
overtook us. After traveling some distance I discovered we were following a
band of elk, having missed the trail in the darkness. We then struck out for
the lake shore, on which our course was regained, but presently lost again
after more elk. We then built a fire and examined the ground carefully for
tracks, found the right direction, and at 10 o'clock at night arrived in
camp on the lake shore, to the relief of our companions, who supposed us
lost in the mountains. Our camp to-night is due south from the head of the
Yellowstone, on the other side of the lake. Long, wooded promontories here
extend out into the basin, inclosing bays several miles in length. These are
so numerous as to render it impossible to give a correct profile of the
shore without actual measurement, the perspective in such distances
rendering appearances very deceiving. Distance, 9 miles.
Eighteenth day -- September 8. -- We
traveled across a high promontory running into the lake, winding among steep
ravines and through fallen timber lying in heaps, with full-grown, living
forest above it. This timber must have been deadened by fire, the trunks
being bare of limbs and much decayed, but in such masses as to be impassable
in many places, causing us to make wide detours to find a trail. The
standing forest is very dense; the pack-animals ran between trees, often
wedging themselves in so tightly as to require some trouble in extricating
them; several of the packs burst, causing numerous delays. Our faces were
scratched, clothes torn, and limbs bruised squeezing through between
saplings. After a hard day's work, traveling at all points of the compass
for a distance of at least 15 miles, we struck a stream leading north
through a deep ravine and followed it down. Presently the ranges opened out,
skirting a pretty little bottom, in which we camped. Distance direct, 7
miles.
Messrs. Hedges and Stickney wandered off from the
party in the morning, but struck the shore of the lake and followed it,
meeting us shortly after going into camp. In the evening a grizzly bear,
with cubs, was roused by some of the party, but as they had not lost any
bears she got away with her interesting family undisturbed. These animals
are very numerous in the basin, the green grasses, berries, and pine nuts
affording them abundant supplies of food; but our party kept up such a
racket of yelling and firing as to drive off all game for miles ahead of us.
The numbers of springs of water on the slopes of these ridges is surprising,
large districts on the hill-sides being swampy and often impassable. The
water from the granite rocks is always good; from all others bad. The small
lakes are perfectly alive with otter, which may be seen playing upon their
surfaces at night-fall by hundreds. Beaver, mink, and muskrat are also
abundant.
Nineteenth day -- September 9. -- We moved
in a westerly course over the summit of a high promontory, thence descending
into a narrow open valley, and crossing a small stream rising in the
promontory between two arms of the lake and flowing south. This creek,
rising as it were in the very midst of the Yellowstone Lake, is the source
proper of Snake River; five miles below it empties into a stream flowing
from a heart-shaped lake five miles in diameter. This stream is about 70
feet wide, 3 feet in depth, and is the main fork of Snake River. This
explains the origin of the old story of the "Two Water" Lake, or Spring, to
the effect that the two streams, the Yellowstone emptying into the Gulf, and
the Snake river into the Pacific, had a common source. The proximity is
truly unparalleled, the waters of one stream actually running from be
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