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Washburn
Report Index
YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1870
Page 23
tween the waters of the other. Passing thence
westward we became entangled in fallen timbers of the worst description on
steep hillsides, and among impassable ravines, but finally emerged into an
open flat on the promontory, and camped at the fountain-head of the Snake
River. Distance, 5 miles.
Barometer, 22.65; thermometer. 45°; elevation, -- .
On going into camp it was discovered that a
pack-horse was missing. This animal, a small Cayuse, had been uniformly
unfortunate, miring down in marshes, tumbling over log-heaps, and rolling
endwise down steep banks, he was found a couple of miles back firmly wedged
between two trees. Mr. Everts did not come in with the rest of the party,
and men sent back on the trail found no traces of him. We fired signal guns,
and kept watch-fires during the night, but without success. Supposing that
he had passed to the right or left, we moved on the next day, leaving men
behind on the trail.
Twentieth day -- September 10. -- We broke
camp at 10 a.m., taking a westerly course through fallen timber and over
steep ridges, striking a long, slender arm of the lake in the afternoon;
camped on this inlet -- distance, 5 miles. Parties then went back on the
trail, and laterally, hunting Mr. Everts. Messrs. Hauser and Langford
ascended a high peak near camp and fired the woods, in hope of giving him a
point of direction. We also fired signal guns during the night. In the
evening large numbers of fish were caught, Private Williamson catching
fifty-two large trout, all that two men could carry, in less than an hour.
The night passed away and the missing man did not come. In the early morning
we were serenaded by a couple of lions, their melancholy voices echoing
through the heavy forest with a peculiar, wild, and mournful sound. We had
blazed trees at all our camps throughout the whole trip, leaving on each a
record, with date, route, and distances marked on the hewn sections. Here we
also hung up in sight a few rations, hoping Mr. Everts might strike our
trail and follow after we had gone.
Twenty-first day -- September 11. -- I
started in advance, with Messrs. Hauser and Langford, rounding the arm of
the lake, at the head of which a narrow valley, with a small stream, comes
in; thence striking due west, up a steep ridge, we reached on its summit a
plateau of open woods with grassy spaces between, and a perfect net-work of
small lakes, their surfaces covered with the broad leaves of the tiger lily.
These extended or miles on either side, as the promontory is very extensive,
running far out into the waters of the great lake. After an easy ride in a
direct line of seven miles, we reached the extreme westerly and longest arm
of the lake, a lovely bay of water, six miles across, and with steam jets
rising at its southern extremity in great numbers. Opposite the head of this
arm is the great yellow mountain seen from Mount Langford several days ago.
This is the central point from which radiate double barriers, separating the
waters of the Yellowstone from the Snake, and the latter from the Madison,
Snake River flowing on the east side of the mountain southerly, and the
Firehole branch of the Madison rising in a small lake to the west of the
range, the main branch coming from Henry's Lake, south of this. This
mountain may be said to be the focus of volcanic action in the basin, the
greatest phenomena being observed within a radius of thirty miles from its
summit. From its yellow, sulphureted appearance it can be readily
distinguished, and is the central and most important landmark in the great
basin. We camped on the arm of the great lake three miles north of its
extremity, and on the east side. Here we remained in camp during the 12th,
13th, 14th, and 15th, searching constantly for Mr. Everts. During the night
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Page 24
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