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Washburn
Report Index
YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1870
Page 34
quite a range of hills, now grown up with timber,
but which were formerly craters of immense geysers. Around their bases are
ponds of tepid water, and the deposit of the great marsh rises high up on
their slopes. Near the lower end of the valley a large stream comes into the
Firehole from the north, just above its junction with the Madison. This
stream runs through a deep and beautiful valley in the range, and judging
from the color and deposits from its waters, has large systems of thermal
springs somewhere on the line of its course. The Madison comes in a mile
below, in a stream fifty yards wide, and two feet deep, a mountain torrent,
running on a bed of solid lava, and having its source in Henry Lake, about
forty miles above. The whole valley has a singularly ruinous and melancholy
aspect. The few groups still in activity, and the thousands of extinct and
broken craters, attest the grandeur of its former phenomena. An air of
desolation settles upon the landscape which renders it almost painful to
contemplate.
Following down the river bank through a deep cañon
of volcanic rocks, in many places broken in huge fragments, we presently
came to rapids, having a fall of perhaps 40 feet in a half mile. At this
point the channel narrows to 150 feet, and is shut in by perpendicular
rocks. We were obliged to scale the ridge above, and follow down the steam
on its summit, through dense timber and steep ravines, with considerable
difficulty. In three miles we reached a level bottom, on the river, at the
junction of a large creek coming in from the northeast. Camped at the
junction. Distance 18 miles.
Barometer, 23.50; thermometer, 43°; elevation,
6,594 feet.
Thirtieth day -- September 20. -- We now
thought ourselves clear of the geysers, but in the morning were surprised to
see a graceful column of steam ascending to the height of 300 feet on the
opposite side of the creek and in the elbow of a mountain range. We did not
visit this group, but forded the Madison twice just below camp, and followed
down its right bank. The river is here shut in by a cañon of high lava
mountains rising with a perpendicular front of from 1,000 to 2,000 feet. The
bare rocks stand out in impassable walls seamed with fissures and scarred by
storms of centuries. Huge fragments in many places overhang the narrow path.
In others the summits of the wall are composed of trachyte, overlaid with
masses of basaltic columns of immense height.
Often the grassy, narrow shelf on the margin of the
stream is covered with débris, and we were frequently obliged to take to the
river, which runs on a ledge of lava full of deep cavities and strewn with
large boulders. After threading our way thus for twelve miles through the
grandest vistas of volcanic mountain scenery, the ranges suddenly fell away
to the right and left, and we entered up on a great plateau, heavily
timbered, and sloping to the west. This was the upper valley of the Madison,
and is within the limits of the Great basin. We passed rapidly down this
uniform sloped for ten miles, all the way through timber, in many places
deadened by fire, coming in on the river bank in the center of the valley,
and thence followed down to an open district, in the middle of which rise
two hills of considerable altitude. Mr. Langford and myself ascended to the
summit of the highest of these and obtained a full view of the surrounding
country. The valley is nearly circular, about twenty miles in diameter, with
the Madison running from south to north through its center. The land slopes
gradually to the river from east and west. Two large streams head in the
east and west points, skirting the margin of the valley through rolling
prairie lands, and joining the Madison near the north point. The land is
open all around the edges of the valley, but its central
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Page 35
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