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Washburn
Report Index
YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1870
Page 37
the Missouri. The formation of the Gallatin Valley
is of modified drift, in terraces falling successively to the lowest point.
Wood and grasses are abundant, and stock maintain themselves at large, in
good condition, without being fed at all during the winter. I arrived at
Fort Ellis in the afternoon; distance 35 miles. Privates Moore and
Williamson returned on the 2d of October. They had gone back on the trail to
our second camp, on the south side of the lake; thence struck the head of
Snake River and followed down the stream for a distance of twenty-five miles
from the Yellowstone Lake. They found game plentiful and tame, and had no
difficulty in obtaining an abundant supply. After an ineffectual search of
five days they followed our trail, arriving without accident at the above
date. Mr. Everts was found on the 10th of October by two men from the
Yellowstone agency. On the first day of his absence he had left his horse
standing unfastened, with all his arms and equipments strapped upon his
saddle; the animal became frightened, ran away into the woods, and he was
left without even a pocket-knife as a means of defense. Being very
near-sighted, and totally unused to traveling in a wild country without
guides, he became completely bewildered. He wandered down to the Snake River
Lake, where he remained twelve days, sleeping near the hot springs to keep
from freezing at night, and climbing to the summits each day in the endeavor
to trace out his proper course. Here he subsisted upon thistle-roots, boiled
in the springs, and was kept up a tree the greater part of one night by a
California lion. After gathering and cooking a supply of thistle-roots he
managed to strike the southwest point of the lake, and followed around the
north side to the Yellowstone, finally reaching our camp opposite the Grand
Caņon. He was twelve days out before he thought to kindle a fire by using
the lenses of his field-glass, but afterward carried a burning brand with
him in all his wanderings. Herds of game passed by him during the night, on
many occasions when he was on the verge of starvation. In addition to a
tolerable supply of thistle-roots, he had nothing for over thirty days but a
handful of minnows and a couple of snow-birds. Twice he went five days
without food, and three days without water, in that country which is a
network of streams and springs. He was found on the verge of the great
plateau, above the mouth of Gardiner's River. A heavy snow-storm had
extinguished his fire; his supply of thistle-roots was exhausted; he was
partially deranged, and perishing with cold. A large lion was killed near
him, on the trail, which he said had followed him at a short distance for
several days previously. It was a miraculous escape, considering the utter
helplessness of the man, lost in a forest wilderness, and with the storms of
winter at hand.
Thus the Yellowstone Expedition closed. We saw many
strange and wonderful phenomena, many things which would require volumes for
adequate description, and which in future geography will be classed among
the wonders of the earth; yet we only followed up the Yellowstone River,
passed around two sides of the lake, and down one branch of the Madison to
the main stream. We did not explore one-third of the Great Basin. The
district will be in easy reach of travel if the Union Pacific Railroad comes
by way of the lower Yellowstone Valley. The difficulties of the journey
amount to but little after the various routes had been laid down correctly.
From the 1st of June to the 1st of October the climate is very mild,
considering the location. As a country for sight-seers, it is without
parallel; as a field for scientific research, it promises great results; in
the branches of geology, mineralogy, botany,
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