Vol 3, # 71

   Wednesday, August 11, 1999

YELLOWSTONE
WEATHER
Highs 70s, Lows 40s
Partly Sunny
 

Yellowstone Net Home Page
 

ROAD REPORT
All entrances
except the NE
entrance are
now open.
 

BILLINGS, Mont. -- SERGEANT CHARLES FLOYD:  The only man that died on the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Charles Floyd was born near Louisville, Kentucky about 1782. He was younger than John Colter, but born on the frontier like Colter. He was an experienced hunter and woodsman. He was one of the "Nine Young Men from Kentucky" that made up the core of the expedition. They were the first to enlist and were the backbone of the Corps of Discovery.

William Clark lived near the Floyd and Fields families and recruited Charles Floyd. His pay began on August 1, 1803 the same day that Reuben and Joseph Fields enlistment began. John Colter enlisted on August 15, 1803, and the other five joined the Corps between the 16th and 20th of August. Because of the death of Sgt. Floyd, John Colter served longer than anyone except the Fields brothers.

Charles Floyd had his cousin and friend, Nathaniel Pryor with him on the expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, Charles Floyd was not one of the men to see the Pacific Ocean with his cousin Nathaniel and his friends. He had a case of acute appendicitis and died near Sioux City, Iowa. Nathaniel would relate the details of his death to his friends and family in Kentucky.

Sgt. Floyd kept a journal from May 14th, 1804, when they left Camp DuBois, to Meriwether Lewis' birthday on August 18th, 1804. He described the landscape, the creeks and rivers, and recorded the distances traveled, the width of creeks, the animals killed by the party, but seldom recorded the names of the men that he was involved with. John Colter is not mentioned even one time in Sgt. Floyd's journal! However, Colter traveled and ate with Sgt. Ordway's men and was mentioned often in the journal that John Ordway kept.

Floyd's last entry in his journal on August 18th reported that the Grand Chief of the Ottoe nation met with them. Two days after the entry, Sgt. Charles Floyd asked William Clark to write a letter to his family because he was "going away". The sergeant died and was buried on the top of a bluff overlooking the Missouri River. A river running into the Missouri was named for him and is still known as "Floyd River".

The monument to the memory of Sergeant Charles Floyd is on one of the highest bluffs in Sioux City, Iowa. It can be seen for many miles. It is the tallest and most impressive of any of the monuments dedicated to the memory of the men of the Corps of Discovery Expedition.

It would be fitting for the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition to locate the gravesites of the other men of the expedition and to mark their graves in an appropriate manner.

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND COLUMNISTS

Ralph Maughan
Kim Steinbacher
Kevin Sanders
Steve Brashear
Clint Wilkes
Tim Gourley
Hon. Bob Gammage
Ruth Colter-Frick
Lee Whittlesey
Tom Mazzarisi
Russ Finley
David Monteith
Denise Elmer
Dr. Robert Bara

BELGRADE, Mont. (YNET) -- I recently heard where someone said horses were being abused at the Roosevelt Corrals.  I know zero about the facts of this but I do know the type people that work at Roosevelt and the other corrals inside Yellowstone.

NEVER could I imagine the wranglers at Roosevelt tolarate for one second anyone abusing a horse!  The women and men college students and young adults who spend their summers working in all the corrals LOVE horses. That's EXACTLY why they got the job in the first place.

I have met Tom Venable once and I doubt he remembers me. Tom is in charge of horses in the park. I do know a lot of people that know Tom and EVERY ONE of them say he would never tolerate any abuse of HIS horses.

So, that's my opinion. If anyone has any EVIDENCE of any type of animal cruelty PLEASE contact YNP Superintendent Mike Finley today!

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- Yellowstone's sewage problems continue to make news.   Although Congress pledged some $16 million last month to help repair the Park's aging sewer infrastructure, more than $600 million is needed to simply fix all of the backlogged maintenance problems.  Some congressmen want to point to the National Park Service as the culprit, blaming the NPS for not managing money properly.  The finger, however, should be pointed at Congress itself, who for decades has underfunded the NPS.   Please write your congressperson and ask them to join the American public in allocating enough money so that Yellowstone officials can do their jobs.

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YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. -- Although this is the height of the tourist season in Yellowstone, there are hundreds of miles of trails which can take a person away from the crowds.  The vast majority of people who visit Yellowstone never set foot on the Park's trails, so even a "busy" day on the trails translates into relatively few people in the backcountry.

For those who love waterfalls in particular, one of the best short waterfall hikes is Mystic Falls.  The trailhead, which begins on the west side of Biscuit Geyser Basin, is about two miles round trip the short route, and about three miles round trip the longer route.  The longer route, however, offers a fantastic view of the Upper Geyser Basin (Old Faithful Area) and the ridgeline which runs to the west.  Mystic Falls itself is a spectacular waterfall which cascades some 100 feet down.  It is a bit unique among Yellowstone's waterfalls in that thermal activity is visible from the bottom all the way to the top of the falls, with clouds of steam rising from seemingly dozens of places at the top, sides and bottom of the waterfall.  Although one will likely encounter other hikers on the trail, the Mystic Falls trail is one of Yellowstone's many quick getaway trails.

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