Chapter I

YELLOWSTONE--THE GEM OF THE MOUNTAINS

Yellowstone National Park was one of the last regions in the United States to come into the scope of man's knowledge. This fact is partly responsible for its development as a wild animal retreat. Grizzlies and people do not go well together under natural conditions. Yet nature has bequeathed a rare portion of her treasure upon this enchanting land that forms the crown of the Rockies. Within the confines of what the world calls Yellowstone the visitor may find great and wondrous manifestations of natural handiwork. Indeed, nature seems to have indulged in several grand orgies of creation. Here are lofty mountain majesties and shining rivers of silver and green wind athwart the heights and plateaus like living, breathing things. Everywhere the air is pierced by lodgepole pines. Erect they stand, bristling with fierce determination, while prone beneath their feet lie their uprooted brethren in tangled disorder and various degrees of decay.[1]

The whole plateau is dotted by myriad alpine lakes of surpassing beauty. Surely it is comparable to a vast sponge which receives a five-foot mantle of snow annually. From this precipitation sufficient water is derived to feed a legion of springs and streams. "The altitude renders it certain that winter comes early and tarries late; in fact, it is almost always in sight and liable to drop in any day."[2]

Deep and delicately etched canyons involuntarily shock the visitor as he views their kaleidoscopic grandeur. Massive mountains display their mighty ramparts in a silhouette that is unmistakable and unforgettable. Indeed, some of these serrated spires once served as pilots to the wayfarer; and Indians named them "Pee-ah," meaning large and permanent.[3] So are they still, mute testaments of the ages.

Surely such an impressive alternation of rivers, forests, lakes, canyons, and mountains is in itself complete. Someone has said, "Yellowstone has everything except a cave and a glacier." Actually, there are caves and glaciers in the Park's environs, but the most unique feature of all this Wonderland is its thermal activity. Thousands of hot springs and hundreds of geysers reveal strange secrets of the inner earth. Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces represents the actual process of a mountain turning inside out.

Yellowstone Park is roughly located between longitude 110° W. and 111° W. and latitude 44° N. and 45° N. In respect to Wyoming, the Park is located in the northwestern corner, encroaching slightly upon Montana and Idaho. The area comprehends three thousand, four hundred and seventy-two square miles, and the average elevation is eight thousand feet above sea level. Occupying a central portion of the Rockies' greatest girth, the Park's scenic position is most strategic. From the top of Mt. Washburn a majestic rock-ribbed panorama is disclosed. It is indeed a vast area, surrounded by lofty mountain ranges, some of whose towering peaks are reflected in Lake Yellowstone. This comprehensive view reminds one of a gigantic amphitheatre or, from another angle, a colossal orange juicer with the Yellowstone River as its spigot. At the river's outlet from the Park at North Gate the elevation is five thousand, three hundred and fourteen feet above sea level, whereas the maximum height of eleven thousand, three hundred and sixty feet is achieved on the summit of Eagle Peak on the southeastern boundary.[4] Cartographers have segregated the most conspicuous elevations into seven plateaus, three ranges, four ridges, and several minor units of mountains and hills.[5] Thirty-two mountain peaks loom above the ten-thousand-foot level, and another six exceed the eleven-thousand-foot scale.[6]

The Continental Divide winds among the Park's southern plateaus in the manner of a serpent. From these circumstances, Yellowstone Park has become truly the wondrous land of water and the source of that life-giving liquid to lands hundreds of miles away in all directions. Nowhere else does water so well display its varied charms. From the Divide's snowy, timber-rimmed pockets, icy rivulets flow into sylvan pools, thence to rushing rivers with thundering waterfalls. Other water issues from steaming vents and towering geysers connected with the earth's internal heat and weaves vaporous trails into streams called warm or fire rivers.[7]

Great rivers have their origins in its alpine parks, from whence they follow their devious courses to the several seas. Oh, the rivers of Wonderland, what strength and beauty they possess! There is the Yellowstone itself, arising upon Yount's Peak and its vicinity among the high Absarokas. It rolls northward through that vast lake of limpid blue referred to by the natives as "the smile of the Great Spirit." From the famous Fishing Bridge outlet it flows tranquilly again beyond Hayden Valley, but soon it flashes into milk-white cascades, a transitional phase of noisy preparation for its two great falls. These awe-inspiring plunges are one hundred and nine and a sheer three hundred and eight feet, for the Upper and Lower Falls respectively. At each point the river's mighty volume sets up an awful tumult of sound, earth tremor, and spray in the immediate environs. The river's pulsating reverberation seems to follow its imprisoned rush along a tortuous path for many miles toward the Missouri.

Another stream arises in the southeast corner of the Park that possesses equal might and great utility. By the natives it was known as "Pohogwa," or river of the sagebrush plains. The French called it La Maudite Riviere Enragee, meaning accursed, mad river, but American frontiersmen renamed it the Snake.[8] The latter name lacks something of the romance in the others but aptly describes this stream which everywhere exhibits some characteristic of reptilian behavior.

Two other interesting rivers arise in the Park and join a third a hundred miles beyond the northwest boundary of Yellowstone. The Madison's tributaries derive from meadowlands beyond Upper Geyser and Norris Geyser basins.[9] The Madison is a moss-bottomed stream with lusty aquatic life. The Gallatin, which heads in the range of the same name, has a dashing manner. It has carved its way among forests both living and petrified. Each river follows a parallel course until they merge with the Jefferson at Three Forks. As the triumvirate roll away together, one remembers the unity and friendship that characterized the three men for whom they were named.

Other sinuous streams are the tuneful Bechler, laughing Lamar, and sculpturing Shoshone. These streams possess attractions that appeal to fishermen, hikers, photographers, and artists. In Yellowstone, the two-ocean-drainage courses are almost as intricate and snug as a child's hands folded in prayer. At either Isa Lake, or Two Ocean Pass, a pebble tossed in one stream would start vibrations upon the "water-nerve endings" of Atlantic and Pacific river systems. In fact, the Yellowstone country is the apex of North America; it is essentially the Great Divide.

Yellowstone's summer climate is invigorating and delightful. Frequent, but fleeting, rainstorms tend to modify the prevailing atmospheric aridity. Evenings and nights are invariably cool. The highest temperature ever recorded at Mammoth was 92.4°, while the lowest on record was 66° below zero. This record low was taken at Riverside Station near West Gate on February 9, 1933.[10]

Such is the physical setting of this mountainous country. Its western slope was called the land of "Ee-dah-how." This was a Shoshone exclamation that means "Behold! the sun is streaming down from the mountain tops; it is sunup, time to get up!"[11]

It is expedient that a brief review of early American history should be given as a setting for the major interests in the drama of Yellowstone. The history of Wonderland falls logically into three periods: Archaeological characteristics and association; Modern discovery and exploration; Development as a pleasuring ground by the United States Government.

The greater part of the Yellowstone area was a part of the Louisiana Purchase, whereas that portion under the Snake River drainage appertained to the great Pacific Northwest. All of the territory involved once belonged to Spain. However, the Spanish claim was relinquished in a series of treaties beginning with San Ildefonso in 1800, wherein the province of Louisiana was retroceded to France under the dictation of Napoleon Bonaparte. The balance of Spanish interests above the forty-second parallel was extinguished in favor of the United States in 1819.

American acquisition of Louisiana from France grew out of several considerations. The frontiersmen of the Ohio Valley were chafing under foreign commercial restrictions at New Orleans. The officials of the government were distressed at the prospect of having the strong-willed Napoleon as a neighbor. President Jefferson cogently expressed the general concern by saying, "... from this moment we must marry the British fleet and nation."[12] However, the alarm was soon dispersed by an eminently successful negotiation. Jefferson had instructed Robert Livingston, the American Minister to Paris, to buy New Orleans and West Florida. The early part of the spring of 1803 found Napoleon hard pressed for money and disgusted with native resistance against his government in Haiti, led by the remarkable Negro, Toussaint L'Ouverture, whom Bonaparte called the "gilded African." By March, Napoleon realized that the Peace of Amiens was about to be ruptured and war with England resumed. In these circumstances he decided to dispose of his American holdings. This notable decision was effected while His Imperial Majesty was taking a bath. Consequently it was one of the cleanest decisions that he ever made! It was then that the "Little Corporal" directed J. M. Talleyrand to say, "What would you give for the whole of Louisiana?"[13] Livingston, who was a trifle deaf anyway, could hardly believe what he heard. After some parleying the deal was closed by Livingston and Monroe for $15,000,000; of this amount $3,750,000 was diverted to American citizens to meet private claims against the French government. Livingston showed prophetic insight when he said to Monroe, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives...."[14] More than a dozen states have been carved out of the 827,987 square miles. It is probable that Old Faithful Geyser alone is worth far more than the original purchase price, should good taste allow an assignment of monetary value to such a natural wonder.

Notwithstanding the marvels of this alluring land, Yellowstone lay dormant, forbidding and inhospitable, until the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Why was its call to conquest so long unheeded? Seldom has an area so long ignored made such a phenomenal rise to fame. The answer to this question is fully explored in this narrative.