Part 8 (1/2)
In 1873, Captain William A. Jones, of the Corps of Engineers, pa.s.sed through the Park as part of a more extended reconnaissance. He was the first to carry a party through the ”impa.s.sable barrier” of the Absaroka Range. Jones Creek, just east of the northern portion of the Yellowstone Lake, shows where the party entered the Park. From the Lake the expedition pa.s.sed down the east bank of the river to the valley of Junction b.u.t.te; thence west to Mammoth Hot Springs; thence back over the usual trail _via_ Tower Creek, Mt. Washburn, the Grand Canon and Mud Geyser, to the Lower Geyser Basin; thence _via_ the Upper Basin to the west sh.o.r.e of the Yellowstone Lake; thence to the Upper Yellowstone River; thence through Two-Ocean Pa.s.s and Two-Gwo-Tee Pa.s.s to the valley of Wind River. The chief results of this expedition, in the line of original discovery, were the pa.s.sage of the Absaroka Range, the verification of the traditional ”Two-Ocean Water,”
between Atlantic and Pacific Creeks, in Two-Ocean Pa.s.s, and the discovery of the extremely easy pa.s.s (Two-Gwo-Tee[AI]) over the Continental Divide, between the Snake and Wind Rivers. Prof. Theodore B. Comstock accompanied the expedition as geologist. A valuable report of the reconnaissance appeared in 1875.[AJ]
[AI] So named by Captain Jones for one of his Indian guides.
[AJ] See Appendix E.
In 1875, Captain William Ludlow, of the Corps of Engineers, made a reconnaissance from Carroll, Montana, on the Missouri River, to the Yellowstone Park and return. In the Park he followed the previously traveled routes and developed little in the line of original discovery. He succeeded, however, in obtaining a very accurate measurement of the height of the Yellowstone Falls, and his report[AK]
forms one of the ablest brief descriptions of the Park extant. Among his civil a.s.sistants was George Bird Grinnell, now widely known as the editor of _Forest and Stream_, and as one of the most steadfast and watchful guardians the Park has ever had.
[AK] See Appendix E.
During the same season a distinguished party, consisting of the Secretary of War, Gen. W. W. Belknap, and several prominent officers and civilians, with Lieutenant G. C. Doane, of National Park fame, as guide, made a complete tour of the Park. An exceedingly interesting narrative[AL] of the trip was written by Gen. W. E. Strong, who was a member of the party.
[AL] See Appendix E.
In 1877, Gen. W. T. Sherman and staff made a tour of the Park. His letters on the subject to the Secretary of War, and the official report prepared by Gen. O. M. Poe of his staff, form a valuable contribution to the literature of the Park.[AM]
[AM] See Appendix E.
In the same year Gen. O. O. Howard crossed the reservation in pursuit of the Nez Perces Indians.
In 1880, the Hon. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior, accompanied by Gen. Crook with a large number of officers and soldiers, and an immense pack train, entered the Park from the valley of Henry Fork and made an extended tour.
In 1881, Captain W. S. Stanton, of the Corps of Engineers, made a reconnaissance through the Park, entering by the way of Soda b.u.t.te Creek, and pa.s.sing out by the Madison Valley. The most important result of his work in the Park was a more accurate table of distances over some of the routes than had previously been in use.
In July and August of this year, the Hon. John W. Hoyt, Governor of Wyoming, with a military escort under command of Major Julius W.
Mason, U. S. A., made an extended reconnaissance to discover a practicable wagon route to the Yellowstone Park from the south-east.
He entered the Park by way of the Upper Yellowstone, pa.s.sed through it by way of Yellowstone and Shoshone Lakes, the Firehole Geyser Basins, the Grand Canon, the lower end of Yellowstone Lake, and left it along the route by which Captain Jones had entered in 1873.
In the years 1881 and 1882, General Sheridan, with parties of considerable size, twice crossed the Park and visited its most important points. His expeditions were of great value to the Park from the forcible warning which he gave to the public concerning the demoralized condition of its civil administration.
[Ill.u.s.tration:
_Terry Engr. Co._ _Haynes, Photo., St. Paul._
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Presidential Party of 1883.
1. John Schuyler Crosby, Governor of Montana Territory; 2. Michael V.
Sheridan, Lieutenant-Colonel and Military Secretary; 3. Philip H.
Sheridan, Lieutenant-General, U. S. Army; 4. Anson Stager, Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers; 5. W. P. Clark, Captain Second Cavalry, U. S. Army; 6. Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States; 7. Dan. G. Rollins, Surrogate of New York; 8. James F.
Gregory, Lieutenant-Colonel and Aide-de-camp; 9. Robert T. Lincoln, Secretary of War; 10. George G. Vest, United States Senator from Missouri.]
The most elaborate expedition that ever pa.s.sed through this region took place in August, 1883.[AN] It included among its members the President of the United States, the Secretary of War, the Lieutenant-General of the Army, a United States Senator, and several other distinguished officers and civilians. The interesting part of the journey lay between Fort Washakie, Wyo., and the Northern Pacific Railroad at Cinnabar, Mont. The party traveled entirely on horseback, accompanied by one of the most complete pack trains ever organized in this or any other country, and escorted by a full troop of cavalry.
Couriers were stationed every twenty miles with fresh relays, and by this means communication was daily had with the outside world. The whole distance traveled was 350 miles, through some of the wildest, most rugged, and least settled portions of the west. No accident or drawback occurred to mar the pleasure of the expedition. The great pastime _en route_ was trout fis.h.i.+ng, in which the President and Senator Vest were acknowledged leaders. The phenomenal ”catches” of these distinguished sportsmen might pa.s.s into history as typical ”fish stories,” were they not vouched for by the sober record of official dispatches, and the unerring evidence of photographer Haynes' camera.