1 Hiram M. Chittenden was first to call attention to the national park idea. In his book, The Yellowstone National Park (Cincinnati: The Robert Clarke Co., 1895), he devotes a chapter, pp. 87-97, to a discussion of its origin and realization.
12 Harold D. Hampton has provided a good analysis of the content of "Transcendentalism," which he calls "a mixture of faith, philosophy, mysticism and religion. Its origins have been traced to the revolutionary thought of Rousseau, the idealism of Kant, the literary romanticism of Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Carlyle, and the mysticism of Oriental writers. Its theological base was that of Unitarianism; for its psychological base it drew from the various elements of Yankee shrewdness, self-reliance and conscience. From "Conservation and Cavalry: A Study of the Role of the United States Army in the Development of a National Park System, 1886-1917," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Colorado, 1965, p. 6.
18 This suggestion is said to have appeared first in the New York Daily Commercial Advertizer in 1833, but the text quoted is from the book, Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Conditions of the North American Indians 1 (New York, 1842), p. 262.
21 The Central Park project was not finished in accordance with the plan of Olmsted and Calvert Vaux until 1876. The Encyclopedia of American Facts and Dates (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1959), p. 309.
2 James Wilkinson (St. Louis) to Thomas Jefferson (Washington, D.C.), Oct. 12, 1805, "Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress." Printed in The Territorial Papers of the United States 13, p. 243. Wilkinson confuses the Big Horn River, which is here called "Lycorne"properly, La Corne or The Hornwith the main Yellowstone, then known more generally by its French denominations as Roche Jaune and Pierre Jaune, both literal, translations of the Minnetaree Indian expression, Mi tse a-da-zi. The English equivalent Yellowstone, is attributed to David Thompson (1798). See Chittenden, The Yellowstone National Park, pp. 1-2.
3 According to Curator James A. Bear of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, Charlottesville, Va., an 1809 "Catalogue of Paintings etc. at Monticello" describes this map, under entry No. 17, as "an Indian map of the Southern waters of the Missouri, by a Ricara chief, on a buffalo pelt."
6 The History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, as prepared by Paul Allen (Philadelphia: Bradford and Inskeep, 1814), vol. II, p. 396, states: "The Rockejaune, or Yellowstone River, according to Indian information, has its remote source in the Rocky Mountains, near the peaks of the Rio del Norde, on the confines of New Mexico, to which country there is a good road during the whole distance along the banks of the Yellowstone. Its western waters are probably connected with those of Lewis's river, while the eastern branches approach the heads of Clarke's river, the Bighorn, and the Platte; so that it waters the middle portion of the Rocky Mountains for several hundred miles from the northwest to southeast."
7 Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., The Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 6 (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1905), pp. 266-67. This is the origin of a belief, which was widely held in later years, to the effect that Indians regarded the Yellowstone thermal features with superstitious dread. While that may have been true of those whose contact with whites had developed a conception of an underworld, no such theological fears troubled those Shoshonean "Sheep-eaters" who were the furtive residents of the Yellowstone Plateau. Archaeological evidence indicates that their predecessors lived among the hot springs and geysers for several millennia.
8 "A Map of part of the Continent of North America . . . Compiled from the information of the best informed travelers through that quarter of the globe . . . by William Clark. Laid down by a scale of 50 miles to the inch," this map is Coe No. 303-IV, Beinecke Library, Yale.
9 The airline distance from the northern extremity of Jackson Lake to the end of the south arm of Yellowstone Lake is approximately 26 miles (a distance shown as 22 miles on Clark's map), while the airline distance from the outlet of Yellowstone Lake to the Bannock ford is approximately 25 miles (just as on Clark's map). The scale for this part of the manuscript map was established by taking the distance from the southern shore of Lake Eustis to its outlet as 20 miles.
10 A Map of Lewis and Clark's Track Across the Western Portion of America, from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean, By Order of the Executive of the United States in 1804, 5 & 6. Copied by Samuel Lewis from the original drawing of William Clark. Copy in RG77, Office of the Chief of Engineers, US 529, NA.
14 Hiram M. Chittenden, who saw this inscription about 14 years after it was discovered, thought the date was August 19, but admits, "It is now practically illegible from overgrowth." The Yellowstone National Park, p. 35.
15 Philetus W. Norris, Fifth Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Yellowstone National Park (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1881), pp. 40-41. The tree stood about one-quarter mile above the Upper Fall of Yellowstone River, in the shallow ravine spanned at its mouth by the concrete structure known as "Canyon Bridge."
20 Daniel T. Potts ("Sweet Lake" [Bear Lake, Utah]) to Robert T. Potts (Philadelphia) July 8, 1827, published in the Philadelphia Gazette and Daily Advertizer, Sept. 27, 1827 (with some editorial changes intended to clarify the writer's defective spelling and punctuation); reprinted without further change by Niles Register (Philadelphia) Oct. 6, 1827. Neither publication named the author of this informative letter, and, as interest developed in the fur trade of the West, its authorship was attributed to various trappers known to have been literate. Such speculation continued until 1947, when two grand-nieces of trapper Potts, Mrs. Kate Nixon and Miss Anne G. Rittenhouse, offered this letter, with others describing his western experiences, to the National Park Service. They were purchased by the Yellowstone Library and Museum Association and are held in the park reference library at Mammoth Hot Springs. The Potts letters, including this one, were published in full in Yellowstone Nature Notes 21, No. 5 (September-October 1947), pp. 49-56.
21 Several biographies of fur-trade notables refer to such visits, particularly the following: J. Cecil Alter, James Bridger, Trapper, Frontiersman, Scout and Guide (Columbus, Ohio: Long's College Book Co., 1951); and LeRoy R. Hafen, Broken Hand: The Life Story of Thomas Fitzpatrick, Chief of the Mountain Men (Denver, Colo.: The Old West Publishing Co., 1931) These references are vague and must be taken on the authority of the authors, which is also the way that somewhat more specific account of Henri Le Bleau must be taken. See Helen G. Sharman, The Cave on the Yellowstone, or Early Life in the Rockies (Chicago: Scroll Publishing Co., c 1902), pp. 77-80.
24 Hiram M. Chittenden, The American Fur Trade of the Far West 3 (New York: Francis P. Harper, 1902), pp. 941-45. Additional information on Johnson Gardner is available in the sketch "Johnson Gardner"by the authorin The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West 2, ed. by LeRoy R. Hafen (Glendale, Calif.: Arthur A. Clark Co., 1965), pp. 157-59.
28 It seems likely that Ferris observed eruptions of Splendid Geyser. There are no large geysers in the lower or middle basins approximating the description given by Ferris, and, of the six in the Upper Geyser Basin that erupt to heights above 100 feet, threeOld Faithful, the Giant, and the Beehivecan be eliminated because they are cone-type geysers (note Ferris' subsequent remark that the geyser had a basin 30 feet across). Of the fountain-type geysers, the Giantess is an infrequent performer whose eruptions last from 12 to 36 hours, while the Grand has a water column 6 feet in diameter, with 45-minute eruptions spaced 18 to 90 hours apart. Thus, the only major geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin that fits the description is the Splendid, which has a basin 22 by 25 feet from which it plays for 2 to 10 minutes, to heights between 100 and 165 feet. Its initial eruption is usually followed by as many as four others spaced from 1 to 3 hours apart, and also, before the turn of the century, it enjoyed a reputation for regularity second only to that of Old Faithful.
31 This feature cannot now be identified; however, there are many hot springs that discharge into the lake waters from submerged orifices, and also some pools in other parts of the park where the agitation is produced by the discharge of gases, rather than steam.
32 The foregoing account was published under the title, "Rocky Mountain Geysers," in the Buffalo, N.Y., Western Literary Messenger, July 13, 1842; and that part describing the visit to the Upper Geyser Basin reappeared in the issue of Jan. 6, 1844, as part of a longer presentation of Ferris' experiences brought out serially as "Life in the Rocky Mountains." The original article was reprintedwithout crediting the Western Literary Messengerin the Nauvoo, Ill., Wasp, Aug. 13, 1842 (available in the historian's office, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah), and this printing was republished by the Helena, Mont, Weekly Independent, May 1, 1874, under the title, "Visit to the Yellowstone Geysers 41 Years Ago." More recently, Ferris' account has appeared in two books, both published in 1940 under the title Ferris had used for his manuscriptLife in the Rocky Mountains, 1830-1835. One of these was edited by Paul C. Phillips (Denver: The Old West Publishing Co.), and the other by Herbert S. Auerbach and J. Cecil Alter (Salt Lake City: Rocky Mountain Book Shop).
33 The diary carried by Russell while a trapper is lost, but an account prepared from it by him in 1846 is in the Beinecke Library, Yale (Coe Collection No.411). This account, titled "Journal of a Trapper or Nine Years Residence among the Rocky Mountains Between the Years of 1834 and 1843...," is written in ink on letter paper with a faintly bluish cast, the pages being bound in cardboard covers bearing a pasted-on legend. There are 156 text pages, followed by 34 separately numbered appendix pages and two unnumbered pages of verse. The orthography, spelling, and punctuation are peculiar and erratic, and the pages are crowded. Although intended for publication, the manuscript account was not printed until 1914, when a grand-nephew, L. A. York, put it out in a heavily edited form as Journal of a Trapper, or, Nine Years in the Rocky Mountains, 1834-1843 (Boise, Idaho: Sims-York Co., 1914), 105 pp. This was reprinted in 1921, with an introduction and letters, which increased the size to 167 pp., including every thing. A new edition, edited from the original manuscript by Aubrey L. Haines, was published as Osborne Russell's Journal of a Trapper (Portland, Oreg.: Champoeg Press, 1955), 209 pp.; reprinted, by special arrangement with the Oregon Historical Society, in 1965 in a Bison Book edition by the University of Nebraska Press, 223 pp.
36 These Yellowstone residents were "Sheepeaters"mountain dwellers of Shoshonean linguistic stock. Lacking horses and guns, such impoverished bands eked out a miserable existence hunting mountain sheep in the ancient manner. Thus, their name indicated a status and a way of life within the Shoshone-Bannock culture, but not a distinct people.
38 Named for Johnson Gardner, who trapped there in 1831-32 (see note 24).
39 This water connection between the Pacific and Atlantic drainagesBridger's "Two-ocean riverwas considered a trapper's tale until verified by the Jones Expedition in 1873. See William A. Jones, Report upon the Reconnaissance of Northwestern Wyoming, Including Yellowstone National Park, Made in the Summer of 1873 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1875), pp. 39-40.
40 The upper end, where Thorofare and Atlantic Creeks enter, is commonly known as "The Thorofare" in dim remembrance of the coming and going of the trappers and prospectors of an earlier time. Appropriately, that locality has a Bridger Lake.
42 Yellowstone Lake is neither oblong nor crescent-shaped; rather, its deep indentations create an outline which has been best likened to the print of a maimed left hand. See Walter Trumbull, "The Washburn Yellowstone Expedition," The Overland Monthly 6, No. 6 (June 1871): 489-90. Russell was correct in giving the lake a 100-mile shoreline.
43 It and Lewis Lake appeared for the first time, cartographically, on Walter W. de Lacy's Map of the Territory of Montana (1865), where they were correctly related to the Snake River drainage. This beautiful body of water was known as deLacy's Lake" until renamed by the Hayden Survey in 1872.
44 The Shoshone Geyser Basin. Russell's estimate seems conservative for Allen and Day found 13 active geysers there in 1930three of which erupted to heights over 50 feet. See E. T. Allen and Arthur L. Day, Hot Springs of the Yellowstone National Park, Publication No. 466, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1935.
47 W. A. Ferris, Life in the Rocky Mountains (Philips edition), pp. 85-86, explains the origin of the name: "The Burnt Hole is a district on the north side of the Piney Woods, which was observed to be wrapped in flames a few years since. The conflagration that occasioned this name must have been of great extent, and large forests of half-consumed pines still evidence the ravages..." Thus, the name by which the trappers knew that great basin on the western border of the present park dates at least from 1832.
49 Baptiste Ducharme came to the northern Rocky Mountains with William Ashley's expedition in 1822, afterwards becoming a free trapper. He is said to have visited the Yellowstone region in 1824 and 1826. Eugene S. Topping, The Chronicles of the Yellowstone; An Accurate and Comprehensive History (St . Paul, Minn.: Pioneer Press, 1883), pp. 14-15.
51 William T. Hamilton, My Sixty Years on the Plains (Columbus, Ohio: Long's College Book Co., 1951), pp. 94-95. This is a reprint of the same title published at New York by Forest & Stream Publishing Co., 1905. The Firehole branch of the Madison was known to the trappers at least as early as 1832, and possibly 8 years before that, but it did not receive its present name until 1850.
52 This "Map of the Northwest Fur Country" is said to have lain in a family trunk for a century prior to its publication by Dr. Paul C. Phillips in his edition of "Life in the Rocky Mountains (1940)." (see note 32).
54 "Map exhibiting the practicable passes of the Rocky Mountains; together with the topographical features of the country adjacent to the headwaters of the Missouri, Yellowstone, Salmon, Lewis' and Colorado Rivers: by Wash: Hood Capt T. Engrs, 1839." The original is in RG-77, Office of the Chief of Engineers, US 110, NA.
56 Olin D. Wheeler, "The Late James Gemmell," Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 2 (Helena, Mont.: State Publishing Co., 1896), p. 331. The quotation is from an interview in July 1880. A tantalizing entry in the "Journal History" maintained in the church historian's office, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, hints that the Mormons may have gained some knowledge of the Yellowstone region at this time. Under the date of Nov. 24, 1846, this statement is made in connection with the visit of Justin Grosclaude, a trader for the American Fur Co.: "Mr. 'G' gave an interesting account of the sources of the Yellow Stone and sketched a map with a pencil of the country. . . ."
59 William F. Raynolds, The Report of Brevet Brigadier General W. F. Raynolds on the Exploration of the Yellowstone and the Country Drained by That River, 40th Cong., 1st session, Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 77, July 17, 1868, p. 77.
60 Eugene F. Ware, The Indian War of 1864 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1960), pp. 214, 204, 206, 250. This work was originally published under the same title at Topeka, Kans., by Crane & Co., in 1911.
63 George F. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, ed. by LeRoy R. Hafen (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959), pp. 7-9. This is a reprint of the same title, published originally at New York by Harper & Bros. in 1849. Ruxton picked up his version of the petrified forest story in Colorado 2 years earlier.
66 Chittenden, The Yellowstone National Park (1895), p. 56. No authority is given for the version he offers (here quoted in part only), but, from its well-turned phrasing, it was undoubtedly his own work. In addition to his other talents, Chittenden was a recognized poet.
72 Hiram M. Chittenden and Alfred T. Richardson, ed., Life, Letters and Travels of Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet, S.J., 1801-1873, (4 vols., New York: Francis P. Harper, 1905), pp. 181-82. The "fragmental journal in French of voyage of Father DeSmet in 1839, from Council Bluffs to the Sioux country" includes this comment which seems to apply to the Yellowstone River: "All the country as you ascend the river seems evidently to be of volcanic formation. In several places moreover you can see steam and sulphurous flames escaping from the bosom of the earth. I learned from a traveler who had been all over this region for a number of years, that subterranean noises are often heard, resembling those of volcanic districts."
74 Mattes, Colter's Hell, p. 80. The quotation is from a letter written to officials of the Department of the Interior, July 1, 1857, in regard to their suggestion that the map should be printed. DeSmet's rebuttal, "In my humble opinion, therefore, it can be of very little service for your purposes, in which accuracy of instrumental measurements and observations seems to be absolutely necessary ...," probably relegated his very useful map to the obscurity of the official files.
75 Chittenden and Richardson, De Smet 2, pp. 660-62. This material is included in Letters IV and V, Second Series, Western Missions and Missionaries, covering the trip from Fort Union to Fort Laramie, July to September 1851.
76 Indians with some knowledge of the white man's culture might have entertained such romantic notions, but the resident Shoshone-Bannocks accepted the thermal features as a natural enough part of their surroundings. DeSmet repeated this idea 13 years later, in a letter written on board the Missouri River steamer Yellowstone, June 4, 1864. Ibid. 4, pp. 1377-78.
82 "U.S. War Department Map of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers and Their Tributaries explored by Capt. W. F. Raynolds Topl Engrs and 1st Lieut. H. E. Maynadier 10th Infy Assistant 1859-60 to accompany a report to the Bureau of Topographical Engineers Lt Col Bache in charge." Original in RG-77, Office of the Chief of Engineers, Q 106-1, NA.
84 W. W. deLacy, "Map of the Territory of Montana with Portions of the Adjoining Territories, Showing the Gulch or Placer diggings actually worked and Districts where Quartz (Gold & Silver) Lodes have been discovered up to January 1865." The original of this map in pencil, partly inked-over, is in the collection of the Montana Historical Society at Helena.
85 Surveyor-General Meredith of Montana Territory had the larger of the two lakes shown as "DeLacy's Lake" on the map prepared in his office in 1867, and it was known by that name until changed to Shoshone Lake by Professor Frank H. Bradley, of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories (Hayden Survey). In discussing the change in his report to Dr. Hayden, Bradley states: "The numerous and outrageous errors of the map [deLacy's, as cited in note 84] show that neither as discoverer nor as mapper of this lake has Mr. DeLacey any claim to a perpetuation of his name; and, since the lake occupies a position entirely different from that assigned to DeLacey's lake, we have decided to drop that title, and to call this, in our maps and reports, Shoshone Lake, as being the head of one of the principal forks of the Shoshone or Snake River." See F. V. Hayden, Sixth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1873), p. 244. Bradley's unkind statement came to the attention of deLacy, who said: "When I saw this note in his report of 1873, I wrote a short narrative of the trip, and sent it, together with my original notebook and the original map, to Dr. Hayden, by the hands of Mr. Langford, with a request that he would do me justice. He stated to this gentleman that the note had been inserted by one of his assistants, without his knowledge, and that it should not occur again. He had a photographic copy of the map made, and said that he had some idea of writing to some prominant journal in the West on the subjectand there the matter rested. I still remain under a stigma in a published report, such as I never before received, in a long professional career, and, as I think, unjustly, and against which I now protest." See Walter W. deLacy, "A Trip Up the South Snake River in 1863 " Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 1 (Helena, Mont.: Rocky Mountain Publishing Co., 1867), p. 142.
86 Published by Rossiter W. Raymond, Mineral Resources of the States and Territories (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1869), pp. 142-43. A further reference to the Yellowstone thermal features in Raymond's publication of the following year will be mentioned later.
88 Shoshone Lake resembles a misshapen dumbbell, and what deLacy thought was the southern end was only the lower end of the eastern enlargement. The western reaches of the lake were not visible from the mouth of Moose Creek.
89 P. W. Norris says of this place name: "The above narrative, the high character of its writer, his mainly correct description of the regions visited, and the traces which I have found of this party, proves alike its entire truthfulness, and the injustice of changing the name of DeLacy's Lake; and fearing it is now too late to restore the proper name to it, I have, as a small token of deserved justice, named the stream and park crossed by our trail above the Shoshone Lake after their discoverer." Fifth Annual Report (1881), p. 44.
93 This statement is difficult to reconcile with Davis' earlier remark that "I and two others left for the head waters of the Upper Yellowstone." Either there were more than three in the party that left Jackson's Hole, or they were joined by others prior to their arrival at the Yellowstone Falls.
94 The development of this incident into the place name Pelican Creek is attested by F. V. Hayden, Twelth Annual Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories . . . for the Year 1878 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1883), part II, p. 302.
96 Norris, Fifth Annual Report (1881), pp. 44-45. Their idea that the cold, vapor-laden air of the geyser basins was noxious led to a persistent myth of the "death valley"a fiction which continued to appear in later writings.
98 P. W. Norris noted that near Bozeman, in the spring of 1870, he "found an old used up mountaineer named Dunn, who claimed to have gone with Jones and Bridger and another trapper who was soon after killed by the Indians in Arizona, via Yellowstone Lake to Green River, in 1865, and, from his statements made a rough map of their route." See "Meanderings of a Mountaineer, or, The Journals and Musings (or storys) of a Rambler over Prairie (or Mountain) and Plain," a manuscript prepared about 1885 from newspaper-clippings of Norris' adventures, 1870-75, amplified with his handwritten notes, p. 16. Original in the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
100 From a reply written by Father Kuppeas from St. Xavier's Church, Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sept. 3, 1897, to a correspondent identified only as "Rev. and Dear Father," who had sought information on Kuppen's visit. This letter was published under the title, "The Origin of the Yellowstone National Park," The Woodstock Letters 21, No. 3 (1897): pp. 400-02.
103 "Interesting from the Yellowstone," Helena Weekly Herald, Apr. 11, 1867. This informant adds: "We have a steamboat [Steamboat Springs] on the side of the big lake above here that shoots puffs of smoke out of a volcanic peak over the bosom of the waters. The top of another peak [Crater Hills] emits sulphurous odors and smoke, and occasionally showers of ashes, It may be that some of those suspicious places have renewed their old-time fury."
106 Discovery of some locally rich placers higher up Emigrant Gulch was immediately hailed as "A New GulchStampedeThe Gold Belt of the Yellowstone, etc " in Virginia City Montana Post, Aug. 17, 1867.
110 This, like most of the previous statement, is an exaggeration. F. V. Hayden's examination of the springs 4 years later showed nothing so extensive; in fact, the activity on the terraces was generally similar to today's.
113 Solfataras (vents discharging hot volcanic gases, rather than steam) can often be ignited in that manner, particularly those at the Calcite Springs, where the gases also contain some volatile bituminous products.
114 This is the earliest description of that traffic in stolen horses and mules which was carried on between Idaho and Montana until the turn of the century. Several devious routes through the Yellowstone wilderness were utilized.
115 A. B. Henderson, "Journal of the Yellowstone Expedition of 1866 Under Captain Jeff Standifer. . . . Also the Diaries Kept by Henderson During His Prospecting Journeys in the Snake, Wind River and Yellowstone Country During the Years 1866-72"; a copy made from the original journal by Granville Stuart prior to Mar. 31, 1894, is Coe Collection, No. 452, Beinecke Library, Yale. The excerpts presented here are from pp. 76-77, 79-80 of the Stuart transcript.
116 Probably the 1866 edition of deLacy's "Map of the Territory of Montana" . . ., which became available at Virginia City early in November of that year (sold at the city book store for $2.50). This map portrayed Yellowstone Lake as a lanceolate body of water oriented on a northwest-southeast axis and separated from the Madison River drainage by a northward extension of the Wind River Mountains. Just below the lake's outlet was the notation "Falls", and below that, "Alum Cr." was shown entering Yellowstone River from the east, above a "Canon" which is identifiable as the third or Black Canyon of the Yellowstone. Below it, "Bear Cr." enters the river from the east and "coal" is noted on the west bank. This map is mow known only in its manuscript form.
117 They were on an aboriginal trailway which passed over the Washburn Range at Dunraven Pass, as the road does now. It served to connect the Bannock Indian trail (an east-west route) with the interior of the Yellowstone plateau.
118 Legh Richmond Freeman was an ex-Confederate who came to Montana Territory by the Bozeman Trail in 1866. He was interested in a store about 20 miles below the present town of Livingston, and in Tomlinson's sawmill on Mill Creek, near Emigrant Gulch. It is said that he heard of the Yellowstone region from Lou Anderson and decided to explore it, making the trip on foot with his supplies packed on draught cattle. See M. A. Leeson (ed.), History of Montana, 1739-1885 (Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885), p. 335. Freeman began publishing the Frontier Index at least as early as June 4, 1867, issuing it from a box car which advanced with the Union Pacific railhead.
119 "The Headwaters of the Yellowstone," Helena Weekly Herald, Dec. 12, 1867. A somewhat similar item appeared in the Virginia Tri-Weekly Post (Virginia City, Mont.), Feb. 4, 1868. under the heading, "Niagara Eclipsed." These cannot be compared with the original in the Frontier Index since the file of that newspaper is incomplete.
120 "Good Story," Helena Weekly Herald, Dec. 26, 1867. It would appear that Mr. Parsons found the inspiration for his fanciful tale in an article reprinted by The Frontier Index of July 26, 1867, from the New Albany Commercial (Indiana), the original being an exaggerated reporting of the discovery of "Mound-builder" relics.
128 Additional details of this incident are available in "A Remiscence of James A. Gourley, Prospector of 1870," recorded Mar. 28, 1929; typed transcript in the Yellow stone Park Reference Library, 4 pp.
129 Named for Adam "Horn" Miller, a member of this party, who guided Superintendent Norris into the Hoodoo Basin in 1880. See P. W. Norris, Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Yellowstone Notional Park, to the Secretary of the Interior, for the Year 1880 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1881), p. 7.
130 These men had more reason than their recent skirmish for the touchiness they exhibited. Two of their comradesJack Crandall and his partner, Daughertyhad been surprised and killed by Indians the previous fall at their camp on a headwater of the Clark Fork River.
131 This account, which Charles R. Sunderlee contributed to the issue of May 18,1870, as "A Thrilling Event on the Yellowstone," was taken directly from a Crow Indian legend. See Ella E. Clark, Indian Legends from the Northern Rockies (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966), pp. 323-24.
1 Cornelius Hedges, "An Account of a Trip to Fort Benton in October 1865, with Acting Governor Thomas F. Meagher to Treat with the Blackfeet Indians," Rocky Mountain Magazine 1, No. 3 (November 1900): 155. Further details are available in Hedges' diary for 1865, original in the collection of the Montana Historical Society, Helena (see entries for Oct. 20 through 28), and in the account of Lyman E. Munson, "Pioneer Life in Montana," Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 5 (1904): pp. 214-16.
2 Francis X. Kuppens, "The Origin of the Yellowstone National Park," The Woodstock Letters 26, No. 3 (1897): p. 401. This letter has been reprinted in The Jesuit Bulletin 41, No. 4 (October 1962): 6-7; and, under the heading "Former St. Charles Priest Helped Found Yellowstone," in St. Louis Review (Missouri), June 21, 1963. A brief statement regarding Meagher's advocacy of park status for the Yellowstone region appears in an article credited to Father Kuppens but published 15 years after his death, as "Thomas Francis Meagher, Montana Pioneer," Mid-America, An Historical Review 14 (N.S. III), No. 2 (October 1931): 128. Correspondence with Father Wilfred P. Schoenberg, archivist at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, concerning the disposition of the records of St. Peter's Mission, elicited the following interesting comment in his reply of Aug. 13, 1970: "You need not be anxious about Kuppen's memory. He was incredible for remembering detail."
7 "A Reminiscence of William Peterson," ed. by Aubrey L. Haines, The Yellowstone Interpreter 2, No, 5 (September-October 1964): 59. The reminiscences, which appear to have been recorded prior to 1900, were furnished by Mrs. Ralph Irvin, of Salmon, Idaho, through the kindness of Librarian Eunis Robertson of that place.
8 Charles W. Cook, "Reconstructed Diary of the Cook-Folsom Expedition in 1869 to the Yellowstone Region," Haynes Bulletin (January 1923): 1. Concerning the original diary carried through the Yellowstone region, Cook says in his preliminary statement to the 1922 reconstruction: "Sometime about the year 1903, I loaned the copy of the diary that I had, to Mr. V. K. Chestnut, then an instructor in agriculture at Bozeman, Mont, I understand from him that he made exact copies of this diary or portion secured, but lost the original, having left it at Bozeman, when he left there to take up his duties at Washington, D.C., where he is now located."
11 Charles W. Cook, "The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone," Western Monthly (Chicago) 4 (July 1870): 60-67. Nathaniel P. Langford reprinted this article as The Folsom-Cook Explorations of the Upper Yellowstone, 1869 (St. Paul, Minn.: H. L. Collins Co., 1894), 22 pp., attributing it to David E. Folsom; and he later presented it again, in the same form, in Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 5 (1904): 355-94. The text presented here is from the original magazine article.
12 Interesting descriptions of this meeting by Cook and Folsom, as well as many observations deleted from the original magazine article, are available in the reconstructed account published as The Valley of the Upper Yellowstone, edited by Aubrey L. Haines (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965), pp. 3-49.
15 Editorial revision of the original account has created a confusing impression at this point, The Folsom party reached the Yellowstone River 3 miles about the mouth of the Lamar, at the Bannock Ford, and they camped on the west bank at that Indian crossing-place while exploring in the vicinity of Tower Fall, This is explained in the reconstructed account (1965, p. 22) in these words: "September 15, Just below our present camping place is a canyon 3 miles long and, while passing around it yesterday, we caught glimpses of scenery surpassing in grandeur anything we have before seen so we concluded to lay over 1 day and give it a more thorough examination than our limited time last evening would permit."
19 The mountains they saw from the summit were all part of the Absaroka Range, though the available map (deLacy's) erroneously coupled the northern end of that extended mountain chain to the Big Horn Mountains, and the southern end to the Wind River Range.
22 Cook's description of their arrival at the Grand Canyon is worth repeating. He says: "I was riding ahead, the two pack animals following, and then Mr. Folsom and Mr. Peterson on their saddle horses, I remember seeing what appeared to be an opening in the forest ahead, which I presumed to be a park, or open country. While my attention was attracted by the pack animals, which had stopped to eat grass, my saddle horse suddenly stopped. I turned and looked forward from the brink of the great canyon, at a point just across the canyon from what is now called Inspiration Point [they were in the notch between Artist and Sublime Points], I sat there in amazement, while my companions came up, and after that, it seemed to me that it was 5 minutes before anyone spoke."
24 Later determined as 109 feet. Cook's son-in-law, Oscar O. Mueller, of Lewistown, Mont., has described the measuring of the Yellowstone Falls in his article, "Yellowstone Map Drawn in 1870 Shows Cook & Folsom Route of 1869," Haynes Bulletin 3, No. 1 (March 1924): 2-3. According to this recollection, "Mr. Cook and Folsom had no other way with which to measure the falls except by a ball of twine to which they tied a rock for a weight. In measuring the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, Mr. Folsom used a forked pole on which he laid, extending the fork over the edge of the falls and with this he let the twine down through the forks so that it would clear the edge of the rock, and Mr. Peterson, a member of the party below, gave the signals to lower it. The strong air currents prevented accurate work here,"
26 This passage does not read as intended. The reconstructed account (1965, p. 34) gives it as, "This is the northern slope of a high plateau between the waters of the Yellowstone and Snake Rivers," The route followed above the falls was along the east bank of the Yellowstone River to a crossing opposite the Crater Hills (they had previously tried to ford the river between the falls but were unable to get their horses up the west bank).
30 For their progress around the north shore to the geyser basin at present West Thumb, it is necessary to refer to the reconstructed account (1965, pp. 36-38) because the Western Monthly editor deleted that portion from the magazine account.
32 This awareness of the impact visitation would ultimately have on the beauty of the Yellowstone region undoubtedly stimulated Folsom to make the suggestion for preservation of its wilderness values that he advanced during the winter of 1869-70.
33 Shoshone Lake, which they reached at a point mid-way along its eastern shore, From there, they followed the shore to the mouth of deLacy Creek, ascended that stream to a crossing of the Continental Divide and descended White Creek to the Lower Geyser Basin.
34 Shoshone Lake drains into Snake River, rather than the Madison, and had been correctly mapped by deLacy in 1865; however, the Folsom party was not alone in erroneously assigning it to an east-slope drainage. The Washburn party (1870) and Hayden Survey (1871) did the same.
35 The Great Fountain Geyser. Of it, Cook says: "Soon this geyser was in full play. The setting sun shining into the spray and steam drifting towards the mountains, gave it the appearance of burnished gold, a wonderful sight. We could not contain our enthusiasm; with one accord we all took off our hats and yelled with all our might." Cook, "Preliminary Statement."
37 As previously mentioned, this designation was a product of the prospecting era, It was while encamped in the Lower Geyser Basin that the members of this party discussed the propriety of reserving the Yellowstone region for public use, As Charles W. Cook later recalled it, their conversation about the scenic beauty of the area and the wonders they had seen was given a reflective turn in this manner:
"Peterson remarked that probably it would not be long before settlers and prospectors began coming into the district and taking up land around the canyons and the geysers, and that it would soon be all in private hands.
"I said that I thought the place was too big to be all taken up, but that, anyway, something ought to be done to keep the settlers out, so that everyone who wanted to, in future years, could travel through as freely and enjoy the region as we had.
"Then Folsom said: 'The Government ought not to allow anyone so locate here as all.'
" 'That's right,' I said, 'It ought to he kept for the public some way.' "
The foregoing is taken from "Remarks of G. W. Cook, Last Survivor of the Original Explorers of the Yellowstone Park Region, on the Occasion of His Second Visit to the Park in 53 years, During the celebration of the Park's Golden Anniversary" (as Madison Junction, July 14, 1922), A copy of the official transcript is in the Yellowstone Park Reference Library.
40 H. D. Washburn, "Map of the Public Land Surveys in Montana Territory to accompany the Annual Report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office 1869"; a manuscript map as the scale of 1 inch = 15 miles, in RG 49, GLO (OMF), Mont, 3, NA.
41 It was necessary to specify the outlet as a point of reference because deLacy's portrayal of his lake is grotesquebeing both misaligned and nearly twice too large. The Cook-Folsom view of Shoshone Lake as triangular is understandable, since they could not see its western enlargement beyond the narrow waist; something approximating their impression can be gained by ignoring the western lobe of the lake as presently mapped.
42 "Map of the Territory of Montana to Accompany the Report of the Surveyor General1869," in RG 49, GLO(OMF), Mont. 2, NA. While the endorsement of Nov. 1, 1869, indicates this map also accompanied the Commissioner's Annual Report for 1869, it is obviously of earlier originprobably compiled by SurveyorGeneral Meredith from the first deLacy map.
43 "Map of the Territory of Montana, with portions of the Adjoining Territories, compiled and drawn by W. W. DeLacy of the Surveyor General's Office, Helena, M.T., 1870," (engraved, printed and published by G. W. & C. B. Colton & Co., New York).
46 The exact nature of this suggestion is unknown, though Langford describes it as encompassing the "grand canon and falls of the Yellowstone," Ibid. However, the statement of C. W. Cook, cited in note 37, would indicate the explorers of 1869 were thinking in broader terms, Of particular interest is the passage, "It was probably from this suggestion that the recommendation for the creation of the national park later arose in the minds of the members of the Washburn-Langford Expedition,"
47 A "private and confidential" circular of the Philadelphia office of that concern notes under the date of Oct. 20, 1869: "The Financial Agency of the North Pacific Railroad Co. was confided to us in May last..." Minnesota Historical Society, NPRR Papers, Box 2, Secretary, Series 2, correspondence unregistered, 1865May 1870.
51 Samuel Wilkeson to "Dear Governor" [Smith], Mar, 27, 1870. Minnesota Historical Society, NPRR Papers, Box 2, Secretary, Series 2, correspondence unregistered, 1865 May 1870. Ashley, who was Governor of Montana Territory until midsummer of that year, also received sizable fees from Jay Cooke for speaking on behalf of the railroad enterprise; thus, his opportunism was looked upon as particularly reprehensible. The "rich man" referred to could have been that former Ohioan, Philetus W. Norris, whose account of this period indicates he was doing just what the railroaders complained of, See "The Great West . . . Letter No. 4, Hell Gate, Montana Ty., Aug. 16th, 1870," published in the Norris Suburban (Michigan), date unknown, A clipping is preserved in Scrapbook No, 1, pp. 18-20, P. W. Norris Collection (HM506), Huntington Library.
54 As early as Jan. 19, 1870, Jay Cooke wrote Marshall: "We hope to see you here as soon as you can make it . . . have important matters to talk over." On Feb. 7 the relationship was clarified by this statement: "I feel that our enterprise will be as much benefited by your connection with is, as you will he benefited . . . a good and liberal salary will be paid you for current services." See Private Letters of Jay Cooke-Northern Pacific Letters, No. 1, Jan. 10, 1870, to Sept. 27, 1871, pp. 41-42. Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia. The services performed by Marshall were, as first, such tasks as reviewing the laws of Minnesota with regard to statutes which might be favorable or unfavorable to the railroad, the selection of lands to be taken under the railroad's grant, and lobbying.
57 President Andrew Johnson removed Langford from his position as collector in 1868, but the Senate came to his support and caused his reinstatement. Somewhat later, the President agreed to appoint Langford Governor of the territory and he resigned the collector's position in anticipation. However, the Senate refused to confirm the appointment, an outcome due as much to Langford's antagonism of Colonel Saunders' following in Montana as it was to Johnson's imbroglio with the Senate. See the confidential letter written by A. J. Simmons to S. T. Hauser, Nov. 2, 1868, in the Hauser Papers, Montana Historical Society, Helena.
58 This personal diary covering the years 1869-71 is in the Langford Collection (box 1, vol. 2), Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. It is a 3 by 5-inch pocket book intended for the year 1870 but also containing earlier and later entries. There are notable gaps in the record, the most important being the period Aug. 14 to Sept. 30, 1870, when Langford was involved in the Yellowstone exploration.
59 Samuel Wilkeson to "Dear Governor" [Smith], undated, but filed as Mar. 19, 1870. Minnesota Historical Society, NPRR Papers, Box 2, Secretary, Series 2, correspondence unregistered, 1865May 1870. As the end of the passage quoted, someone long ago added, "For 'interest' read bribe."
60 This article, titled "The Northern Pacific Railway," ends thus: The deep political significance of the Northern Pacific Railway at the present momentIt solves in our favor the problem of British American annexation, That immense region lying to the north . . . will be filled with scores of millions . . . by the Northern Pacific Railroad."
61 G. S. Spaulding to Smith, May 15, 1870, and William R. Marshall to Smith, May 30, 1870. Minnesota Historical Society, NPRR Papers, Box 2, Secretary, Series 2, correspondence unregistered, 1865May 1870.
62 In a letter to his brother Jay, Henry D. Cooke wrote on June 2: "Mr. Langdon [sic], the brother-in-law of Gov. Marshall and who accompanied him on his late expedition to the Red River Country, was in today. I took him over to the President's but he was too busy getting ready to get off to see him," Jay Cooke Papers, correspondence, June 1 to July 6, 1870, Pennsylvania Historical Society.
65 From "The Great West . . . Letter No. 4, Hell Gate, Montana Ty., Aug. 16, 1870," clipped from the Norris (Mich.) Suburban, n.d., Scrapbook No. 1, Norris Collection (HM506) Huntington Library. The editorial emendation supplied by Norris as a later date has been retained.
69 Frederick Bottler, though a good mountaineer, was in poor condition for such a strenuous adventure as he was not fully recovered from a mauling suffered 6 months earlier when he attempted to rout a family of grizzly bears from a berry patch.
70 Letter No. 4, cited in note 65.
77 Langford presented shim letter, dated Aug. 9, 1870, in facsimile form in his Diary, pp. xiii-xv. However, it is not quite what one would expect as a reply. Instead, it seems to have been prompted by Stickney's letter, being more of an amendment to some previous understanding with Hauser and Langford, Perhaps the answer lies in those entries in Langford's personal diary recording a round trip to Deer Lodge (Stuart's home) on the 6th and 7th. It seems likely he went there with a letter of introduction from Sam Hauserwho was better acquainted with Stuartto make the initial arrangements in person.
79 The desire to explore unknown places was one of the driving forces of Doane's life. In this ease, it is probable that his interest was aroused by the Norris-Everts visit, and that Judge Hosmer heard of it from Everts.
85 The Helena Daily Herald, Apr. 20, 1870, stated: "This gentleman, who has held the office of Assessor of Internal Revenue ever since the organization of the Territory, retires today. . . . His removal, caused by a misapprehension, hardly pardonable, will deprive the Government of one of its ablest territorial officers, . . .
86 In his Diary, p. xvii, Langford says: "While we were disappointed in our expectation of having James Stuart for our commander and advisor, General Washburn was chosen captain of the party. However, it is evident that Washburn was chosen before Stuart was called for that jury duty from which the Federal judge declined to excuse him.
89 "Diary of Cornelius Hedges, June 24, 1870, to Oct. 16, 1871," p. 12. Original in the collection of the Montana State Historical Society, Helena (Ace. 2165, Drawer 15). Published as "Journal of Judge Cornelius Hedges," Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 5 (1904): 370-94.
93 This incident is described in detail by Gillette: ". . . Jake Smith, with a pint of beans opened a game he called 'twenty-one' dealing out his beans at 10 cents each, and continually crying out, 'No limit Gentlemen.' Soon however, Hauser having to go off in a carriage with Mrs. Bromley [a widow], passed in the beans he had won (say $5.00) which called fur more money than Smith had, so his unlimited game came to an inglorious end." See Gillette's "Diary," p. 8.
95 "Official Report of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition into the Upper Yellowstone in 1870," as it appears in the handwritten copy made at Fort Ellis, M. T., Dec. 15, 1870. The original is in the Montana State University Library, Bozeman, 76 pp. This report was published, with considerable editorial revision, as Report of Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane Upon the So-called Yellowstone Expedition of 1870, 41st Cong., 3d sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 51 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1871), 40 pp., and it has been reprinted by Louis C. Cramton (ed.), in Early History of Yellowstone National Park and its Relationship to National Park Policy (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1932), pp. 113-148.
97 Gillette adds this interesting note: "Here, Smith in order to raise money to start another game of '21,' allowed the party to shoot at his hat for 25 cents each shot, his hat was riddled, and with the money he opened another bank. Fortune however favored him not, for he soon arose from his blankets without a cent; he stood his loss & the jests of the party with the greatest good humor." ("Diary," p. 9). He also describes an embarrassing incident of the following morning, when the herders turned the horses loose about 5 o'clock to graze. The cavalry animals took advantage of this freedom by starting for Fort Ellis, and the soldiers had to borrow mounts to retrieve theirs. Thus, the outfit "Got a rather late start."
98 This incident was variously reported. Gillette says: "About 4 O clock P. M. saw 3 Crow Indians on the other side of the Y. S. They did not come over to us." ("Diary," p. 11). According to Hedges there were "Many Indians on the river observing us with the eye of a horse thief." ("Diary," p. 14.) Langford wrote of "one hundred or more of them watching us from behind a high butte as our packtrain passed up the valley," and speculated on their chances of surviving an attack. (Diary, pp. 9-10.)
99 Hauser says they "Campt in the rainnear the house." ("Diary," p. 5), and Langford indicates they were comfortable enough lying "heads and tails" in the big tent that night (Diary, p. 12). Everts did not share that experience, for he had become ill during the afternoon from gorging on wild fruit along Trail Creek, and a place was found for him in the Bottler cabin. The camp was not moved until it was evident Everts was improving and would be able to follow them. (Hedges, "Diary," p. 14.)
100 Their campsite, one-half mile above Tom Miner Creek, was called "Camp Euphemia." (Hauser, "Diary," p. 5.) It was a pleasant place where they could "spread out on the pricklypears" under the stars. (Hedges, "Diary," p. 15.) Several expeditioners climbed a nearby glaciated knob and promptly dubbed it "Washburne's Peak." See Walter Trumbull, "Yellowstone PapersNo. 2," Helena Rocky Mountain Daily Gazette (Montana) Oct. 19, 1870. Everts came into campfrom Bottler's Ranchat 10:30 A. M., just as the expedition was moving out, and Gillette stayed with him to the next encampment at Gardner River.
102 The Washburn party named this unusual formation The Devil's Slide. It is an outcropping of iron oxide, rather than ore of mercury, but something of the original misidentification is retained in the name now applied to the entire ridgeCinnabar Mountain.
103 This stream had been called "Gardner's Fork," for a freetrapper named Johnson Gardner who plied his trade on its headwaters about 1831, but that designation had been replaced by "Warm Stream Creek" during the prospecting era. Resurrection of the earlier name by this party is undoubtedly due to Langford's contact with Jim Bridger in 1866 (Diary, p. viii), and the "i" in the name, as reestablished in 1870, appears to be a rendering of the old trapper's Virginia drawl. The local belief that the town of Gardiner, Mont., was named for two Gardiner brothers who were early settlers there has no basis in fact.
104 Langford interpreted the smoke as being from the signal fires of Indians (Diary, p. 14). However, it is more likely, from their experience on the following day, that they were viewing vestiges of a forest fire that had recently burned over much of the height now called Mount Everts.
106 This Black Canyon of the Yellowstone, through which the Yellowstone River flows above the mouth of Bear Creek, was then called the "Third Canyon" by the prospectors of the area. They considered it to extend to the great falls; however, the southward swing of this great trench, where it passes around the base of Mount Washburn, is now rightly recognized as a separate featurethe Grand Canyon of the Yellow-Stone.
108 Known earlier as the "Little Falls," the present name was given by Hauser, who wrote: "Campt near the most beautiful fallsI ever sawI named them "Tower Falls"from the towers and pinnacles that [overhang] them height 115 feet" . ("Diary," p. 6.) See also Walter Trumbull, "The Washburn Yellowstone Expedition," The Over land Monthly 6, No. 5 (May 1871): 433-34.
109 General Washburn took advantage of the layover at "Camp Comfort," as Everts named this camp, to scout ahead. Hedges notes: "Washburn & Williamson have been out to find trail up west side to save crossing river returned near night, reporting having seen lake The route practicable. Scenery fine, resolved to go that way." ("Diary," p. 21.) The summit Washburn had reached was "spontaneously and by unanimous vote" given the name of Mount Washburn (Langford, Diary, p. 22), while Hedges gave the name of "Prospect Point" to an aerie he discovered atop the overhanging cliff. With the passage of time, the name has been shifted many miles westward to a summit of the Washburn RangeProspect Peak. Here, as at most of the expedition's campsites, there was time for card playing, but it is unlikely that the game was as unfair as Langford indicated (Diary, pp. 18-19). In fact, Langford could have borrowed details from that game played at Fort Ellis, on the eve of departure, to support his growing animus toward Jake Smith (a feeling aroused by Jake's attitude toward the guard duty he thought unnecessary).
111 The route followed from Tower Fall was southward, up the open ridge between Antelope and Tower Creeks to the base of Mount Washburn, from whence a group (Hauser, Gillette, Stickney, Trumbull, and Langford) went to the summit, while the others shepherded the packtrain through "a gap in the ridge" (Dunraven Pass). Doane's use of the term "Elephant's Back" to denote the Washburn Range is his interpretation of the proper location for that vagary which appeared first on Raynolds map (1860). It is undoubtedly better located as shown on modern maps.
112 The single aneroid barometer carried to the top was made to render three other values: Hauser, 10,700 feet; Gillette, 10,579 feet, and Langford, 9,800 feet. Gillette came closest to the true elevation of 10,243 feet.
114 The Washburn Hot Springs. Cornelius Hedges described them in his article "Hell-Broth Springs," Helena Daily Herald, Oct. 19, 1870. The members of this expedition originated the satanic nomenclature so popular in the early days of Yellowstone Park, but now out of fashion. Of 31 place names that once flaunted the devil's proprietorship, only three remainDevils Den, on Tower Creek, and, on the terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs, Devils Kitchen, and Devils Thumb. Hell has suffered in a lesser degree, being now represented by three place names out of an original 10.
116 Of his work at the Lower Fall, Langford says: "Three times in its descent the cord was parted by abrasion, but at last, securing the weight with a leather band, I was enabled to ascertain by a measurement which I think quite exact, the height of the fall. It is a little more than three hundred and twenty feet; while the perpendicular wall down which I suspended the weight was five hundred and ten feet." (Diary, p. 36). Evidently, none of the expeditioners were confident enough of the work at the Lower Fall to use the new value, preferring, instead, Folsom's measurement.
117 Hauser notes: "Ben & I went dow [n] river 3-1/2 miles. descended cannon to river and took a drink. The first men that ever reach [ed] bottom of cannon below Lower falls." ("Diary," p. 9.) He also discovered a waterfall he named "Silverthread fall" (Silver Cord Cascade) which was estimated to plunge 1,500 feet from the South rim (an exaggeration as the canyon has a depth of only 1,200 feet at that point).
118 This place name, which was a holdover from an earlier time, first appeared on the deLacy map (1865) to indicate a stream entering Yellowstone River from the east, below the great fallsprobably present Broad Creek. But Doane saw fit to transfer the name to the stream it presently identifies. His decision was not immediately acceptable to all, for Washburn gave that name to Pelican Creek a few days later, and, the following year, the Hayden party applied it to two other streams (now called Sour Creek and Alluvium Creek).
120 Doane did not have a consensus in his use of this name. The other members of the party called the place the Crater Hills (Hauser, "Diary," p. 12), to which has been added a name of less certain originSulphur Mountain.
122 Cornelius Hedges had an unpleasant experience when he climbed upon the outer rim of this feature. Langford says he "endangered his life by his temerity, and was thrown violently down the exterior side of the crater by the force of the volume of steam emitted. . . ." (Diary, p. 45.)
123 While the pack train was progressing toward Lake Yellowstone, Washburn and Langford rode back to the Crater Hills to search for additional features in that fascinating locality. In the course of examining an alum spring they had previously missed, Langford nearly fell in, which would have resulted in serious injury or death. He described his experience thus: "The border of this spring below the surface had been undermined in many places by the violent boiling of the water, to the distance of several feet from the margin, so that it was unsafe to stand near the edge of the spring. This, however, I did not at first perceive; and, as I was unconcernedly passing by the spring, my weight made the border suddenly slough off beneath my feet. General Washburn noticed the sudden cracking of the incrustation before I did, and I was aroused to a sense of my peril by his shout of alarm, and had sufficient presence of mind to fall suddenly backwards at full length upon the sound crust, whence, with my feet and legs extended over the spring, I rolled to a place of safety." (Diary, pp. 46-47).
124 Pelican Creek, which Washburn tried to rename Alum Creek. See note 118.
125 According to Langford, who was acting surgeon: "When Doane was told that we were ready, he asked, 'Where is the chloroform?' I replied that I had never administered it, and that after thinking the matter over I was afraid to assume the responsibility of giving it. He swallowed his disappointment, and turned his thumb over on the cartridge box, with the nail down. Hedges and Bean were on hand to steady the arm, and before one could say 'Jack Robinson,' I had inserted the point of my penknife, thrusting it down to the bone, and had ripped it out to the end of the thumb. Doane gave one shriek as the released corruption flew out in all directions upon surgeon and assistants, and then with a broad smile on his face he exclaimed, 'That was elegant!' " (Diary, p. 51.) Relief was immediate, but Doane's writing hand was permanently impaired (Dr. Merrill G. Burlingame of Montana State University was to informed by Mrs. Doane, and a comparison of Doane's handwriting before and after the operation supports that conclusion.)
126 Langford and Hedges remained behind to measure distances to points around the lake, but their inability to establish a base line of sufficient length led to abandonment of the project "after some 2 hours of useless labor." (Langford, Diary, p. 53.)
128 The decision to attempt this short-cut was made by Cornelius Hedges, who was in charge of the packtrain at that time. He notes: "Went out nicely for 2 miles & came to deep bayou. in thick tall willows, backed out & took side hill." ("Diary," p. 29.) They camped on the north side of Beaverdam Creek about where the trail crosses now; "Poorest camp we have had in tangled woods."
129 Present Colter Peak, elevation 10,683. Langford's description of this ascent is more informative. He says: "We followed along the high bank adjacent to the bottom through which the river runs in a direction a little south of east for the distance of about three [2-1/2] miles, when we entered a heavily timbered ravine [Cabin Creek], which we followed through the underbush for some three miles, being frequently obliged to dismount and lead our horses over the projecting rocks, or plunging through bushes and fallen timber. At the end of two hours we reached a point in the ascent where we could no longer ride in safety, nor could our horses climb the mountain side with the weight of our bodies on their backs. Dismounting, we took the bridle reins in our hands, and for the space of an hour we led our horses up the steep mountain side, when we again mounted and slowly climbed on our way, occasionally stopping to give our horses a chance to breathe. Arriving at the limit of timber and vegetation [a saddle at 9,920 feet], we tied our horses, and then commenced the ascent of the steepest part of the mountain, over the broken granite [dacite, a volcanic rock of similar appearance], great care being necessary to avoid sliding down the mountain with the loose granite. . . . At the point where we left our horses there was, on the east slope of the mountain, a body of snow, the surface of which was nearly horizontal, and the outer edge of which was thirty feet in perpendicular height. This body of snow is perpetual [during a retracement of this ascent on August 21, 1963, the cirque was found nearly empty of snow, and the scattered remnants were nowhere over two feet in depth]. At this point the elevation, as indicated by our aneroid barometer, was 9,476 feet, while at the summit it was 10,327 feet, a difference of 581  feet, which was the broken granite summit." (Diary, pp. 58, 61.) It should be noted here that this peak, which General Washburn subsequently named "Mount Langford" in appreciation of the helpful information brought back from the summit, is not the peak so designated on present maps. Of the change, Langford later said: "Dr. Hayden, the geologist in charge of the U.S. geological survey, made his first visit to this region the following year (1871), and on the map which he issued in connection with his 1871 report, the name 'Mount Langford' was given to another mountain far to the northeast. Since that time my name has again been transferred to a mountain on the southeast [not soHayden's error stands]. I think that Dr. Hayden must have been aware at that time that this mountain bore my name." (Diary, p. 66.)
130 Sam Hauser had prepared such a mapat the encampment at Park Point (Hedges, "Diary," p. 29), but it was neither as detailed nor as accurate as the one provided Washburn. A photographic copy of this map, as drawn in Washburn's diary, is available in the Langford Papers, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
133 Langford has a fuller version of this ridiculous episode, in which a hunting party "decorated themselves as walking armories" and went in pursuit, only to have a change of heart when the bears made a stand in a dense thicket. (Diary, pp. 67-78.)
135 They had made a 2-day reconnaissance of the back-track, searching for Everts, and were caught in a severe snow storm on the return. Of this, Langford says: "On their near approach to camp, when the trail was no longer discernible, their dog 'Booby' took the lead when they were at fault, and brought them into camp all right. They think they might have been forced to lie out all night but for the sagacity of 'Booby'." (Diary, p. 90.)
136 Gillette, who was considered the best woodsman of the party, also seems to have been the most concerned over the loss of their comrade. His diary entry for the 14th (p. 52) notes: "Poor Everts I fear he has perished. What a shame that we did not stay at our camp of the 9th till all search was deemed useless." And on the following day he wrote: "This snow is a sad thing for Everts. How I pity him, hungry, wet and cold. I wonder if he killed his mare. I would do it, and dry the meat, so I could pack enough on my back to carry me to the settlements" (p. 53). Such thoughts were gnawing at Gillette on the morning of the 16th when General Washburn decided they must start for the settlements. Gillette asked if he deemed further search useless, and Washburn agreed to "take the sense of the party." As a result, Smith's proposal that they move immediately was put to a vote, of which Gillette says: "I being the only one voting in the negative" (p. 54). But Gillette was unable to accept such an admission of defeat and proposed to continue the search personally. On the 17th he wrote: "This morning I told Washburn that if anyone of the party would go with me I would return and make further search for Everts. Hauser remarked that, that was a pretty good bluff, as I knew that no one would be willing to stay back from the train. Washburn asked Lieut. Doane if he would give me two men and a pack animal to go back and look for Everts. He said he would & immediately ordered them to stay. I had my blankets gotten to-gether & borrowed a pair of boots of Mr. Hedges, who kindly offered them, mine being entirely used up. The Soldiers Moore & Williamson were ready as soon as I and we left what we called the Hot Spring Camp about the same time as the main party." ("Diary," pp. 55-56.)
137 Langford's idea of the lake's situation was the correct one: "As we passed the large lake on our left today, I observed that there was no ridge of land between us and the lake ; therefore I believe that it is in the Snake River Valley." (Diary, p. 102.)
139 Hedges caught the excitement of that arrival: "crossed creek little above in bad place. lost one of my gloves, my pack horse went in all over, many packs got wet. All rushed up side of geyser . . . forgot all my bad feelings of the morning." ("Diary," p. 37.)
141 In regard to the naming of geysers by this party, Langford says: "We gave such names to those of the geysers which we saw in action as we think will best illustrate their peculiarities." (Diary, p. 108.) The names bestowed were particularly apt.
143 Langford claims that Private Williamson crawled through its steamy labyrinth between eruptions (Diary, p. 110), but it could not have been since he had remained with Gillette to search for Everts.
147 References to Doane's "Map of the Route of the Yellowstone Expedition," prepared in September 1870, to accompany his official report (map 11), shows that his understanding of the Yellowstone region was based on deLacy's 1870 map (map 10) with its misconception of the Madison drainage. The original of Doane's map is in RG77, Office of the Chief of Engineers, Q. 329-No. 30, NA.
148 It was at this encampment where the Firehole and Gibbon Rivers join to form the Madison that the subject of reserving the Yellowstone region and its wonders for public use was said to have been discussed, Cornelius Hedges is credited with advancing the suggestionan idea that was not original with him, since he was present in the fall of 1865 when Thomas F. Meagher made a similar proposal. None of the extant diaries kept by members of the party mentions this discussion. In fact, Hedges seems to have been concerned with other things: "No fish in river. grub getting very thin. oposite a stream comes in on right side. mud bottom . . . Toes. 20. Didn't sleep well last night. got to thinking of home & business, seems as if we are almost there." ("Diary," p. 39.) The details of the discussion came mainly from Langford, who published them 35 years later, as follows:
"Last night, and also this morning in camp, the entire party had a rather unusual discussion. The proposition was made by some member that we utilize the result of our exploration by taking up quarter sections of land at the most prominent points of interest, and a general discussion followed. One member of our party suggested that if there could be secured by preemption a good title to two or three quarter sections of land opposite the lower fall of the Yellowstone and extending down the river along the canon, they would eventually become a source of great profit to the owners. Another member of the party thought that it would be more desirable to take up a quarter section of land at the Upper Geyser Basin, for the reason that that locality could be more easily reached by tourists and pleasure seekers. A third suggestion was that each member of the party preempt a claim, and in order that no one should have an advantage over the others, the whole should be thrown into a common pool for the benefit of the entire party [that such a division was at least contemplated, finds a confirmation in Hauser's diary, where the first pageoriginally blankwas used to list names of party members opposite prominent features].
Mr. Hedges [whose name was not included in the listing just mentioned] then said that he did not approve of any of these plansthat there ought to be no private ownership of any portion of that region, but that the whole of it ought to be set apart as a great National Park, and that each one of us ought to make an effort to have this accomplished. His suggestion met with an instantaneous and favorable response from allexcept oneof the members of our party, and each hour since the matter was first broached, our enthusiasm has increased. It has been the main theme of our conversation to-day as we journey. I lay awake half of last night thinking about it;and if my wakefulness deprived my bed-fellow (Hedges) of any sleep, he has only himself and his disturbing National Park proposition to answer for it.
Our purpose to create a park can only be accomplished by untiring work and concerted action in a warfare against the incredulity and unbelief of our National legislators when our proposal shall be presented for their approval. Nevertheless, I believe we can win the battle.
I do not know any portion of our country where a national park can be established furnishing to visitors more wonderful attractions than here. These wonders are so different from anything we have ever seenthey are so various, so extensivethat the feeling in my mind from the moment they began to appear until we left them has been one of intense surprise and of incredulity. Every day spent in surveying them has revealed to me some new beauty, and now that I have left them, I begin to feel a skepticism which clothes them in a memory clouded by doubt." (Diary, pp. 117-118.)
Langford's account of the discussion at the Madison Junction encampment will receive further attention in part III.
150 The expeditioners parted with the military escort in the afternoon, after Stickney's horse created a last-minute casualty by kicking Private Leipler. Hedges says "all the animals showed signs of fatigue." ("Diary," p. 42.) Langford went from Virginia City to Helena, arriving by coach on the evening of the 25th. Washburn and Hauser came in the same way on the following day, while Hedges and Smith accompanied the pack train, reaching home on the 27th.
151 Before Gillette and the soldiers had returned to civilization, the following appeared to a Montana newspaper: "Mr. F. [T] C. Evarts, who strayed and got lost from the Yellowstone party, is still missing. From circumstances recently brought to light, it is thought by some that he encountered the fugitive coach robbers, and has been killed by them. Detectives, who are in search of the road agents, were seeking them in that direction, and came upon the notices posted to guide the missing man to camp. Mr. Gillette and others still pursue the search." Deer Lodge New North-West, Sept. 30, 1870.
152 They had passed down Outlet Creek to Heart Lake, of which Gillette made an unmistakable sketch on p. 110 of his diary. (The preceeding page is occupied by a sketch of Yellowstone Lake similar to those appearing in the diaries of Hauser and Washburn.) At that point the would-be rescuers were very near to the object of their search. Had they gone over to the geyser basin, at the northwest extremity of the lake, they would have seen the pitiful shelter occupied until that morning by Everts who had left it in a fruitless attempt to reach the West Thumb Geyser Basin; and had they looked across the lake that evening, they would have seen the smoke from the fire he made with a lens from his opera glass upon his return to Heart Lake.
153 "Yellowstone Party Heard From," in the issue of Sept. 23, 1870. The Deer Lodge New North-West of the same date carried the Virginia City dispatch (p. 3), adding this comment of its own: "While it scarcely seems possible that he could be lost . . . it must be recollected that Mr. Everts vision is very bad, it being impossible for him to recognize persons a few feet distant without the aid of glasses." The Helena Rocky Mountain Daily Gazette of the 24th also noted the return of the Yellowstone expedition and the loss of Everts, but without providing anything new except some guesses about his fate.
154 "The Yellowstone Expedition." This issue also noted the arrival of S. T. Hauser and Surveyor General Washburn, and expressed a hope that the latter's report would be available in time for publication on the 27th.
164 See "The Great Falls of the Yellowstone," Portland Morning Oregonian, Sept. 29, 1870. Only a few issues of the Montana Pick and Plow have survived, so there is no way of knowing how extensive its coverage of theme events may have been.
170 This appeared Oct. 21, 1870, in a paper tentatively identified as the Springfield Weekly Republican (Massachusetts). A clipping is in the Hedges Papers, VIII (6), at the Montana Historical Society, Helena.
171 A brief account of the exploration, as given in that letter, appeared in the Westfield, Mass., newspaper. See the clipping in the Hedges Papers, VIII (9), at the Montana Historical Society, Helena.
172 The Hedges articles are reproduced by Cramton, pp. 97-112. It would appear that Hedges intended to write at least one more article, for the incomplete draft for a description of the "Great Geyser Basin" remains in the Hedges Papers, VIII (3), at the Montana Historical Society, Helena.
174 "The Cataracts and Geysers of the Upper YellowstoneWhy They Should be Given in Perpetuity to Montana," Bozeman Avant Courier, Dec. 7, 1871. In this, the editor asks that Congress donate the Yellowstone region to Montana Territory, "to be set apart and protected under appropriate local legislation," and he added that he understood Montana's delegate would introduce such a bill in Congress.
176 These were: "Yellowstone Expedition," Oct. 3, 1 870. and "Yellowstone Papers," appearing serially in the daily (only the issues of Oct. 18 and 19 are now available) with a condensed version published in the weekly issues of Oct. 24 and 31, 1870.
178 Official redtape prevented the commandant at Fort Ellis from rendering the assistance he was inclined to give, but help was obtained at the nearby town of Bozeman. Charles Wright, who ran the livery stable, hitched up a light spring wagon and started at once with Dr. O'Neil. At Fort Ellis they found three volunteersHarry Horr, a civilian employee of the Post Sutler, and two soldiers, Sergeant Leipler (who had been Private William Leipler on the expedition) and Private Mallory. The story of this rescue mission was later told in a jocular manner by Horr in an article entitled "Harry Horr's Hot Spring Claim," Bozeman Avant Courier (Montana), Jan. 11, 1883. This trip was particularly important to the future Yellowstone Park because what Horr saw on it led him to return the following summer and establish a claim, with James C. McCartney, to the Mammoth Hot Springs (which he named).
179 This refers to a letter from S. W. Langhorne, of Bozeman, from which the Helena Herald printed an excerpt mentioning the rescue of Everts, and also stated: "This is reliable news, but he may not live." See the issue of Oct. 21.
180 Crescent Hill. As previously noted, he was found near the pass called The Cut, but confusion over which "Warm Spring Creek" Pritchett was referring to caused the Hayden party to place the event on the stream Hauser had called "Lost Trail Creek" (Langford's "Antelope Creek"); thus, they changed the name to Rescue Creek, and so it has remained.
184 "Letter from Mr. Everts," ibid., Oct. 22, 1870. His story of having thought his right leg was one man, his left another, his arms two more, and his stomach a fifth, and of having conversed with them, indicates the sort of hallucinatory state sought by young Indian men engaged in a vision quest, where deliberate exposure was the means used. Though Everts appears to have approved payment of the reward offered for his rescue, that resolution evidently flagged. When questioned on this point some years later, Baronett stated: "His friends refused to pay me because I found him alive, they saying that it was his place to pay the bills. He would not pay me because he said that if I had left him alone he would have found his own way out." See Theodore Gerrish, Life in the World's Wonderland (Biddleford, Maine: n.p., 1887), p. 240. Some further evidence of ingratitude is provided by R. C. Wallace, A Few Memories of a Long Life (p.p., n.p., 1900), pp. 57-61.
187 See telegram cited in note 82.
188 Doane's "Map of the Route of the Yellowstone Expedition" is in RG-77, Office of the Chief of Engineers, Q. 329-No. 30, NA. Washburn's map is known only from a copy in the Yellowstone Park Reference Library marked, in the upper right corner, "Route of Washburn's party 1870, being a tracing of map made to accompany Washburn's report to Dept of Interior." It provided information incorporated in the Blaine map.
189 In its issue of Sept. 26, 1870, the Helena Daily Herald noted: "It is the intention of Mr. Langford to prepare for publication, as soon as practicable, a detailed report of the journey to and from this most interesting region."
191 From the issue of Nov. 11, 1870. This item suggests that Langford and Ashley were involved in similar enterprises. The relationship of Ashley's lecturing to Jay Cooke and the Northern Pacific Railroad is clear. Cooke's influence obtained for him an assignment on a lyceum circuit to deliver 50 lectures on the resources of Montana. That was followed by temporary employment directly in the interest of the Northern Pacific. Langford's activity is presumed to have followed a similar pattern.
194 "Yellowstone River," Washington Daily Morning Chronicle (D.C.), Jan. 20, 1871. It is an interesting coincidence that this issue carries an item proposing "A National Park For Washington"the beginning of a movement which eventuated as the National Zoological Park.
202 The Washington letter to the Corinne Reporter (Utah) is quoted thus: "N. P. Langford, of Montana, is here working for various interests in that Territory. He is a delightfully courteous gentleman, and ought to be able to secure the modest favors which Montana asks, ditch hill and all."
204 From the manuscript cited in note 190, pp. 183 and 185.
205 Letter of Jan. 24, 1871, in the Jay Cooke Papers, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia. A note of instruction on the reverse adds: "Write Langford that I want to see him here Phila & to have him give some lectures for N Pacific at once & to talk Etc JC."
208 Langford to Jay Cooke, Mar. 16, 1871, in the Jay Cooke Papers, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia. Also, letter written by Pitt Cooke to his brother, Jay, Mar. 17, 1871, in the same place.
210 An entry in Langford's personal diary on Dec. 15, 1870, includes the notations "Julius Bien 16818 Park Place" [a lithographer], and "Thos Moran 61 Sherman Avenue Newark N.J." Moran was then a struggling artist who did woodcuts for Scribner's as a means of supplementing a meagre income.
211 "Wonders of the Yellowstone," Scribner's Monthly 2, No's 1 & 2 (May and June 1871): 1-17, 113-128, was Langford's most important contribution because of the many readers who were thus made aware of the Yellowstone region ; however, like his lecture notes, Langford's article does not propose reservation of the area in the public interest, but ends with a plug for the Northern Pacific Railroad. In fact, the ending differs only slightly from that of the lecture.
212 Untitled notes for a lecture on Montana Territory, intended to be presented in the interest of the Northern Pacific Railway; dated from content as written in 1871, p. 43. The original, written in ink on 59 pages of a large notebook, is with the Langford manuscripts in the Yellowstone Park Reference Library.
214 From a personal letter in the possession of James Taylor Dunn, former librarian of the Minnesota Historical Society. "Tan" was the pet name by which other members of the family referred to Langford.
220 Hayden's rise can be judged by the funds made available for his survey activities: $5,000 in 1867 and the same amount the following year; $10,000 in 1869, when his miniscule organization acquired its name and was taken from the supervision of the Commissioner of the General Land Office and made directly responsible to the Secretary of the Interior (this was the underlying cause of the feud with Commissioner Wilson), and $25,000 in 1870.
222 Secretary of War William W. Belknap to commanding officers of posts on the route of the geological explorations by Professor Hayden, Mar. 25, 1871. RG-57, "Records of the Geological Survey of the Territories," Letters Received from Government Agencies, NA. This was confirmed for the Department of Dakota by Gen. Winfield S. Han cock's letter of May 26 (RG-57, L.R.vol. 1867-74Military). It would appear that Hayden was not immediately aware of Hancock's action, for he wrote Gen. P. H. Sheridan, commanding the Military Division of the Missouri, on May 27, seeking a suitable escort, if possible," and suggesting he would "be glad if Lieut. Doane could be ordered to accompany my party in command of the escort." The second endorsement, signed by General Hancock, indicated Doane was an indispensable witness before the General Court Martial then assembled at Fort Snelling and not available for field service. However, he was released in time to join the expedition at the geyser basins. Available on NA Microfilm 623, reel 14. This letter may have prompted General Sheridan to send Captain Barlow into the Yellowstone region (see note 224).
225 A. B. Nettleton to Hayden, June 7, 187 l. NA Microfilm 623, reel 2, frame 0120. Evidently Hayden was unable to reply with sufficient dispatch, so Moran left for the West bearing a letter of introduction from Nettleton, dated June 16, which repeats most of the burden of his earlier missive, adding, however, that "He goes out under the patronage of Mssrs. Scribner & Co. Publishers N.Y. and our Mr. Cooke." (frame 0127).
228 This hint that the prospectus included more than was accomplished that season is amplified in the columns of the Helena Daily Herald of July 10, 1871 ("Around Montana"), where the latter part of the plan is discussed thus: "Thence to the Yellowstone, and up as far as the lake, in the vicinity of which the party will remain for two months, then, if possible, they are to cross from the head of the Yellowstone to that of Snake River, and down to Fort Hall, surveying the entire route accurately, at the instigation of J. Cooke & Co., who contemplate running a branch road through this Pass to connect with the Central Pacific, if practicable."
232 The hydrographic survey was made with the assistance of a small sailboat. The framework for this 12-foot craft had been packed to the lakeshore where it was fitted with a skin of well-tarred canvas. Named "Annie" for Miss Anna L. Dawes, daughter of the congressman from Massachusetts to whom Hayden was beholden for his appropriation, the boat proved quite satisfactory. In case it had not, the explorers were equipped with a whipsaw for building another from green timber.
235 This map, compiled and drawn by E. Hergesheimer in 1871, appeared in Hayden's Preliminary Report of the United States Geological Survey of Montana and Portions of Adjacent Territories, Being a Fifth Annual Report of Progress (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), p. 162. The original is in RG-57, Hayden Survey, Yellowstone National Park, NA.
237 Barlow to Hayden, Jan. 13, 1872. NA Microfilm 623, reel 2, frame 0293. The arrangement with Hayden is detailed in Jackson's letter of Aug. 1, 1870, also in The National Archives (RG-57, Records of the Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories).
238 John W. Barlow and D. P. Heap, Report of a Reconnaissance of the Basin of the Upper Yellowstone in 1871, 42d Cong., 2d Sess., Sen. Ex. Doc. 66 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1872), 43 pp. The report is accompanied by a "Sketch of the Yellowstone Lake and the Valley of the Upper Yellowstone River," drawn by Emil Henback, Feb. 28, 1872, from notes obtained during the reconnaissance of the preceding summer. The original is in RG-77, Office of the Chief of Engineers, Q. 181, NA (see map 14).
239 R. W. Gildess to Hayden, Sept. 11, 1871. NA Microfilm 623, reel 2, frame 0143. The article produced in response to this request was "Wonders of the WestII; More about the Yellowstone," Scribner's Monthly 3, No. 4 (Feb. 1872): 388-96. The title of this article is puzzling, in that it implies a previous installment. However, the prior article appears to have been Langford's, cited in note 211.
242 In the issue of Oct. 23, 1871. The earliest known use of "Wonderland" as a sobriquet for the Yellowstone region is made in the manuscript diary of A. Bart Henderson on July 24, 1871 (p. 107). However, the area was not yet generally accepted as being among the unique features of our country, for a contemporary newspaper listing of the "Wonders of America" did not admit it to the company of such features as Niagara Falls, Mammoth Cave, the Mississippi River, Lake Superior, the Cedar Creek Natural Bridge in Virginia, and the Iron Mountain deposit in Missouri. Boise City Idaho Democrat, July 8, 1871.
244 Everts' account of his experiences while lost in the Yellowstone wilderness appeared as "Thirty-seven Days of Peril," Scribner's Monthly 3, No. 1 (November 1871): 1-17. It has been reprinted under the same title by James Richardson (ed.), Wonders of the Yellowstone (New York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1873), pp. 198-249; in Contributions to the Historical Society of Montana 5 (1904): 395-427, and as Thirty-seven Days of Peril; A Narrative of the Early Days of the Yellowstone (San Francisco: Edwin & Robert Grabhorn, 1923), 56 pp.
245 See "Notes on the Way to Wonderland, or, A Ride to the Infernal Regions," by C. C. Clawson, which appeared serially in the fall and winter of 1871-72. The following installments, several under a variant title, have been identified: Sept. 9, 16, 23, and 30; Oct. 14; Nov. 4, 11, 18, and 25; Dec. 2 and 16; Jan. 13 and 27, and Feb. 10 and 24.
246 The beginnings of this settlement are recorded in "The Mineral Springs of the YellowstoneWonderful Health Restoring Qualities," Helena Rocky Mountain Gazette (Montana), July 24, 1871, while its subsequent history is traced by Aubrey L. Haines, "McGuirk's Medicinal Springs," Yellowstone Nature Notes 2, No. 21(1947): 22-23.
249 See "Journal of the Yellowstone Expedition of 1866 under Captain Jeff Standifer . . . Also the Diaries Kept by Henderson During His Prospecting Journeys in the Snake, Wind River and Yellowstone Country During the Years 1866-72," Coe Collection, Beinecke Library, Yale. Henderson's firm became the "Bozeman Toll Road Company," which soon failed. However, a portion of the road passed into the hands of George James ("Yankee Jim"), who operated it for many years as a toll road through the canyon later named for him.
1 A. B. Nettleton was Jay Cooke's office manager. As an engineer officer during the Civil War, he had been very successful in the organization and operation of the military railroads which served the Northern armies, and it was his knowledge of railroading that made him so valuable to Cooke that, when Secretary Wilkeson (of the old Northern Pacific organization) attempted to destroy Nettleton's usefulness by an undeserved calumny, Cooke came to his assistant's defense, stating: "I have faith & confidence in Gen. Nettleton. He is a hand of power in the Northern Pacific enterprise. . . . My labors are already enormous and I must have him." Correspondence with Frederick Billings, Oct. 2, 1871, Letters, Sept. 27, 1871, to Jan. 18, 1872, in Jay Cooke Papers, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia.
3 In addition to the popular article he had agreed to do for Scribner's, he was obligated to contribute a Yellowstone article to The American Journal of Science and Arts. This appeared later as "On the Yellowstone Park" (April, 1872, pp. 294-97).
4 Cooke to Roberts, Oct. 30, 1871, Letters, Sept. 27, 1871, to Jan. 18, 1872, in Jay Cooke Papers, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia. Hayden apparently realized his official report would not be publicized in time to assist the park movement, so he made a more immediate use of Kelley's suggestion by concluding his article in Scribner's Monthly with that thought. See "The Wonders of the WestII," 2, No. 4 (Feb. 1872): 396.
6 Though credited to the Helena Herald, this note appeared in the Bozeman Avant Courier (Montana), Nov. 9, 1871. Langford's diary shows him to have left Helena on Nov. 2 (he had arrived at 2 a.m, on Oct. 29). See original diary, vol. 2, in the Langford Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul. Langford went directly to Philadelphia and Washington, arriving at the latter place sometime after Nov. 12. On the 19th, he went to New York, returning to Washington on Dec. 2. Brother-in-law Marshall, whose term as Minnesota's chief executive ended in 1870, was employed by Jay Cooke at this time.
7 This item was located by Robert Budd on p. 35 in a volume labeled "Nettleton," among the old Northern Pacific Railroad records stored in the Como warehouse. These have since been transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society, but are yet (1970) unclassified.
9 H. D. Hampton, "Conservation and Cavalry," p. 45. The idea of Federal management of wildlands for nonutilitarian purposes seems not to have been seriously considered prior to the framing of the Yellowstone legislation; however, it had been suggested. As early as 1841, George Catlin proposed "A nation's Park, containing man and beast in all the wield and freshness of their nature's beauty!" and Henry Thoreau asked, in 1858, "Why should not we... have our national preserves...?" (See Introduction to this volume.) The use of the term "National public park" by Josiah Whitney in The Yosemite Book published in 1868 came closer to the modern usage. Yet it was imprecise, because the area to which he referred was under the management of the State of California, not the Federal Government. The earliest known use of the term "national park" to identify an area of wild land devoted to recreational use under Federal management appeared in the Virginia City, Nev., Daily Territorial Enterprise, Jan. 1, 1872, in a mention of the "effort to have the Yellowstone region declared a National Park." The term entered into official parlance Jan. 29, 1872, when Secretary of the Interior Columbus Delano transmitted the report of U.S. Geologist F. V. Hayden to Representative Mark Dunnell. The new park received the title, "Yellowstone National Park" in a letter of May 10, 1872, by which Acting Secretary of the Interior R. B. Conway informed Nathaniel P. Langford of his appointment as first superintendent.
10 Hampton, ibid., pp. 46-47, and William H. Goetzmann, Exploration and Empire (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1966), p. 508. See also Hampton, How the U.S. Cavalry Saved Our National Parks (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1971), pp. 25-31 and note 26.
11 Clagett's letter replying to an inquiry of July 9, 1894, by William R. Marshall, then Secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, asking: "Who are entitled to the principal credit for the passage of the act of Congress establishing the Yellowstone Park?," published by N. P. Langford in Diary, pp. xx-xxiii. Clagett was a Republican who managed one term as Territorial Delegate by taking astute advantage of a bitter rift in the Democratic ranks. He was a frontier lawyer and an accomplished orator who could boast, "I have helped to bring more than one State into the Union." He also had a frontiersman's penchant for moving on,
12 Wonderland Illustrated; or, Horseback Rides Through the Yellowstone National Park (Virginia City, Mont.: Harry J. Norton, 1873), 132 pp. This first of the area's many guide books was prepared after a trip into the new park in the fall of 1872not 1870 (a visit duly reported in the Virginia City Montanian as well).
13 The visit of H. J. Brown was made in the fall of 1871, in company with C. L. Weeks. According to the Deer Lodge New North-West, Oct. 14, 1871, they "have located a quarter section each, taking in the principal geysers on the Madison, have got a cabin up, and propose living there."
14 The results of the election held Aug. 7 were contested, and not until Sept. 13 did Governor Potts issue a proclamation declaring Clagett the winner by 413 votes. See "Montana News," Bozeman Avant Courier (Montana), Sept. 13, 1871. The same issue noted his intention to leave for the East with his family "on Saturday" (the 16th), and that was confirmed by the Deer Lodge New North-West, issues of Sept. 9, and Oct. 14. These indicate that Clagett left his family at Keokuk and went to Ohio, where he campaigned for Gen, Edward F. Noyes during Octoberhelping him to win the governorship. He was there during Langford's very brief visit to Montana at the end of October, the latter's only appearance in the territory in 1871. Thus, although Clagett could have discussed the matter with Hedges, there could not have been a meeting in Helena involving Langford.
15 Cramton, Early History of Yellowstone National Park p. 30, offers this comment: "The bill does not seem to me the draft of an amateur who had only been a few weeks in Washington and had only served two weeks in Congress." Hampton, " Conservation and Cavalry" p. 47, believes that Clagett prepared the Yellowstone legislation under the guidance of Representative Henry L. Dawes, of Massachusetts, a view taken on the testimony of Senator George Graham Vest that Dawes "was the father of this park we may say, for he drew the law of designation" (Congressional Record, 47th Cong., 2d sess., vol. 14, pt. 3No. 61, Feb. 17, 1883, pp. 2835-36; see also, vol. 17, pt. 8No. 82, Aug. 2,1886, p. 7843, and Aug. 3,1886, p. 7915, for other statements to that effect). Evidently, Clagett felt some obligation to Dawes, for he said: " It has always been a pleasure to me to give to Professor Hayden and to Senator Pomeroy, and Mr. Dawes of Mass, all of the credit which they deserve in connection with the passage of that measure...." In How the U.S. Cavalry..., pp. 27-28, Hampton states that Langford, Hedges, and Hauser "began to frame" the legislation with Clagett, under the "guidance" of Dawes,
16 The bill, which is definitely in Clagett's handwriting, contains no filled blank; in fact, it is an obvious "fair copy." The outside of the bill is marked, "Act to set apart a certain tract of land lying near the head waters of the Yellowstone River as a public parkH R 764 Dec 18, 1871, Read twice refered to the Committee on the Public Lands & ordered to be printedx 575 Mr. Clagett, on leave 147 Clagett 1 R Pub Lands upon Introduced by Wm H. Clagett." See the bound volume of "Original House Bills, H.R. 745HR. 1091, 42d Cong., 2d Sess." The National Archives. Clagett's bill did not go to the Senate; it was the Senate version which became the Yellowstone Park Act, but with amendments.
17 Cramton, Early History of Yellowstone National Park, p. 29. See also, The Congressional Globe, 42nd Cong., 2nd Sess., Dec. 18, 1871, for Pomeroy's measure; it was the first new bill (S. No. 392), following two recommitted bills, while Clagett's measure (H.R. No. 764), on p. 199, was near the end of a long schedule of new bills.
22 Hayden's later statement, 'So far as is now known, the idea of setting apart a large tract about the sources of the Yellowstone River as a national park originated with the writer," in Twelfth Annual Report of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories . . .for the Year 1878 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1883), pt. II, p. xvii, is not supportable, but the view of his assistant, Albert Charles Peale, merits serious consideration: "As has already been stated, the setting aside of the area now known as the Yellowstone National Park was one of the results of the survey of 1871, and it may be stated that the movement was started by Dr. F. V. Hayden, and its success was mainly due to his personal efforts." Ibid., p. 69. This is a recognition of the fact that Hayden was a sparkplug of the park movement, though not its originator.
23 Langford's previous experience as a lobbyist probably contributed to the success of that canvass Chittenden considered "the most thorough . . . of any bill that has ever passed Congress." Chittenden, The Yellowstone National Park (1964 ed.), p. 82.
26 Letter written at Newark, N.J., Mar. 11, 1872. Moran received $10,000 from Congress for his completed oil painting, which hung in the Senate Lobby of the U.S. Capitol until 1950, when it and a companion picture"The Chasm of the Colorado"were turned over to the Secretary of the Interior. Both are now stored at the National Gallery of Art, but the Yellowstone picture should not be confused with the several copies made by Moran. One, "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone 1893-1901" is a copy given to the National Gallery in 1928 by George D. Pratt (see the accession files). The Moran Papers held by the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Okla,, indicate Moran produced several copies, including the 40 by 60-inch oil on display there.
28 The issue of Jan. 1, 1872. It is interesting that the Helena Daily Herald, the Montana newspaper that had provided the best coverage of Yellowstone matters during the period of definitive exploration, did not take notice of the park movement until Jan. 16, when the Territorial Enterprise item just quoted was belatedly reprinted. The only coverage yet found in Eastern newspapers, beyond the perfunctory listing of Senator Pomeroy's bill in the Washington Evening Star of Dec, 18, 1871 (Delegate Clagett's companion measure was not mentioned), was a brief item of unknown date reprinted from the St. Joe Herald (Missouri) by the Bozeman Avant Courier (Montana), Jan. 18, 1872. It would appear that the park movement attracted slight notice at the outset.
31 Within a decade, this prognosis proved entirely correct, so that the Secretary of the Interior had to prohibit hunting and limit fishing by amendment of the park rules and regulations, Jan. 15, 1883. See the Yellowstone Archives, documents No. 162 and 163. This remained one of the most difficult problems of the early years of the park.
32 Senator Cole's objection to the park legislation is hard to understand in view of his sponsorship, at that time, of legislation intended to convey a portion of the Presidio grounds at San Francisco to the city for park purposes, and his interest in the protection of the "buffalo, elk, antelope, and other useful animals running wild in the territories of the United States against indiscriminate slaughter and extermination." He certainly had conservation instincts, so that his objection probably came from his position as head of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, which was then adverse to any increase in the public expenditures. Hayden says: "I was myself compelled to give a distinct pledge that I would not apply for an appropriation for several years at least,..." See his letter to Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz, Feb. 21, 1878, in 45th Cong., 2d sess, House, Ex. Doc. No. 75, Apr. 11, 1878.
33 Both Senators Samuel Clarke Pomeroy (Kansas) and Lyman Trumbull (Illinois) were members of the Congress that had enacted the Yosemite Grant legislation in 1864; also, the latter's son, Walter, had been a member of the 1870 Washburn Expedition and was then serving as the clerk of his father's Committee on the Public Lands.
36 The Memorial is printed under the title "The National ParkMemorial to Congress," Helena Daily Herald, Feb. 3, 1872. Hedges statement in 1905 (quoted in Matthews, p. 381) that the original copy of this memorial was given to the Montana Historical Society is incorrect, as the records of the Society reveal.
40 The newspaper account, titled "Natural Wonders," appeared as a full-page supplement to the issue of Jan. 13, 1872. Capt. John W. Barlow's report, co-authored with Capt. D. P. Heap, appeared as Sen. Ex. Doc. 66, 42d Cong., 2d sess., titled, Report of a Reconnaissance of the Basin of the Upper Yellowstone in 1871.
41 "The Wonders of the WestII. More About the Yellowstone," note the similarity of wording with Nettleton's letter to Hayden of Oct. 27, 1871. See note 4.
44 The article in the Enterprise of Jan. 1, 1872. credits "The Hon. N. P. Langford of Montana, the leader of the famous Yellowstone Expedition of 1870, and several scientific and literary gentlemen" with the effort to have the Yellowstone region declared a national park, while the Herald (according to the Bozeman, Mont., Avant Courier of Jan. 18, 1872) stated: "The idea of declaring that marvelous tract of land in the canyon of the Yellowstone, and taking in the hot springs and geysers, a Government reservation, and hold it forever as a national park, is brought up again and being vigorously pressed by Hon. N. P. Langford, of Montana, Mr. Langford was the leader of the famous Yellowstone expedition of last year. . . .
49 The Delegate from Montana, William Horace Clagett, was in charge of the bill in the House, and he should have reported it out of committee. However, he was involved in the forwarding of several railroad bills of interest to Montanans, and in securing legislation for the removal of the Flathead Indians from their ancestral home in Montana's Bitterroot Valley (a locally popular measure). By his own statement, he was "at the other end of the Capitol" on this crucial day. See Langford, Diary, p. xxii.
50 At this point Chairman Dunnell submitted Hayden's synopsis, which was "laid on the table and ordered to be printed" as of that date (Feb. 27, 1872). It appeared later as Report No. 26 (to accompany bill H.R. 764), House of Representatives, 42d Cong., 2d sess,
52 Dawes did not go as far as Hayden had in his statement recommending reservation. The geologist had also drawn attention to the area's lack of mineral wealth, and to the preeminence of the Yellowstone geysers, worldwide, concluding with this statement: "The withdrawal of this tract, therefore, for sale or settlement takes nothing from the value of the public domain, and is of no pecuniary loss to the Government, but will be regarded by the entire civilized world as a step of progress and an honor to Congress and the nation," From the report cited in note 50.
53 That the management of the Yosemite Grant by the State of California was less than satisfactory is evident in a comment that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle of Feb. 29, 1870. "Perhaps it would have been as well, however, for the United States to keep these curiosities and take care of them."
54 This was a perfectly logical argument, but evidently of no more concern to Dawes than it was to the ordinary frontiersman. Except for this remonstrance, there appears to have been no concern for Indian rights in the area. Probably, they were unaware that a portion of the proposed park overlapped the Crow Indian Reservation established May 7, 1868an oversight which was not rectified by the Congress until Apr. 11, 1882.
58 While the Herald posed Clagett as more active than he was, it is true that his identification with the Republican Party brought the park movement essential support. His Democratic predecessor, James M. Cavanaugh, would not have had enough friends in Congressnor his Democratic successor eitherto carry it off.
60 Original Statutes of the United States, 1871-1872, 2nd Session, 42nd Congress, part I, ch. xxiv. AN ACT to set apart a certain tract of land lying near the headwaters of the Yellowstone River as a public park (c. 24, 17 STAT., 32 and 33).
61 The text presented here is taken from the engrossed copy bearing the President's signature. Most printed copies vary slightly from this due to the presence of typographical errors and changes in punctuation.