The Yellowstone National Park Part 21

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_Terry Engr. Co._ _Haynes, Photo., St. Paul._

Lone Star Geyser.]

The first crossing of the _Continental Divide_ (8.5 miles) is through a narrow canon, _Craig Pa.s.s_, hemmed in by precipitous cliffs, inclosing a lily-covered pond, _Isa Lake_, which rests squarely upon the doubtful ground between the two oceans.

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_Terry Engr. Co._ _Haynes, Photo., St. Paul._

Shoshone Lake.]

_Shoshone Point_ (10.5 miles) is in the center of the large amphitheater-shaped tract which is drained by the branches of _De Lacy Creek_. It overlooks _Shoshone Lake_ and the broad basin surrounding it, and gives a second glimpse of the Teton Mountains.

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Isa Lake and Craig Pa.s.s.]

Shoshone Lake is a lovely body of water, with an area of twelve square miles and a most picturesque sh.o.r.e line. On its west sh.o.r.e is a geyser basin, second in importance only to those on the Firehole. Among its many interesting features may be mentioned the _Union Geyser_, of which the middle crater plays to a height of 100 feet; and the _Bronze Geyser_, very striking because of the perfect metallic l.u.s.ter of its formation.

From Shoshone Point, the road again ascends to the Continental Divide, and then drops down the Atlantic slope toward the Yellowstone Valley.

_Lake View_ (18 miles) is at a point where a sudden turn in the forest road brings the tourist, quite without warning, in full view of one of the most striking water landscapes in the world. The whole vista of the _Yellowstone Lake_ is spread out before him, still 300 feet below where he is standing. Far to the right and left, along the distant eastern sh.o.r.e, extends the _Absaroka Range_ of mountains, many of its summits still capped with snow. Every-where the dark pine forests come down to the water's edge, in fine contrast with the silver surface of the lake. The sparkling of the waves, the pa.s.sage of the cloud shadows, and, in sheltered coves, the tranquil mirror of the waters, all combine to make the picture one to be long remembered.

The Yellowstone Lake is about 7,741 feet, nearly a mile and a half, above the level of the sea. It has a sh.o.r.e line of 100 miles, and an area of 139 square miles. Its maximum depth is 300 feet, and its average depth about 30 feet. It is fed almost entirely from the springs and snow drifts of the Absaroka Range. Its waters are icy cold, clear and transparent to great depths, and literally swarm with trout. It is subject to heavy south-west winds, and at times is lashed into tempestuous seas.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_Terry Engr. Co._ _U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories._

Yellowstone Lake.]

The shape of the lake was compared by the early explorers to the form of the human hand. The resemblance is exceedingly remote, and one writer has well observed that only the hand of a base ball player who has stood for years behind the bat could satisfy the comparison. The "fingers" have now been generally dropped from the maps and replaced by the usual names; but "West Thumb" seems to have become a fixture.

Surpa.s.sing the Yellowstone Lake both in area and alt.i.tude there are but few lakes in the world. Lake t.i.tticaca, in Peru, and one or two others in the less explored regions of the Andes; and also a few lakes on the lofty table-land of Thibet, comprise the number.

The Yellowstone Lake has been a theme of enthusiastic praise by all who have ever seen it; but what seems to us the most exquisite tribute it has ever received is to be found in the farewell words of Mr.

Folsom, when, in 1869, he regretfully turned away from its western sh.o.r.e into the deep forests which surround it:[BI]

"As we were about departing on our homeward trip, we ascended the summit of a neighboring hill and took a final look at Yellowstone Lake. Nestled among the forest-crowned hills which bounded our visions, lay this inland sea, its crystal waves dancing and sparkling in the sunlight as if laughing with joy for their wild freedom. It is a scene of transcendent beauty which has been viewed by but few white men, and we felt glad to have looked upon it before its primeval solitude should be broken by the crowds of pleasure seekers which at no distant day will throng its sh.o.r.es."

[BI] Page 20, Langford's reprint of the "Valley of the Upper Yellowstone." See Appendix E.

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_Terry Engr. Co._ _Gandy._

Fis.h.i.+ng Cone.]

On the west sh.o.r.e of the lake is an extensive and important hot springs basin. The princ.i.p.al features are the _Paint Pots_, not inferior to those near the Fountain Hotel; two of the largest and most beautiful quiescent springs in the Park; the _Lake Sh.o.r.e_ Geyser, which plays frequently to a height of about 30 feet; an unnamed geyser of considerable power but of very infrequent action; and the celebrated _Fis.h.i.+ng Cone_ where unfortunate trout find catching and cooking painfully near together.

From the west sh.o.r.e of the lake a visit can be advantageously made to _Hart Lake_ and _Mount Sheridan_. The lake is probably the prettiest in the Park. Near it, on the tributary _Witch Creek_, is a small but important geyser basin. The princ.i.p.al features are the _Deluge_, _Spike_ and _Rustic_ geysers, and the _Fissure Group_ of springs. The Rustic Geyser is remarkable in having about it a cordon of logs, evidently placed there by the Indians or white men many years ago. The logs are completely incrusted with the deposits of the springs.

Mt. Sheridan would rank with Mt. Washburn as a popular peak for mountain climbers were it only more accessible. No summit in the Park affords a finer prospect.

From the west sh.o.r.e to the Lake Outlet the tourist may travel either by stage around the border of the lake, or by boat across it. If he does not want to miss one of the notable features of the tour he will not omit the boat ride. In fact, a steamboat ride, at an alt.i.tude more than a quarter of a mile greater than that of the summit of Mt.

Was.h.i.+ngton is not an every day diversion. From near the center of the lake the view is surpa.s.singly fine. To the south and south-west the long arms of the lake penetrate the dark forest-crowned hills, which are but stepping stones to the lofty mountains behind them. Far beyond these may again be seen for the third time the familiar peaks of the Tetons. All along the eastern sh.o.r.e stand the serried peaks of the Absaroka Range, the boundary which nature has so well established along the eastern border of the Park. A notable feature of this range is the profile of a human face formed by the superimposed contours of two mountains, one several miles behind the other. The best effect is had from points between _Stevenson Island_ and the _Lake Hotel_. The face is looking directly upward. A similar profile, noted by the early explorers from the summit of Mt. Washburn, and nearly in the same locality as this, although of course not the same feature, was called by them the "Giant's Face," or the "Old Man of the Mountain."

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_Terry Engr. Co._ _Gandy._

Natural Bridge.]

On the north-east sh.o.r.e of the lake are _Steamboat Spring_, and other thermal phenomena worth visiting. From _Bridge Bay_ at the north-west of the lake, a trip of a mile will take the tourist to an extremely interesting freak of nature in the form of a _Natural Bridge_ over a small tributary of Bridge Creek. The arch is forty-one feet high with a thirty foot span. As seen from the down stream side it is very regular and symmetrical.

Some twenty miles above the head of the lake is the celebrated _Two-Ocean Pa.s.s_, long known to the early trappers. It is probably the most remarkable example of such a phenomenon in the world. Although the fact of its existence was a.s.serted and stoutly maintained by Bridger for many years prior to the discovery of the Park region, it was generally disbelieved until Captain Jones crossed the pa.s.s in 1873. It has since been visited and described by Hayden in 1878, by Hague in 1884, and by Prof. Evermann of the United States Fish Commission in 1891. The following facts and map are taken from Prof.

Evermann's report:

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Sketch of Two-Ocean Pa.s.s.]

The pa.s.s is in a nearly level gra.s.sy park hemmed in by the surrounding hills, and is 8,150 feet above the level of the sea. Its extreme length is about one mile and its extreme breadth about three-fourths of a mile. From the north a stream issues from a canon, _a_, and divides at _b_, part flowing to Atlantic Creek and part to Pacific Creek. A similar stream, _c_, with a similar division, _d_, comes from the south. At extreme low water, these divisions may possibly disappear and all the water flow either one way or the other. But at ordinary and high stages the water flows both ways. These streams are by no means insignificant rivulets, but substantial water-courses capable of affording pa.s.sage to fish of considerable size.

Here, then, we have the very interesting phenomenon of a single stream upon the summit of the continent dividing and flowing part one way and part the other, and forming a continuous water connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans over a distance of nearly 6,000 miles.

A most singular and interesting acoustic phenomenon of this region, although rarely noticed by tourists, is the occurrence of strange and indefinable overhead sounds. They have long been noted by explorers, but only in the vicinity of Shoshone and Yellowstone Lakes. They seem to occur in the morning, and to last only for a moment. They have an apparent motion through the air, the general direction noted by writers being from north to south. The following descriptions are from the pens of those who have given some study to these strange sounds.

Prof. S. A. Forbes says:

"It put me in mind of the vibrating clang of a harp lightly and rapidly touched high up above the tree tops, or the sound of many telegraph wires swinging regularly and rapidly in the wind, or, more rarely, of faintly heard voices answering each other overhead. It begins softly in the remote distance, draws rapidly near with louder and louder throbs of sound, and dies away in the opposite direction; or it may seem to wander irregularly about, the whole pa.s.sage lasting from a few seconds to half a minute or more."[BJ]

[BJ] "Overhead sounds in the vicinity of Yellowstone Lake." See Appendix E.

Mr. Edwin Linton thus describes it:

"It seemed to begin at a distance, grow louder overhead where it filled the upper air, and suggested a medley of wind in the tops of pine trees, and in telegraph wires, the echo of bells after being repeated several times, the humming of a swarm of bees, and two or three other less definite sources of sound, making in all a composite which was not loud, but easily recognized, and not at all likely to be mistaken for any other sound in these mountain solitudes."[BK]

[BK] "Overhead sounds in the vicinity of Yellowstone Lake." See Appendix E.

No rational explanation has ever been advanced for this remarkable phenomenon. Its weird character is in keeping with its strange surroundings. In other lands and times it would have been an object of superst.i.tious reverence or dread, and would have found a permanent place in the traditions of the people.