The Yellowstone National Park Part 33

_Fairy Fall_ (250)--K: 4--1871--Barlow.--Characteristic.

_Firehole Falls_ (60)--I: 4--Takes name from river.

_Gibbon Falls_ (80)--I: 5--Takes name from river.

_Iris Falls_--P: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Kepler Cascade_ (80)--L: 5--1881--Norris.--For the son of Hon. John W. Hoyt, Ex-Governor of Wyoming, who accompanied his father on a reconnaissance for a wagon road to the Park in 1881. Norris speaks of him as "an intrepid twelve-year old" boy who "unflinchingly shared in all the hards.h.i.+ps, privations, and dangers of the explorations of his father," which included many hundred miles of travel on horseback through that difficult country; and in admiration for the lad's pluck, he named this cascade in his honor.

_Lewis Falls, Upper_ (80)--P: 7--Takes name from river.

_Lewis Falls, Lower_ (50)--Q: 7--Takes name from river.

_Moose Falls_--R: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Mystic Falls_--L: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Osprey Falls_ (150)--D: 6--1885--U. S. G. S.

_Ouzel Falls_--P: 3--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Rainbow Falls_ (140)--R: 4--1885--U. S. G.

S.--Characteristic.--Height includes total of three falls.

_Rustic Falls_ (70)--D: 6--1878--Norris--Characteristic.

_Silver Cord Cascade_--G: 9--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Terraced Falls_--R: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Tower Falls_ (132)--D: 10--1870--Washburn Party--Characteristic.

"By a vote of a majority of the party this fall was called Tower Fall."--Washburn.

"At the crest of the fall the stream has cut its way through amygdaloid ma.s.ses, leaving tall spires of rock from 50 to 100 feet in height, and worn in every conceivable shape.... Several of them stand like sentinels on the very brink of the fall."--Doane.

_Undine Falls_ (60)--D: 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Union Falls_--Q: 4--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Virginia Cascade_ (60)--H: 7--1886--By E. Lamartine, at that time foreman in charge of government work in Park.--For the wife of the Hon. Chas. Gibson, President of the Yellowstone Park a.s.sociation.

_Wraith Falls_ (100)--D: 7--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Yellowstone Falls_ (Upper 112; Lower 310)--H: 9--From the river which flows over them.[CM]

[CM] Record of the various measurements of the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River.

Folsom (1869) Upper Fall, 115 feet. Method not stated. Lower Fall, 350 feet. Method not stated.

Doane (1870) Upper Fall, 115 feet. Line.

Langford (1870) Lower Fall, 350 feet. Line stretched on an incline.

Moore's Sketch (1870) Lower Fall, 365 feet. Method not stated.

Hayden (1871) Upper Fall, 140 feet. Method not stated. Lower Fall, 350 feet. Method not stated.

Gannett (1872) Upper Fall, 140 feet. Barometer. Lower Fall, 395 feet.

Comparison of angles subtended by Falls and by a tree of known height.

Jones (1873) Upper Fall, 150 feet. Barometer. Lower Fall, 329 feet.

Barometer.

Ludlow (1875) Upper Fall, 110 feet. Line. Lower Fall, 310 feet. Line.

Gannett (1878) Upper Fall, 112 feet. Line. Lower Fall, 297 feet. Line stretched on an incline.

U. S. G. S. (Recent) Upper Fall, 109 feet. Method not stated. Lower Fall, 308 feet. Method not stated.

Chittenden (1892) Upper Fall, 112 feet between point of first descent and level of pool below. Measured by means of a transit instrument.

Width of gorge at brink of fall, and a few feet above water surface, 48 feet.

APPENDIX A.

V.

LAKES.

[Figures in parentheses denote elevations.]

_Beach Lake_ (8,150)--K: 8--1885--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

_Beaver Lake_ (7,415)--F: 6--1879--Norris--Characteristic.

_Beula Lake_ (7,530)--R: 5--1872--U. S. G. S.--Characteristic.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JAMES BRIDGER.]

_Bridger Lake_ (7,900)--R: 13--Name a fixture prior to 1870.--For James Bridger, the Daniel Boone of the Rockies, and one of the most remarkable products of the trapping and gold-seeking eras.

He was born in Richmond, Va., in March, 1804, and died in Was.h.i.+ngton, Jackson Co., Mo., July 17, 1881. He must have gone west at a very early age for he is known to have been in the mountains in 1820.

_Niles Register_ for 1822 speaks of him as a.s.sociated with Fitzpatrick in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. Another record of this period reveals him as leader of a band of whites sent to retake stolen horses from the hostile Bannocks. In 1832, he had become a resident partner in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. That he was a recognized leader among the early mountaineers while yet in his minority seems beyond question. He became "The Old Man of the Mountains" before he was thirty years of age.

Among the more prominent achievements of Bridger's life may be noted the following: He was long a leading spirit in the great Rocky Mountain Fur Company. He discovered Great Salt Lake and the noted Pa.s.s that bears his name. He built Fort Bridger in the lovely valley of Black Fork of Green River, where transpired many thrilling events connected with the history of the Mormons and "Forty-niners." He had explored, and could accurately describe, the wonders of the Yellowstone fully a quarter of a century before their final discovery.

In person he was tall and spare, straight and agile, eyes gray, hair brown and long, and abundant even in old age; expression mild, and manners agreeable. He was hospitable and generous, and was always trusted and respected. He possessed to a high degree the confidence of the Indians, one of whom, a Shoshone woman, he made his wife.