The Yellowstone National Park Part 8

In 1873, Captain William A. Jones, of the Corps of Engineers, pa.s.sed through the Park as part of a more extended reconnaissance. He was the first to carry a party through the "impa.s.sable barrier" of the Absaroka Range. Jones Creek, just east of the northern portion of the Yellowstone Lake, shows where the party entered the Park. From the Lake the expedition pa.s.sed down the east bank of the river to the valley of Junction b.u.t.te; thence west to Mammoth Hot Springs; thence back over the usual trail _via_ Tower Creek, Mt. Washburn, the Grand Canon and Mud Geyser, to the Lower Geyser Basin; thence _via_ the Upper Basin to the west sh.o.r.e of the Yellowstone Lake; thence to the Upper Yellowstone River; thence through Two-Ocean Pa.s.s and Two-Gwo-Tee Pa.s.s to the valley of Wind River. The chief results of this expedition, in the line of original discovery, were the pa.s.sage of the Absaroka Range, the verification of the traditional "Two-Ocean Water,"

between Atlantic and Pacific Creeks, in Two-Ocean Pa.s.s, and the discovery of the extremely easy pa.s.s (Two-Gwo-Tee[AI]) over the Continental Divide, between the Snake and Wind Rivers. Prof. Theodore B. Comstock accompanied the expedition as geologist. A valuable report of the reconnaissance appeared in 1875.[AJ]

[AI] So named by Captain Jones for one of his Indian guides.

[AJ] See Appendix E.

In 1875, Captain William Ludlow, of the Corps of Engineers, made a reconnaissance from Carroll, Montana, on the Missouri River, to the Yellowstone Park and return. In the Park he followed the previously traveled routes and developed little in the line of original discovery. He succeeded, however, in obtaining a very accurate measurement of the height of the Yellowstone Falls, and his report[AK]

forms one of the ablest brief descriptions of the Park extant. Among his civil a.s.sistants was George Bird Grinnell, now widely known as the editor of _Forest and Stream_, and as one of the most steadfast and watchful guardians the Park has ever had.

[AK] See Appendix E.

During the same season a distinguished party, consisting of the Secretary of War, Gen. W. W. Belknap, and several prominent officers and civilians, with Lieutenant G. C. Doane, of National Park fame, as guide, made a complete tour of the Park. An exceedingly interesting narrative[AL] of the trip was written by Gen. W. E. Strong, who was a member of the party.

[AL] See Appendix E.

In 1877, Gen. W. T. Sherman and staff made a tour of the Park. His letters on the subject to the Secretary of War, and the official report prepared by Gen. O. M. Poe of his staff, form a valuable contribution to the literature of the Park.[AM]

[AM] See Appendix E.

In the same year Gen. O. O. Howard crossed the reservation in pursuit of the Nez Perces Indians.

In 1880, the Hon. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior, accompanied by Gen. Crook with a large number of officers and soldiers, and an immense pack train, entered the Park from the valley of Henry Fork and made an extended tour.

In 1881, Captain W. S. Stanton, of the Corps of Engineers, made a reconnaissance through the Park, entering by the way of Soda b.u.t.te Creek, and pa.s.sing out by the Madison Valley. The most important result of his work in the Park was a more accurate table of distances over some of the routes than had previously been in use.

In July and August of this year, the Hon. John W. Hoyt, Governor of Wyoming, with a military escort under command of Major Julius W.

Mason, U. S. A., made an extended reconnaissance to discover a practicable wagon route to the Yellowstone Park from the south-east.

He entered the Park by way of the Upper Yellowstone, pa.s.sed through it by way of Yellowstone and Shoshone Lakes, the Firehole Geyser Basins, the Grand Canon, the lower end of Yellowstone Lake, and left it along the route by which Captain Jones had entered in 1873.

In the years 1881 and 1882, General Sheridan, with parties of considerable size, twice crossed the Park and visited its most important points. His expeditions were of great value to the Park from the forcible warning which he gave to the public concerning the demoralized condition of its civil administration.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

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

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Presidential Party of 1883.

1. John Schuyler Crosby, Governor of Montana Territory; 2. Michael V.

Sheridan, Lieutenant-Colonel and Military Secretary; 3. Philip H.

Sheridan, Lieutenant-General, U. S. Army; 4. Anson Stager, Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers; 5. W. P. Clark, Captain Second Cavalry, U. S. Army; 6. Chester A. Arthur, President of the United States; 7. Dan. G. Rollins, Surrogate of New York; 8. James F.

Gregory, Lieutenant-Colonel and Aide-de-camp; 9. Robert T. Lincoln, Secretary of War; 10. George G. Vest, United States Senator from Missouri.]

The most elaborate expedition that ever pa.s.sed through this region took place in August, 1883.[AN] It included among its members the President of the United States, the Secretary of War, the Lieutenant-General of the Army, a United States Senator, and several other distinguished officers and civilians. The interesting part of the journey lay between Fort Washakie, Wyo., and the Northern Pacific Railroad at Cinnabar, Mont. The party traveled entirely on horseback, accompanied by one of the most complete pack trains ever organized in this or any other country, and escorted by a full troop of cavalry.

Couriers were stationed every twenty miles with fresh relays, and by this means communication was daily had with the outside world. The whole distance traveled was 350 miles, through some of the wildest, most rugged, and least settled portions of the west. No accident or drawback occurred to mar the pleasure of the expedition. The great pastime _en route_ was trout fis.h.i.+ng, in which the President and Senator Vest were acknowledged leaders. The phenomenal "catches" of these distinguished sportsmen might pa.s.s into history as typical "fish stories," were they not vouched for by the sober record of official dispatches, and the unerring evidence of photographer Haynes' camera.

The elaborate equipment of this expedition, the eminent character of its _personnel_, and the evident responsibility resting upon those who conducted it, attracted a great deal of attention at the time, and gave it a prominent place in the annals of Western Wyoming.[AO]

[AN] The year 1883 seems to have been the banner year for distinguished visitors to the Park. The list of arrivals for that year includes the President of the United States and a member of his cabinet; the Chief-Justice and an a.s.sociate Justice of the United States Supreme Court; the General, Lieutenant-General, and a large number of other distinguished officers of the army; six United States Senators; one Territorial Governor; a prominent railroad president; the Ministers from Great Britain and Germany; the President of the Admiralty Division of the High Court of Justice, England; three members of Parliament; and a considerable number of other eminent personages, both from this country and abroad.

[AO] See Appendix E--"A Journey through the Y. N. P., etc."

To these various expeditions must be added the extensive, though desultory, explorations of P. W. Norris during the five years that he was Superintendent of the Park.

It has thus come about that the Yellowstone National Park, though remote, inaccessible, and of great extent, is about the most thoroughly explored section of the United States. Within the territory bounded by the 44th and 45th parallels of lat.i.tude, and the 110th and 111th meridians of longitude, there are nearly four hundred geographical names. The names of hot springs and geysers would probably double the number. To appreciate this fact, it must be remembered that there are no settlements in the Park, and that counties, towns.h.i.+ps, cities, and villages, which on ordinary maps form so large a proportion of the names, are here entirely absent. That region has indeed been a paradise for the explorer, the topographer, and the geologist; and its splendid opportunities have not gone unimproved.

Although not strictly in the line of original exploration, the few winter journeys that have been made through the Park may nevertheless most appropriately be considered in this place, reserving for a later chapter a description of the difficult and hazardous nature of these undertakings. The first of these expeditions was in 1887, under the auspices of the _New York World_, and was led by Frederick Schwatka, the Arctic explorer. It was organized on a grand scale, "with Arctic 'sleeping bags,' the Norwegian 'ski,' the Canadian 'web' snow shoe, and toboggans to carry supplies, photographic equipment, and astronomical instruments." But the elaborate outfit proved fatal to the enterprise, which quickly resulted in a magnificent failure. The conditions were different from those in Arctic travel, and the recent fall of light snow negatived any attempt to move toboggans through it successfully. The party consumed three days in getting to Norris, a distance of twenty miles. Here Lieutenant Schwatka became ill and the expedition was abandoned.

But Mr. F. J. Haynes, the well known Park photographer, who had accompanied the party, resolved to continue the tour in order to secure a collection of winter views. Three other members of the party joined him. They abandoned the toboggan and strapped the baggage on their backs. They went by way of the usual route to the Upper Geyser Basin, where they were snow-bound for five days in a fearful blizzard.

Thence they went to the Grand Canon, and from that point over Mount Washburn to Yancey's. On this part of the trip the party nearly lost their lives, wandering for three days in a blinding storm without food or shelter. The circuit covered about two hundred miles, and the temperature ranged from ten to fifty-two degrees below zero during the entire trip of twenty-nine days.

In March, 1894, two very important winter expeditions were made in the Park. Mr. F. J. Haynes went through for the purpose of extending his line of winter views, and also of photographing the Park game.

Accompanying him was Felix Burgess, government scout.

Following this party by a few days, and joining it at the Grand Canon, came another party with a staff correspondent of _Forest and Stream_.

This gentleman, Mr. E. Hough, of Chicago, Ill., made the entire round of the Park, studying its game and other similar matters.[AP] His narrative, published in _Forest and Stream_, forms one of the most entertaining and valuable contributions yet made to the literature of the Park. These two expeditions played an important part in securing the enactment of the National Park Protective Act, in May, 1894.

[AP] See Appendix E, "Yellowstone Park Game Exploration."

CHAPTER XIII.

AN INDIAN CAMPAIGN THROUGH THE YELLOWSTONE PARK.

In a letter dated at Fort Ellis, Montana Territory, August 19, 1877, addressed to the Hon. George W. McCreary, Secretary of War, the writer, General W. T. Sherman, then on a tour of inspection of the "country north of the Union Pacific Railroad," tells of his recent visit to the Yellowstone National Park. This was about the period when our Indian wars in the Far West were at their height. Only a year had elapsed since the Custer ma.s.sacre. It was the crisis of the Indian military question. There was at that time scarcely a spot in the whole Missouri and Yellowstone Valleys that was safe from Indian depredations. Naturally, therefore, General Sherman had his mind upon this subject when his small party, comparatively unprotected, were traveling through the wilds of the National Park. But he saw nothing there to excite his fears, and in the letter above referred to, says: "We saw no signs of Indians and felt at no moment more sense of danger than we do here." It will presently be seen how delusive was this fancied security, and by how narrow a margin it escaped resulting disastrously to the General's party.

The tour from Fort Ellis to the Park and return had taken from August 4th to August 18th. On the latter date, the party met an ingoing company of tourists from Helena composed of the following persons: A.

J. Weikert, Richard Dietrich, Frederick Pfister, Joseph Roberts, Charles Kenck, Jack Stewart, August Foller, Leslie Wilke, L. Duncan, and Benjamin Stone (colored cook). The party followed the usual route to the Grand Canon and Falls of the Yellowstone, where they were in camp August 24th.

As they were entering the territory of the Park, another party was on the point of leaving it after a tour of about two weeks. This party was composed of the following persons, most of whom were from Radersburg, Montana: George F. Cowan and wife, Frank and Ida Carpenter, brother and sister of Mrs. Cowan, Charles Mann, William Dingee, Albert Oldham, A. J. Arnold, and a Mr. Meyers. They had formed a permanent camp in the Lower Geyser Basin, where the Fountain Hotel now stands, and from that point had made daily short excursions to the various localities of interest. They all visited the geyser basins and some of the party crossed to the Lake and Canon of the Yellowstone.

They must have been seen by Sherman's party, for they were directly in his route. The party had completed their tour of the Park, August 23d, and had arranged to set out for home early on the following morning.

In order to understand the unfortunate turn which the affairs of these two tourist parties were about to take, it will be necessary to explain, in briefest outline, the cause and previous incidents of one of the most remarkable Indian campaigns in our history.

From the time of Lewis and Clark, the Nez Perce Indians had dwelt in what are now the States of Oregon, Was.h.i.+ngton, and Idaho. Their territory extended from the Salmon River on the south to the Pelouse River on the north, and from the Bitter Root Mountains westward into the present States of Idaho and Was.h.i.+ngton. In 1855, they ceded to the United States a part of their territory, and the princ.i.p.al chiefs located in the several portions of the remainder. In 1860, gold was discovered on the reservation and the usual gold rush followed. The danger of a conflict with the Indians became so great that a temporary arrangement, pending action by the government, was made between them and their Indian agent, opening a portion of the reservation "to the whites in common with the Indians for mining purposes."

But the settlers did not stop with these concessions. In defiance of law, they built the town of Lewiston on the reservation, and gave other proofs of their project for permanent occupancy. It soon became necessary for the government to take some decisive step, and this was accomplished in 1863 by a new treaty in which the Indians relinquished three of their most important valleys, the Wallowa, the Alpowai, and the Salmon River.

The treaty, however, was far from receiving the general a.s.sent of all the chiefs. A formidable faction, headed by Chiefs Joseph, Looking Gla.s.s, Big Thunder, White Bird, and others, refused to be bound by it, and were henceforth referred to in official reports as the "Non-treaty Nez Perces." For a time the authorities made no effort to enforce the new treaty, and the Indians were "tacitly permitted to roam" over their ancient hunting-grounds.

This condition of affairs continued for thirteen years with various efforts in the meantime to arrive at some more satisfactory settlement. Finally, in 1876, a civil and military commission was appointed to visit the Nez Perce Indians, to examine into their grievances, and to determine what measures were necessary for a permanent settlement of the question. The report[AQ] of this Commission is interesting, both for the facts it relates in regard to the tribal life and characteristics of the Nez Perce Indians, and for the heroic treatment of the long-standing troubles which it recommends.

[AQ] See Report of Secretary of the Interior, 1877, part 1, p. 607.

See also Appendix E, "Nez Perce Indians," etc.