The Shasta courier., 1868-02-01
SHASTA COURIER.
The Great Yellowstone Wonder-..s The
valley and Pass of He'll,

A correspondent of the Cincinnati Com
| mercial, writing from the " Headwaters of
the Yellowstone, Montana" gives the fol.
lowing description of the " Valley and Pass
of He'll, y in that Territory:
And here, from the spot on which stand,
with my companions on this exploring ex
| pedition, tracing my notes, l drink in the
views. SO weird so passing strange, that even
in my widest dreams never aught like this
was seen. As daylight is dying on the Vel
lowstone hills, the sun melting down into
| the verge of the horizon, shooting his slant
ing rays far into the gloom of grotesque
cliffs, and lingering upon the letter peaks,
converting their rugged sHrfaces into purple
and gold, the islands in the river swell bold
and beautiful in the rosy light, while yonder
distant cone-like hill stands against the sky
conspicuous mass fringed with fire. The
gigantic mountains to the west cast their
shadows far down into the silent valley at
our feet, while the slvery Yellowstone flows
on its whispering way, breaking the sombre
aspect of the plain with the line of its gleam-
ing waters. In this valley mysterousswon.
ders have been visible from time immemorial,
of which the mobile Saxon never heard. =
The Indians, in the vicinity, tell US it has
always been thus.
Out of this plain, or valley rather, which
extends over an area of fifty miles. issue a
million sharp jets of blush white flame, in
terspersed with ftful pufs of pearly vapor,
which sail upward in endless turbinated
convolutions, until reaching high altitude
they dissolve and become blended with the
fuctuating cloud which hangs over the val
ley, as if to shield it from mortal eyes,
'ho otos, = |, -
from whence these vapory and fiery columns
are emitted. In their formation they re-
semble miniature volcanoes. Fire springs
Ike these may be found in China and the
geysers Of Iceland are but results of volcanic
action Of the same nature, though of greater
force nd power, than the hot springs in the
vail 7 Of the Yellowstone. One cannot help
thinking that fiercest fires rage somewhere
below the external envelope of the plain, to
thus fan and force flames above the surface
gentleman and a sarant, connected with
our party, ascribes these igneous streams to
gases escaping from q 'veled hell. :"
Another specially of volcanic action may
be observed by closer investigation of the
conical hills which loom up from the surface
in every direction. Though there are no
deep craters in their SUBMITS, it is an easy
matter to detect gentle hollow in each
more or less deep. covered with crumbling
particles of lava like rock The base and
sides are also thickly strewn with the like
porous deposits-some of very large size,
like enormous cindery cakes, the refuse of
foundry furnace. A sulphurous odor is in
the atmosphere, reminding one of our COM
panlons of his experience of choke damp.
Surrounding the centre are lofty calcfer.
Gus rocks, eroded and skeletonized by action
Of rains or sitting bodies of water, which now
bear the appearance of inverted pyramids
prsms, and various other confgurations.
Besides preparing detritus, which lay piled
in heaps at the foot of the cliffs, frequent
torrents had so corroded and dismantled the
rocks, that one would imagine destructive
fire had ragged and burnt up city by the
Quantity of fallen columns which lay scat.
tered around in the most indescribable con-
fusion In .he interstiees Of the debris there
bubbled numerous saline springs, and con
tinuing our examination further, we discov.
cred several hot-water springs, from whence
vapory columns continually ascended On
testing the warmth of the water with Fahren
heit's thermometer, the mercury, which
stood previously at eighty degrees, shot up
to one hundred and eighty degrees.
The tread of our horses feet sounded hol-
low, while the noise seemed to reverberate
along the earth like an echo. Not blade of
grass was to be seen, excepting.along the
margin of the tiny streams. The whole
aspect of the plain was arid in the extreme.
Ghostly relics of animal life literally covered
the ground along the stream. This was
evidently caused by the gathering of the buf.
faloes in the fall to cross the Sweet Grass,
where they luxuriated for season, protected
by the rising hills from the bleak winds,
which, with the force of simoons, sweep over
the northern prairies, until the severity of
the season and the scarcity of grass warned
them to leave, when they found their, egress
prevented by the deep SHOWS in the passes,
and they must have perished from hunger
and cold, leaving their bones to be picked by
hungry wolves, and to be bleached in the sun
and rain.
NO Language can give any idea of the
fearful desolation of this wonderful valley
~ struck our heart with nameless dread =
Not wolf invested the cavities of the cliffs
not buzzard hovered over the vicinity. All
was silent IN this Valley of Death. One of
the party OF explorers bestowed upon If the
significant appellation of +" Hsll.o
1t is rich field, however, for the peoloc;.
cal savant, and though famous travellers love
W oCoSi iOO 1o0 y spicuuOTS Oh Alpine scenery
dwell upon the classic nights of Olynn;a
dilate upon Lebanon, Monnt Of GLORY. and
foster their imagination among the Scrin.
tural mountains of Judah, there are grander
scenes by far in this new born world of ours
with valleys far more idyllic than any old
Europe can boast, and rivers of greater
depth and larger volume. Travellers have
descanted long enough upon the stale and
ohn1xx of tha
him that suffers with ennui, and the soul
that bankers after yitalizing realities, travel
in the borean regions of the Upper Yellow.
stone, and mighty mountains, savannahs of
exceeding fertility, and valleys clothed with
Eden loVeliness. will be seen side by side
with plain teeming with diabolism, from
which you cannot emerge save through the
'' Pass of He'll.
Through such pass did we grope our
way, in almost profound darkness, as night
had set in long before we entered the lonely
defile. Why this wild, gloomy ravine,
hanked by lofty perpendicular walls, where