The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1870-10-25
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Accounts Of travel are often rather
unintcrcstiug partly because Of the
lack of interest ia the places visited,
and partly through the defective way
ia hich they are described A poetic
imagination may however invest the
drearest spots with attraction, and tho
lowell st nooks Of earth may seem poor
and arid If sketched with dullari's
pencil. IIut perhaps, the most graphic
aud effective descriptions OF actual
scenery come from thoe plain people,
as Mr. Lincoln would have called them,
who aim at no grace Of rhetoric are un-
conciously eloquent by tie force Of
SIMPLE
4 record Of the Yellowstone Explor-
ing Expedition, which has Just happen
ed to reach us, is distinguished by this
graphic dircetness aud unpretending
eoquence. Ii is partial and fragmcn-
tary, but it reads like the realization of
chld's fairy tale We mean no dis
paragement, but the reverse, Of the
Notes Of the Surveyor-Gencral of Mon
tana, in saying this No unstudied de-
scription that we have read of the in-
tcrnal scenery Of the American Conti-
nent, SUI passes his notes in any partic-
ular. The country he had to describe
certainly offers great advantages, But
il is much to his credit that he has per-
formed the task in so uppretending a
manner. Where temptation TO fall in
to the bcsetting sins tourists is great.
The Yellowstone expedition left Fort
Ellis on the 22d of August Through
the Bozeman Pass il made its way to
Trail Creek, from which aSiew was had
Of the mountains beyond the Yellow
stone. Soon after il reached the mouth
of Gardiner River, which enters the
Yellowstone Just below what is called
the Grand Cannon. Ilee the explorers
pitched their camp amid magnificent
scenery. They found abundance Of
game and trout, hot springs Of five or
six different kinds, including sulphur
and iron, and basaltic eolamns Of en-
normous size, that constantly suggest Z
ed some mighty effort at human arch
itocture. But finer and more imposing
still they ftund the river the Gard
iner, just before reaching the Yellow
stone running between a procession
of sharp pinnicles, looking like some
noble old castle, dismantled and shiy-
cred with years, but still erect and de-
iant. Suddenly and between two Of
these turrcts, the river makes sheer
leap into the air leap of measured
feet-and then flows peacefully into the
Yellowstone. This cataract, which has
been named the Tower Fall, must be in
form color ard surroundings one Of the
most glorious objects on the American
Continct
Beyond this, from the elevator peak,
panorama was obtained Of vast *
tent and beauty. Far in the distance
were seen the Yellowstone Lake, and
the Jagged submits Of the Wind River,
Big Horn and Lower Yellowstone
ranges or Mountains, while still further
could be discerned the tops Of the Te-
tons. Soon the party came upon huge
boiling springs, giving forth volumes
of steam and their sides encrusted with
sulphur. These with questionable taste
were namel"IIell-broth Springs" and
gorge hard by where mountain
stream had ages back torn its way
through a rock of lava, was naturally
called the Devils Den" More pic
turesaue cascades were aiterward found
several of them exceeding one hundred
feetin height, and the water possessing
a beautiful emeral green tilt, to which
Mr. Washburn often refers But beau
tifnl Is hardly the word for the lower
Falls Of the Yellowstone. Here the
height more than doubles Niagara. The
water Of the river is thrown down in
one sheet a perpendicular wall Of three
hundred and fifty feet and the ming
ling Of green water and white spray
with the rainbow tints above is spoken
Of as gorgeous beyond description. Not
far away thefeis something more amaz-
ing still. There is a cannon, o. ravine,
which, a thousand feet deep at the Low
cr Fails, becomes nearly double that
depth further on Jutting obliquely
over this cannon frowns a rock, itself
two hundred feet high, on the top of
which is au eagles nest Close by, a
little rivulet comes chasing down past
this rock ard leaps squarely into the
cannon, 1t is dashed into mist long be-
fore il can reach the bottom.
There are many other strange things
in the Yellowstone Basin, which would
take much space to describe. There
are extinct volcanoes aud hills made Of
solid birthstone there IS large sui
phuric spring, twenty feet by twelve,
filed with boiling water, which is con
stantly thrown up by the eiervescence
high into the air there is il spot
covered with springs u nearly every
color yellow, green, blue aud pink I;
there u another spring OF alum water,
not il solution only, bat crystalized,
aud there are geysers of mud aad
steam ceaselessly active that muct ex-
coed ID size and power those of Iceland
One Of the number. according u Mr
Washburne. throw mud three hundred
feet high anl another sp0uts only at
intervals, becoming perfectly sill and
anon throwing up 4 y0lame ef boiling
rutish q a great height We have said
that this record reads Ike a fairy taie,
and readers vii by this time agree
with as IL Official character however
nay be added t. the evidence of that
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