Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1871-03-17
TIIE WONDERS OF MONTANA.
The Ceyse-S IN; CacoHS Of the Ye.leW'
Stone RegiOn--mso %, taRi Discoveries.

The Geyse-S IN; CaEoGS Of the Ye.leW
Stone Il RegiOn--mso, taRi Discoveries.
| We CLEAN the following from the re
port of a lecture recently delivered il
New York city by Hon. y. p. Lang
ford. upon recent wonderful dis
coveries in the vicinity of the hea,
| waters of the Yellowstone River. Mr.
! LangfOrd has been a resident OF Mon
tana since 1862, aVd was appOinte,
Governor Of the Territory in the latte
| part of President JChnSOn's admins
tratiOn, hut did not assume the dutie:
! of the office:
An expedition consisting of 10 per
son including a cavalry escort OF fiv,
men, commanded by Lieutenant. ant
assigned for the daty by Maj Genera
! Hancock, was organized at Helena
| and set out for II six weeks journey
| last August. The adventure was re
| garded as very dangerous one on ac
count of the presence of the hostile In
| dians in the hitherto uneXploTed re
| giOn which il was intended to visit. -
| The ascent of the Belt Range, said Mr.
| LangfOrd, begun from Fort Ellis, Wa:
irregular and tedious, leading through
narrow dCfilcs, up sharp declivities
| and over numerous peaks, until the
| summit was attained, the elevation be-
| inT 5000 feet. FROM this point an am
| phi thcater OF mountains, 100 miles in
| ci cunIfuTence, inclOsing valley as
large rs New Hampshire, with all its
d, tails of pinnacle, peak, dome, rock.
~, L nj
Following the range to the right for II
miles, the eye rests upon the singular
depression where, formed by the con-
fluent streams of Madison, Jefferson,
and Gallatin, the Missouri begins its
meand rings to the Gulf. AT the left
are the glGwering peaks of the Yellow
stone, their SUBMITS half enveleped in
cloud, or glittering with perpetual
snow. In front, carpeted with YER
dure, Is the magnificent valley Of the
Ga!Iatin.
The explorers were much impressed
by the beauty and granduer of the val
ley of the Yellowstone River, and
found canoes rivaling those OF the Col
Orado. They proceeded directly to the
valley, encoui tering many wonders
on the way, such as waterfalls, col
umns of pillar balsalt, like the Giants
Causeway," and hot, and cold and sui
phur springs, until in few days they
obtained view of Yellowstone Lake,
and to visit it left the well defined
Indian trail and passed through u re-
giOn never before trayersed by civilized
men.
The Yellowstone Lake was reached,
twelve miles beyond the mad volcano.
and many days were spent in exploring
the country in its vicinity. The lake
was ascertained to be $3.50 feet above
the level of the sea. 1t is an eXpan-
sion of the river, and is about twenty
five miles long by fifteen wide. 1t
abounds in speckled trout of the finest
quality, and vast f1Ocks of geese, ducks,
swans, and pelicans resort to it. 1t is
surrounded by stupenduOus mountain
ranges, which are approached on all
sides by undulating plains and grassy
foothills. Forests of pine touch its
bank at intervals, and its beautiful
margin rr-sents every variety of sand
and pebbIy beach, glittcring with crys
tails, corn, allan and cha!cCdony. In
dians rarely approach ii, OH account Of
the superstition inspired by the vol
canic forces Of the vicinity. The jour
ney around ii was a tended with diff
Guilty and distress. One Of the party,
Thomas G.. EVcrts, WAS lost and left TO
his fate, after a long search, by his
comrades. After 81 days, during
which he nearly pcriShCd, he was res
cued by two trappers, who found him
10 miles from the place where he had
been missed. Snow had fallen to the
depth of 26 inches, when the explorers
turned homev ard. They aimed to
strike the head-wateTs Of the Madison,
and succeeded i'm doing so, after strug-
CLING slowly through the snow for
several days, and suffering very much.
The desire for home had taken place
of all their interest in the explora-
tions. In the words of the lecturer -
We had, within a distance Of 80 miles,
seen the greatest wonders of the conti-
nent. We were convinced that there
was not on the globe another region
where, within the same limits, nature
had crowded so much Of grandeur and
majesty with so much of novelty and
strangeness. Judge, then, of our as
tCnishment, on entering the basin Of
the Madison, at seeing just before us
an immense body of sparkling water
projected suddenly and with terrific
force into the air to the hight of 125
feet. We had found real gcyscr. In
the valley before us were 900 hot
springs of various sizes, and 800 craters
throwing out vapor. The geysers were
seen in action in every direction, pro-
jecting water to various nights. The
one first referred 10 was throwing from
an irregular creYice, about by feet,
a column of water of corresponding di-
mensions to q hight of 125 feet. Vari-
Gus names were given to the geysers.-
One was called the Fan" as il threw
up to a hight of 90 feet two radiating
sheets of water, resembling a featheTed
fan. Forty feet from this geyser is
vent. connected with il, and two feet
in diameter, which, during the erup-
ton, eXpels, with loud reports, dense
masses of vapor. One of the party
crawled into "The GrottO" from Gu
riosi:y. not supposing it he live gey-
ser, and as lie emerged, he was follow
ed by an eruption of boiling water,
which, if it had overtaken him, would
have cooked him. 1.-THE Giant" is
raggy deposit, presenting in form a
miniature model of the Coliseum. 10
has an opening six feet in diameter
A remarkable popularity of this geYseF
is the duration of its discharges, which
continue for three hours, in a steady
stream five feet in diameter, and l45
feet high. Opposite our camp is a
symmetrical cone, like Il beehive, al
most five feet in diameter at the base
and with an orifice at the top, of a by
36 inches. We had not suspected il to-
be a geyser, till one morning there
suddenly shot up from it a column of
water, which was found, by triangula-
tion, 10 be 2l9 feet high. THE Giant
ess" throws up a column six inches in
diameter to a hight of 30 feet. This
was the highest of all. The rays of the
sun falling upon the gev~ers in action