Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-10-08
Q Wonders o. he YeIIowsiouv.p

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From the Philadelphia Inguirerl
LARAMIE, September &.-Untii the
last year all that country in southern
Montana end northern Wyoming en-
braced within the lines Of the head
waters Of the Yellowstone, Gallati0,
Madison and Snake rivers has been 4
terra incognita, although the region
outlying has been for years well
known; and it Is not q little singular
that the most striking and wonderful
scenery on u continent should have
been left to this late day for descrip-
ton and appreciation by the traveller;
and we offer, by way of faint illustra-
ton, the substance Of a letter written
by the artist Of DIR. Hayden's geOlogis
cal party to q friend.
Our readers will at once recognize
the doctor as the gentleman who has
been, under the sanction and eneour-
agement Of government, carrying on
an extensive examination OF the geo
logical features OF the far west during
the last four or five years. The party
left Washington early last May, pro-
cured their outfit for exploration at
Fort Russell, Cheyenne, and went
into camp at Ogden, Utah, on the ist
OF June last. They secuted over the
country to Fort Elis. Montana, max
ing a thorough geological and topo-
graphical survey as they went. They
rehtted at Fort Ellis with pack ami
mails, etc, and made on the 9th OF July
a start into the unknown region Of the
upper Yellowstone, and from this
point we will follow the writer whom
we have mentioned above.
After the thousand and one little
items of veal and tear for a two
months scramble through canons and
over mountains had been provided
for, and after we had puzzled q
brains to think of that possibly miss
ing, we were to be seen on the morning
of the 9th "stringing outn from the
fort.
H GALLATIN VALLEY,
in which Ellis is built, is one Of the
most fertile and amenable 10 a farm
er's discipline that can be found in
the West. The valley itself is a broad
rolling plain, uniformly well grassed
over, and the mountain TANKS sur
rounding 1t on the easta and south
abundanly timbered with pine and
spruce. .
A drive of twenty-five miles brought
US out from a grassy dehle into fill
view, on the Yellowstone river, OF
one of the grandest chains Of lava
peaks that can be seen, l believe, il
the world. SERNchiDg away, a bare,
rugged, ragged wall against the sky,
for d hundred miles north and south,
stood the grim monuments OF volcanic
power, known, since they have been
/ nhFTlfdnln hU Ua 90 tho Vn1lnHofADa
Range. The peaks, when outlined,
take the shape of castles, church spires
and rough, gigantic needles. So sharp
and steep do they rise from their
TANKS that the snow scarcely rests
upon them, seeming to prefer to slide
from the dizzy SUBMITS down below,
Tar beneath, to where the highest
Struggling timber lines die out in the
struggle Tor existence away above their
comrades on the rivers margin, four
or five thousand feet below them.
A HUNDRED HIGH PEAKS.
In this range before Us are a hun
dred peaks that attain the altitude OF
II, 600 feet above sea level and eight or
ten that rise cOnspicu0usly to the ele-
walton Of 1000 and Is, 600. There are
many isolated peaks in this country
which l have seen far higher than the
highest of these, Mounts Hood, st.
Heiens and Shaste Butte and old st.
Elias, our Alaska boundary post. But
upon such a grand aggregate OF
lofty and inaccessible SUBMITS ii has
never been my delight and good for
tune to gaze before. They rise in a
line abruptly from the valley with no
foothills to hide and dwarf their
magnificent proportions, a secured re-
treat for the mountain sheep that
alone can be said to be the mOnarehs
difficult to sfnd a Preeipice abrupt
enough to daunt n OF these hardy
animals, but they must surely have
the fabulous feet and horns with
which the old trappers have endowed
them if they move freely and without
fear over and among the SUBMITS and
gOrges Of the Yellowstone range.
The valley which we follow I'D
along under the shadow of these |
mountains, cradles one OF the swiftest,
c~learest, gIavelly bOttOmed streams
that can be found, and after we had in
a few moments caught from its ice
cold current enough trout OF gigantic
size and peculiar delicacy to supply
our party, we unanimously voted the
Yellowstone river to be the trout
stream of the world. The valley It.
self is not over, on an average, three
miles in width, and, with one trifiing
exception, is erased most luxuriantly
for g distance of fifty miles up to the
mouth of the lower canon. II has an
elevation of but 5000 feet above the
sea, and the solitary ranehemRn, Phil.
BOettler, who supplies a small party
OF miners in Emigrant gulch, OppO-
site, with vegetables, milk and butter,
told US, as We came into camp near his
house, that he could wish for no better
climate. His cattle run out the Whoe
year round, and are grossly fat; and
although the snow falls and storms
howl and rage up in the mountain
top, 5000 feet shove him, all winter
long, yet he says it seldom lays more
than a day about his yard; that it is
both sunny and serene with him down
here below.
A MOUNTAIN OF LIMESTONE.
Twenty-Five miles to the south of
BOettler's, and in this same valley Of
the Yellowstone, stands a small noun
tain Of carbOnifeTOus limestone, which
hiss been thrust up there by volcanic
agency some ages ago, and which pre-
sents on its southern slope to the won
dering eye a succession of nineteen or
twenty ridges, running down from its
summit to the base, raised above its
general surface like the dOrsal ias or
a ish's back. A finer exhibition Of
the power of erosion cannot be inn
agined. Two Of these dikes or ridges
stand up with clean vertical wslls,
parallel TO each other, not over fifty
feet apart, and varying in hight from
twenty to q hundred yards, passing
up between these a thousand yards or
more, just as If you were to walk up
an alley on the slope of & high hill,
built up on each side with stone walls
hundred feet high aud fifteen to
forty feet In width. A band Of bright
red shaley mari also runs down paral- ]
lei with the eroded bikes, giving rise
TO the name among the old trappers
OF ''Cinnabar mountain"
At the mouth Of the lower canon
where the river comes surging cut
from a dark gorge, a small creek puts
IN from the west, known as Gardeners
This we followed up in search
Of some hot springs which were re-
ported to be seen In all their variation {
there. As we came into camp to-
ward the close OF the day, we were
surprised at what appeared to be an :
immense snow slide on the grassy l
of q mountain side, with col
.mns OF steamy vapoE arising from it
to a great hight in the air. When !
we pitched cur tents close by the OBJ ]
Jet of our curiosity, we found that it
was a bed Of soda and lime deposited
by the waters of 8 number Of boiling
which issued out from basaltic
in the mountain, coming up {
rom some great depth. This was our
first view Of the hot springs which
abound in this country, and though :
came afterWard to 3 thousand
of essentially the same charsc- {
,er, yet we found nothing equal to I
.hese in beauty and magnitude. q
LARGE DEPOSITS OF SODA AND LIME z
~ II. -, 4