The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-06-05

Concluded


Miners rancho, where we parted
with the reader in our last, is on
Canon Creek, which empties into The
Yellowstone Just at the foot of the
second canyon. Near here we found
encamped a Scotch lord, who, for
several years, has spent the summer
las well rs "muckle gear'I In hunt
ing In the wilds of America. He
travels in style, with a retinue of
servants, some OF whom are espe-
cially detailed to find the game, and
then watch IL until his lordship can
come up and try to KILT. His name
is Dunraven, and at the time above
mentioned he was making a speciality
of elk. dick, our "front flag" pun
gently remarked that If his lordship
should, by any accident, manage TO
kill an elk, he would become a hope.
less lunatic, and then he never would
he done rdrin' again. On our way
from the corner to the Yellowstone,
we surprised a herd of mountain
sheep, while they were drinking at
one of the numerous small mountain
lakes near this rancho. They imme-
diately fed up the very face of pre-
cipitous and almost vertical cliffs, but
with the aid Of u long rnnge
Springfields. we succeeded in bring
ing down a couple Of the finest ones,
which proved n valuable addition to
our bill OF fare. This is the animal
called, by Lewis and Clarke, the big
horned animal, from the enormous
size of the horns of the, male, and
from With the Big Horn River and
Mountains take their name.
The second canyon of the Yellow
stone is formed by the river haying
worn, its way through the breccia,
with which the valley is filed, to the
depth of several hundred, perhaps a
thousand, feet. The gorge is narrow,
and the river rushes through with
fearful velocity, impeded only blythe
countless numbers of ,bOulders that
have fallen in from the granite walls.
The water, viewed from. the trail,
which here passes over the summit
of the ridge on the west side, has a
bright green color. The finest of
mountain trout abound in it, and are
readily caught A few miles above
this canyon we come to a singular
specimen of volcanic masonry 1t is
known as Cinnabar Mountain, and is
one of0those hitls described above, in
which the strata an stand on edge.
1t gets its name from a stata of red
clay, originally supposed to be cinna-
bar. On its south side is one of the
most singular instances of erosion
ever witnessed. Two parallel verti-
cal lodges or strata of rock from forty
to sixty feet wide, extend from the
baseto the summit of a mountain,
and rise to a height of two or three
hundred feet. The intervening
softer strata has been weathered and
worn away, as well as those on the
outer sides, and the walls are so regu-
lar aud true, that one almost dis
credits their being wrought by the
elements alone. From its resem-
blance4 to a chute, it has gained, by
common consent, the name of the
Devils Slide. There is a similar
formation, though on a much inferior
scale, in Weber canyon, on the u. P.
R. R., and called by the same name.
Whether they We're both used by the
same devil, or whether one was used
by his Satanic Majesty for coasting
purposes, and the other by his rival,
who now has his headquarters at
Salt Lake City, is a question we can
not decide. We incline, however, to
the latter opinion, as this celebrated
''old party''is quite an adept at slid
ing, having saved his precions neck
and cheated the ~penitentiary on sew
eral occasions by this slippery pro-
cess. Weber Canyon, also, is the
scene of many of his acts and ldoings,
and near by is a rock, from which he
is said to have preached his first SER
mon, after sliding into Utah. If this
slide was not named after him, and
he never did, he might have a deviI's'
slide, or, at any rate, devil 0fqstide,
by climbing to the summit and then
letting go all hold. - - -