Lexington weekly intelligencer., 1881-09-24
Our Agents.

THE YELLOWSTONE COUNTRY AN
THE NATIONAL PARK-HUNT-
ING AND FISHING.
From the Chicago Times.1
Gen. w. E. Strong, who was one Q
Geu. Sheridan's companions on tn
recent trip to the west, returned t
Chicago yesterday. He gives the tol
lowing. account OF the excursion:
eeThe party, when it left here, scon
sisted of Col. M. v. Sheridan, d. B
Sackett. Gen. NJ. d. Hardin, William
Wesselhoeft and son, Col. Gregory
Messrs. Samuel johnson, E. B. Shel
don, and myself. Gen. Sheridai
Joined the party at Cheyenne, an,
Surgeon e. H.tForwood at Omaha
The party was enlarged atFort Lar
annie 6y9 the additlon III Capt Sand
ford Kellogg, with sixty men Of com
pany !. 9TH cavalry. The party wa
provided with 173 pack mules and I
large retinue -of packers, under tn!
supervision of Mr.. Moore, q well
known aud trustworthy man. W.
were also accompanied by numbe
of Indian scouts aud guides. Th'
railroad was left at Rock Greek, abou
150 miles west of Cheyenne, anc
from that point we covered 283 miles
I'd Tongde river. in ambulances. Th,
journey took four days.s but was no
uncomfortable. Col. Gregory hat
gone ahead to the Tongue river and
had everything prepared for the res
of our trip. The forest fires were
: raging quite near Fort Mckinney, ,ano
for some little time it was thought
!. that our progress would / 9 seriously
! impeded, but theadifficuity was over
come by going around the fires in
some cases.
"Game abednded everywhere on
our trip, but we killed only what we
needed for our own use. When We
strnck the Big Horn river.we found
. large boat, which had been sent up
from Custer to ferry US across the
stream, which is quite wide and rapid
at this point. From Tongue river our
route lay by way of Prlor's gap to
C4srk's fork. We then marched down
the fork aud around the canyon and
over the mountains. During great
part of the way we followed General
Howard's trail, which was formed
during the Nez .Perces war. We
struck the Yellowstone at.Baronett's
: bridge. Up to this point we had been
assisted by Campbell, the guide, and
SIX CROW INDIANS,
but at the bridge Jack Baronett came
to our aid aud went through to the
geysers with US. We visited the Yel-
1owst0ne falls and the mud volcano,
from which we went across to the
: lower and upper geyser basins. We
spent. f0rty.five hours in the upper
basin, aud saw all the large geysers
except the Giant aud the Glantess.
visited the National park once before,
but never until this trip did see
such magnificent display from the
gey sers. :Old Faithful is one of the
best known of these phenomena, and
still keeps up its business of throw
!. jug q stream of water three feet by
aeyen at the base, and 180 feet high.
Our camp was pitched within two
hundred yards Of this stream, aud
We had "a Dry opportunity of witness
ing the, discharge of water which
took place in.this geyser every sixty
zeeYen minutes, continuing four min-
.ntes ata time. The sBeehive' is an.
other wonderful geyser. Its stream
of water, twelty-four inches ip di-
ameter, is thrown 226 feet into the
minutes at time. The Castle is q
very beautiful geyser, and throws a
column Of water $50 feet iu the air
for thirty minutes at time. After
this swaAer has subsidized the steam
lasts for twenty-five minutes longer,
and escapes with continuous and
deafeniDg roar, reminding the listen-
er'of dozen large propellers blow
lug of their steam. The largest gey.
ser 10 the .Grandi We had seen it
from . distance ou the previous night,
but on the next afternoon we had q
very line chance tosee ftsfrom Q short
distance. 1t has two craters, one of
which is continually in convulsions,
boiling aud bubbling up, and which
is often mistaken for the,oae which
sends up the column. This first one
bubbles uE sto.a distance of three or
four'feet all the time. The real crater
adjoins this ether, and, is five feet
vide. j usb before itegets ready to
play The steam Issues with q shrill
noise. aud is Immediately follow ed by
+, nimmense column of water, whose
highest drops are 275 feet above the
level of the ground. This has never
been known to play more than seven
times each day aud twenty-five min.
utss each time, but on this occasion
at gave eight displays. After the
column has fallen back into the crater
the water becomes perfectly calm and
placid, but alter the last time il dis
appears,
LEAVING THE CRATER EMPTY.
Within three years q new group has
appeared. This is called the .Splen.
did group. and consists of three cra-
ters, one of which sends up straight
column of water, and the other two
columns Of water at angles of As de-
.grees, meeting the straight one near
its top. There are pools Of hot and
cold water here SO nearly together
that one can stand and catch trout
out Of one pool, and, without chang
ing his position, land his trout inLo
another pool, and boil it.
There were number Of tourists in
the park, but they came in by way of
Bozeman and Fort Ellis. The way
by which we came lay through q
country which had never been trod.
den by any one save few trappers
and guides. We afterward came
back to the lower basin, aud from
there went across to Henry's lake,
and thence by Henry's fork, through
Camas meadows to Ca,nas station.
The vlsi: to the Big Horn noun.
tains gave US some of the grandest
sights on earth. They were in sight
for days, and the snowy, glisteuine
peaks made glorious background to
a picture made up of beautiful mea.
dows, ravines, rivers and lakes. Iu
these mountains the scenery is mag.
Dificent. Our encampment was 9, loo
feet above the level Of the sea. The
ascent was made on horseback, and
Oh the summit of Mount Washburu
was found, in stone cairn, the little
tin box containing the names of the
tourists who have made the ascent.
Among those found were those OF
Earl Dunraven's party, Gen. Belknap,
Carl Schurz. Gen. Sherman, ,and many