Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1881-11-25
WONDERLAND.

stone National Park---Paragraphs
of interest Concerning Natures
Own Museum.
Cheyenne Leader
The Yellows stone National park is
the wonder-spot of the world. What
with its geysers, hot springs, glass
mountains, weird scenery, and thousand
and one curiosities, it is a place to
which any traveller can resort with
pleasure after having travelled the
world. Sir Charles Coldstream would
never have wearied of ennui had he
visited natures own museum, which is
located in the northwestern corner of
Wyoming territory.
Col. u. w. Norris, the efficient SUI
perintendent of the nations park, is in
the city for the purpose of consulting
with Gov. Holt respecting the building
of road into the park from Wyoming.
AS it is, one must enter by way of
Montana. Col. Norris is EN- route to
Washington, and will leave to-day for
that point.
The colonel very kindly spread forth
the curiosities which he carries with
him, in his room at the Inter Ocean,
and invited a number of ladies to call
and see them, an invitation which was
gladly accepted 10y our territorial ard
local officials and others, among them a
representative of the Leader.
The colonel has large number of
objects of interest to show, among
them some very curiously colored
stones, which, when broken open, re-
semble sandstones with rainbows paint
ed on them; they are concretions.
Then there are amethyst and quartz
formations taken from the centers of
petrified logs; lava of all shades vol
canic glass which is brown, black and
varied; there is a quantity of this
strange material in the park. The
colonel has been ordered to send some
Of these specimens of natures glass
made in a volcano and forced out by
eruption to several European institu-
tions of learning.
While the curiosities made by nature
are grand and wonderful, those made
by man are equally so. We saw
specimens of mortars which were not
made like pottery, but were cut out of
solid granite with stone hammers; sew
eral of the hammers accompany the
broken mortars. The colonel thinks
they were made in the stone age by
prehistoric man. The colonel found
some of these hammers twenty-five feet
under ground. Besides these are
broken crucibes, which were found
near the mining region at Clark's
fork.
Mining shafts to the number of six
teen have been discovered in the park.
The deepest is twenty-five feet. They
also are the work of the race of the |
stone age, for at the bottom of these |
shafts were found stone hammers and |
stone knives. The object of the pre-
historic man seemed to be to obtain
yellowish clay for paint and handsome
ornamental stones.
There is also evidence Of there hav- |
ing been either two ages of stone, or of |
two tribes who made their tools differ |
emily. Col. Norris has stone imple- |
ments and weapons that are flat on one
side and rounded on the other, so that |
the edge is formed by the sharpening
process OH one side only. This peculiar |
feature is noticed on arrow heads, lance |
points, and knives. Then the same
articles are found with both sides
rounded.
Some curious objects we saw are the |
stone sinkers which were used by some
ancient race on fishing-lines. One
stone, that is round and pointed at the
ends. has hole neatly bored in one
end, while another stone of similar