The Dillon tribune., 1886-11-12
OUR TRIP TO THE NATIONAL PARK,
Old Faithful-Evangellne- Giantess in
Action-Hell's Half Acre u Stretchin'
Smuggling Specimens
by the Waysille.

by the Wayside.
Every person who goes to the Park ha
an experience perhaps different from an,
other persons, and il each one could tel
If his or hers it might be OF interest t.
those who are debarred from going. The
writer Of this will set an example thai
others may follow II they choose. We
were party Of nine besides -FOUR baby"
five men and four women, hailing from
Scotland, ireland, Canada and the States
arather ,mixed.up crowd, you may think
but harmonious as general thing. We
left home before the middle of August
which, according to experience, is late
enough in the season, as we found some
frosty weather before we reached home,
but that was expected, and prepared for.
Still, when one tries to wash in ice. water,
with the cold, frosty air blowing right on
you, 1t Is not so pleasant as some other
circumstances. Our road lay through the
vast Centennial valley, grand stock
range, but without very many cattle for
the amount Of pasturage that is going to
waste every year. In the upper part Of the
valley, and along opposite the string Of
Red Rock lakes, we found ten miles of
very sandy road, a rather unusual thing in
Montana, but even on the sand the grass
was very luxuriant. One Of our party be-
came SO sick that we had to stop for day,
but our redoubtable hunters went forth. and
brought in five ducks, which, with some
fish, comprised all Of our game.
After leaving the Centennial, we crossed
range Of mountains, and pretty high ones
too, as there was snow not over half mile
from the road, and It looked MS if it might
have felt the heat Of summers suns anyway.
There were beautiful views here, as there
are all through Montana, especially in the
mountains. Some Of our enthusiastic COL
iectors began here to pick up specimens,
to be throwa away when we could procure
better ones After crossing the mountains,
We were in Idaho, where we made DAYS
sojourn at Henry's Lake, and then started
with fresh vigor and enthusiasm for the
geyser.iand. The road, after leaving the
lake, was through some beautiful country,
mostly heavy ti,nbers interspersed with de.
ciduous trees and shrubs. Here our
young people called halt, while they en-
graved their names on the yielding bark
Of the poplar. Previous to this, we had all
stopped at ranch where there was pet
bear, which was for sale; but not one of
the pas.y had politeness enough 10 even in.
quire the price Of master Bruin; not, in.
deed, when the woman who had him for
sale, said that he would stand up and put
his paws right around her husbands neck.
All seemed to think that some other kind
of hugging would be preferable. The
same woman had beautiful pair Of buffa.
10 horns and said she had killed the owner
Of them herself, and she locked capable of
it too. One Of our party coveted the horns
but thought that $4,000 was too big price;
SO we left her and her ranch, wiser if no
poorer.
AT noon, we reached the south fork of the
Madison River, beautiful stream of water.
which produced very fair trout, as our fish.
ermen proved to their satisfaction. From
there to the Fire Hole basin we had a love.
lv drive. We did not wonder how the
Fire Hole got its name, when We saw what
fearful fires had been all through the tim
Der. We saw something here that is not
common in this country, pines growing
right down on the bottom land next the
river. When we left the river we had an
eight mile hill to climb and there was
much sweating and grunting Of both men
and horses. Here our lady friend who
had lived Go years in this world without
riding horseback, took her first ride and
went up the hill in fine form. She rode
number Of times afterwards and had more
courage in bad places than some Of the
younger women.
The men declared that they had never
seen SO many Of our native grasses grow.
ing together, as we saw in some places; in
one place, especially, we saw bunch.grass,
timothy, clover and red.top, besides other
kinds, names not known, but those were
not a circumstance to the different kinds
Of wild flowers that we found; some that
were familiar to our childhood, but had
not been seen since, others, never seen be-
fore. Shall We who are good enough to see
the Better Land find our old familiar flowers
there: 1t is impossible to imagine beauti-
full Heaven without flowers, and surely
the One who made them for us here, will