The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1886-08-11
THE PARK.
The New York Times's) Alas
kan Expedition in Won
deriand.

the way in which | think the title of my
story will be received by most of the
readers Of the TfMfs when their ewes fall
n il. but / can assure them that the per
son who takes the contract to write the
Yellowstone National Park 10 death, or
who thinks that it has been written 10
death. had better sublet the contract IN
the former case and rapidly change his
ideas in the latter one. The fact of the
matter is, no one with sufficient literary
genius TO properly encompass the situa-
ton has ever picked up his pen to at
tempt to do 10 from the standpoint of
personal observation, and until then the
Yellowstone National Park will not even
be described. let alone written TO death.
As genius in mental matters stands above
medioc-ity. - does the scenery on the
headwaters of the Yellowstone River
stand high above that of ordinary NOR
tails view. IL il not simply grand IN the
sense Of the Yosemite alone, but it is also
beyond that curious 20 a degree border
ing on the diabolical. with It's geysers,
hot springs, caldrons, and weird forma-
tions 50 essentially Plutonic that n al
most ~iInagines himself in the region di-
recfly governed by Pluto when his name
was applied 10 such geological action.
The Yellowstone Park needs actually but
one addition 10 make it encompass every
known variety Of natural wonders that
can be called such. / refer TO glaciers
and their accompanying children, The
icebergs. They alone are wanting, yet
within three or -four days railroad travel
to the westward, and on the TANKS o.
Mount Hood of Oregon, or Mount Taco
ma. of Washington Territory, some of the
mighticst glaciers of the world may be
viewed, and 10 days beyond that again,
in Alaska, even icebergs, those supposed
products Of the arctic zone alone may be
seen from the deck of a vessel. Truly
America is the great land of natural Won
ders, within easy travelling distance of
each other.
| remember that one of the not
Gus objections that a certain quite well
known British nobleman had TO the
American people, and which he told me
while hunting elk and buffalo together in
the West a good many years ago, was
their great propensity 10 rush over to
Europe on tours of that continent
when their own WAS teeming with a
wonderland unequaled in the world. He
said he had seen American tourists 60
into seeming ecstasies over a milldam
because il was on a tributary of the
Rhine, who acknowledged they had
never seen Niagara Falls; an English
mans park was something in which they
could stroll with great delight, while liz
owner would tell them of the beauties OF
the Colorado parks which they had new
er seen. He was then organizing an eX-
petition into the Yellowstone National
Park, which had but recently added the
word national 10 its title, and he helped
in no little way TO make il famous and
spread it, great wonders before the world.
] have often thought how true his remarks
were regarding us, being one OF the few
national criticisms We deserve.
But to return to the park, which is &C
eessible only over the road ON which We
are travelling, WESTWARD, and which We
must leave in order to visit it, at the pref
tily situated city Village in the East of
Livingston From here the canon
through which the Yellowstone cuts its
way is in full sight towards the south
looking like a huge railroad cut in the
high mountains that overtop the town
seemingly, yet in reality 10 to 10 miles
away. Here at Livingston we take a
branch road from the main trunk run
ming TO Cinnabar, on the northern
boundary of the park. No railroad runs
into the park, and If the present temper
of the American people continues. nom
ever will. Much has been said about the
Northern Pacific wanting 20 get in under
pretext of reaching a distant mining
camp beyond. all of which is untrue.
No surer monopoly exists than that of
this road to the Yellowstone National
Park SO SURE thai to say half one wants
to about thepark isto advertise the road,
and they will be as slow as any wen
managed conservative corporation to kill
the goose that lays the golden egg OF
such unfailing revenue
The Yellowstone National Park fur
nishes the sources OF more great and
widely divergent rivers than any similar
sized district in the world, for here rises
the Missouri NJ Mississippi, the Colorado,
and the Columbia. with mouths as far
apart as those of the Seine, the Dneiper,
and the Nalse. Although the tourist APP
pnoaches usually from the Montana SIDE,
and it is very hard therefore to get u OF
the idea that the picturesque trac. is not
in that Territory, yet it lies almost Who'll.
ly within the Territory of Wyoming, max.
ing five Territories-Dakota, Montana
Wyoming, Idaho, and Washington-in.
vaded from the rails Of this long road
the greatest number known. There arr
nearly 1900 square miles therein, or an
area exceeding the combined surface OF
our two smallest States. Its boundary
AS briefly, yet not clearly, described in
the law of 1872, is the tract of land in
the Territories of Montana and Wyom
ing, lying near the headwaters of the
Yellowstone River, and described as fol-
lows, TO wit Commencing at the june.
ton of Gardeners River with the yellow
stone River, and running east to tn,
meridian passing 10 miles TO the east
ward of the most eastern part of Yellow
stone Lake; thence south along the said
meridian to the parallel of latitude pass
ing 10 miles south of the most northern
point Of Yellowstone Lake thence Mes
along said parallel To the meridian pass
ing Is miles west Of the most western
point of Madison Lake thence nortl
along said meridian 10 the latitude of tn,
junction of the Yellowstone and Card
ner's Rivers: thence east 20 the place o
beginning" 1t is thus seen that the grea
Alpine lakes lyingin the Businesses of tn,
Rocky Mountains are made the centr,
around which the boundaries of the Ma
tional Park are clustered. just far enough
away in every direction to insure the pro
lection Of their shores. So rocky abrupt
and mountainous are many OF the dis