Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-08-31
VALLEY OF DEATH.
4 RAVIHE IN THE YELLOWsToSE
PARK s1REWN WITH BONES.

San Francisco Chronicle I'm Yellow
stone Park there is a ravine that proves as
deadly to animal life as that Death Valley
OF Java, where wild beasts perish by the
~score,n said Henry w. Mcintyre at the
Palace hotel the other night. The gentle
man was connected with the party who
surveyed the reservation, under the leader
ship Of Arnold Hague, the park ~geologist.
| While following the streams to trace the
extinct hot springs, the explorers reached a
ravine in which the bones Of many animals.
bears, deer, rabbits and squirrels were
found. The presence Of the remains caused
the party much wonder, and the solution
OF the strange affair was found only whena
crow that had been seen to fly from the
side OF the valley to a carcass that was yet
fresh, lit ON it's prey and almost lmme-
diately fell to the ground.
.sThe death of the bird. continued Mr..
Mcintyre, 'was caused by gaseous exhala-
tions, whose presence in the park had been
before unsupported. The larger game also
met its death by inhaling the deadly gas.
The ravine is in the northeastern part OF
the park, in the vicinity OF the mining camp
of Cooke creek, and not farfrom the line OF
L IL muu AoAOOs &AA 0OOAS VAAO b. 9~SS
GUS exhalations are given of, which form
~sulphurous deposits. in the almost extinct
hot spring areas of Soda Butte, Lamar
river, and Cache and Miller creeks the ra-
vine was found. This region is rarely
Waited. although it is an admirable spot
for game, which, however, goes unmolested
by man, the laws against hunting being
very severe. The road to the valley has
few attractions, and the visitors to the
fossil forests and Hindoo basin seldom
make the trip.
In the centre OF a meadow, reached by an
old elk trail, is a shallow depression that
was once the bed ola bot-spring pool. This
is now dry and is covered with a slight de-
post OF salt, and that is the bate that at
tracts the elk and other game OF that re-
gion. The slick" extends for seventy-iye
yards up the ~ravine, and is thicker and
more paIpable toward the upper end. The
creek runs past along the side OF the valley
and boils and bubbles as if it were the out
let of a hot spring. But the water is cold,
and the disturbance on it's surface is caused
by the emission of gas, mainly carbonic
acid. 1t also contains sulphur, as particles
OF that are seen on the sides OF the creek.
As we vent up the stream the odor OF sui
phur became very strong and caused irrita-
tion of the bronchial passages. About
| 6ISuUy ydTu6 dUONO SdCuO CICOh WOIC u
bones OF a very large bear, and near by was
a smaller grizzly, decomposed, but with the
skin and hair yet fresh. Only a short dis.
tance farther on were the skeletons OF many
more animals, such as elk and deer and
other large game. Squirrels, rabbits, birds,
and insects were lying about in quantities,
and the ravine looked as if it had been the
scoop of q drive into which the animals
OF the park had been hunted and had been
left there to die OF hunger out OF mere wan
~tonness. There were no wounds apparent
on the bodies before us; all the animals had
been a~sphyxiated by the deadly gases that
hung a few feet from the surface OF the
gulch.
The first bear We saw was a good way
down the gulch, where the neck is formed.
To that point the gas must have been
driven by the wind, and it's deadly nature
may be easily guessed when it is remem-
bered that the slightest motion causes a
diffusion OF either that would tend to de-
crease it's n~oxious properties. Here is the
explanation OF the ~oit-repeated assertion
that game was long ago exterminated by
hunters on the Yellowstone, notwithstand-
ing the stringent laws that had been passed
for the protection of animals there. l had
seen it noted that each year bears, deer,
UiSor6 &nU Otu6T VIII dululdis
were disappearing from the reservation,
and it was asserted that friends OF the
people who had charge Of tie park were
allowed to hunt there in defiance Of the
law. There were probably $50 bodies
of wild animals in the gulch when l
was there. But, although there were
skeletons entire, the single bones, it must
not be supposed these were the remains OF
all the game that had found death in the
ravine. They had accumulated only since
the last rain storm. Through this gulch
a mountain torrent runs when the n has
melted from the mountains or after a hard
rain. Then all things, stones, bones and
bodies are tumbled together on their way
to the mouth of the gulch, whence they are
carried away in the creeks or are left to
mark the course of the stream and bleach
on the table lands. had noticed near the
Mammoth Hot Springs the bodies OF mice
and bugs, but had never attributed their
presence to the deadly gases that we're 80
rapidly killing off the large game OF the
park"