St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-04
A VALLEY OF DEATH.
Some Definite Information About
the Mysterious Ravine in the

the Mysterious Ravine in the
Yellowstone.
Philadelphia Inquirer.
Animated and exaggerated descrip-
tions of mysterious opening in the
Yellowstone Park, known as the valley
of death, have occupied considerable
space in the papers of the country.
George D. McCreary, vice president
of the Market Street National bank,
who mas just returned from visit to
the great National Park, said yesterday ::
Il can tell you good deal about the
subject, which has really not been
brought out or published, and my In
formant is no less a person than Prof.
Hague, who himself discovered the Val
ley of Death, so called.
"Our party spent some time camping
out there. We had heard considera BILE
about the valley in question, and one
day we came across Prof. Hague, who
is in charge of the national geological
survey of the Yellowstone Park, who,
with his surveying party, was encamped
at the Yellowstone lake. We asked
him about the mysterious valley of
which we had heard so much and his
story in substance was as follows:
"'There is valley or rather ravine
of that kind which is undoubtedly death
to animals and under some circum-
stances to man himself, said the pro
fessor. L know it and for the best of
reasons; | myself discovered it. 1t
was under these circumstances. In
company with my corps | EaS exploring
the park and we suddenly came across
a deep and dark raviue which we had
never before noticed. A little distance
away there stood a huge bear. and no
matter how easy it may look on paper
to tackle one, in reality it requires con-
siderable GOODNESS and strategy.
1--we laid our plans, therefore. and
disposed ourselves according to the best
| known rules of strategy, discretion
BEING by no means omitted, and at
length advanced on Bruin from all
practicable quarters. To our chargrin,
we found on arriving near him, that he
was dead, and closer inspection
showed that he had been dead two or
three weeks, though he was wonder
fully we'll preserved. AS there were no
signs of any wounds that could have
caused his death, the sight set us think
ing, and we proceeded to follow it up.
We then searched carefully IN the
ravine, and soon found bones in large
the presence almost of prehistoric AMI
mails, while numbers of bones of Or
binary sizes abounded on every side.
1--WE came to the conclusion that
there must be poison of some
kind in the ravine, as there seemed no
other way to account for the animals
death, so we returned to the camp to
| procure the means of discovering If
| such were the fact.
Supplying ourselves with litmus
paper we again entered the ravine and
followed it up. As we held the litmuS
paper high or were at certain attitudes
no change was noticed, but when lower
down or when the paper was placed
near the ground it showed at once the
| effects of poison, and by its chemical
changes indicated concluSively the
presence of carbonic acid gas.
Gas animals in general are low in
body and hold their heads down they
undoubtedly feel and suffer from the eff
fects OF the poison where human
being standing erect would not.
"'Of course there is no vegetation of
any kind and it is simply an arid sur
face.
"'A better name for it would be the
VALLEY of Bones" for it is full of them,
and were it not for the winter SHOWS
and the summer storms which wash
them away the bones and skeletons in
the ravine would be simply innumera-
ble.'
''Such. in substance" said Mr.. Nc
Creary. twas the profe ssor'S statement
to our party, and you can rest assured
that none of us thought it would be a
wise thing to take his afternoon nap
there and give somebody beneath a
chance of promotion"