Omaha daily bee., 1898-06-26
YOSEMITE OF THE NORTH
Wonderful Regionsof Mountain Peaks and
Deep Valleys in Montana.
FIELD FOR SCIENTIFIC
TUD
splendid II at the Crown of the
Continent Near the canadian Line
-GOod Place for Mountain
and GcoIogists.

The northern ranges of Montana differ
markedly in scenery, as in rocks, from those
of the rest of the state, said Walter II.
Weed of the United States geological survey
in a lecture in Helena. They are sharper in
profile, more deeply trenched by valleys, and
exhibit admirably the various phases of
mountain sculpture by rains and rivers, frost
and glaciers. The rocks are all old and hard,
thinly bedded and vari-colored. and weather
into spires and pointed, pyramidal
peaks, with profound precipices and deep
cut amphitheaters and gorges. No part of
America offers finer examples of the diff
ferent effects produced by the varying agents
of erosion. To the eastward the Cordilleras
terminate in a bold wall, facing the plains.
As a whole, it consists of parallel ranges and
detached mountain masses, rising 10 an
altitude of 5000 to IL 900 feet, 1900 feet
above the level of the broad FIathead valley
that lies to the west. The higher peaks
project into the region of eternal snow, but
the timber line is about 5000 feet. and below
that a rank and dense vegetation; u dark
and stmbre forest-due to the heavy rain
fall-covers the valley sides and climbs the
mountain slope wherever it can gain a foot
hold.
These northern ranges constitute a new
wonderland. 1t is a region u%nmapped, ard,
until the last few years, wholly uneXplored.
The pioneer in the field was DR.. George
Bird Grinnell, the talented editor of Forest
and Stream, whose designation of
the region as the crown of the con-
tinent will ever remind one of his daring
explorations among its glaciers and peaks
while his Indian tales have Civ EN- it also a
reality of romance that is human in it's
charm. 10 other part OF these United States
offers SO tempting a field to the mountain
climber and enthusiast. Alpine peaks to
scale, glaciers to cross and maps to make of
a region unsurpassed. even by the giant
Alps of Canada. in grandeur and beauty.
1t is, too, a region readily reached by the
traveller. The railway. with dining, observa-
ton and library cars, carries one TO the
threshold of scenes of grandeur and beauty
hitherto unknown. From the car windows
one obtains glimpses of the peaks and at
Bolton, destined to be far-farmed as the
portal of the most beautiful part Of Mon
tana. a good wagon road, for three miles
through a forest only comparable with those
OF the Pacific coast region, brings one to the
shores of Lake Mcdonald.
Lake Mcdonald is the queen of all Mon
tana's beautiful mountain mirrors. Sixteen
miles long and Gqnr or five wide, with
slightly IRREGULAR shores, whose narrow rib
bon of polished gravel separates the grace
fully rising forest clad slopes from their
mirrored reflection it is beautiful beyond
compare. u
InHaers' 10 the Sky.
Beyond the setting of forest and lake rise
bold peaks, that tower far above timber
line. into the lind OF eternal SHOWS. Peak
beyond peak is seen in the distance, rising
10 the glaeierlcafped heights of the con-
|tlnental divide. The lake itself has neither
rock nor swamp island or s%andbar, to mar
its beauty. 1t is Ike a well-set gem. To
the geOlogist the lake shows It's morainal
origin. 1t fills a mountain valley damned
by morainal debris across its lower reaches.
Geologizing in the neighborhOod is, how
ever, not an easy task. The fallen trees
and tangled underground make travelling al
most impossible even on foot, and, except
where secured by the streams, the rocks
are everywhere concealed. Trails lead VI
the main valleys, howeyer-routes Ions
traversed by the Indians on their way east.
ward to the buffalo hunting grounds. Abov'
the lake a small tributary of Mcdonald
creek heads in a deep bowl, that is know
as Avalanche Basin, the Yosemite o
: Montana.
1t is enclosed by almost perpendicula