The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-13
STORIES OF YELLOWSTONE
INDIANS NAMED THE FAMOUS
PARK THE SUMMIT OF
THE WORLD
SOURCE OF THE GREAT RIVERS
Some Wonderful Stories Told About
the Natural Garden by
the Early Ex-
pIOrers.

CHICAGO, Aug. u.-William E. Curtis.
who has been visiting Western points of
interest, writes to the Chicago Record
the following letter about the Yellow
stone Park: The principal reason why the
Yellowstone Park country was so long
unknown was the incredulity Of the pub
lie and their refusal to believe the amaz-
ing stories that were told of the natural
wonders it contains. The first white man
to witness these wonders was a trapper
named Golfer, who accompanied Lewis
ana Clark in their celebrated expIora ton
" the northwest in 1905. When they ar
rived at Mandan on their return in 1905
Coiter was discharged, and went into the
employ Of the Northwestern Fur com
pany. In pursuit Of this occupation he
entered the Yellowstone valley and fol-
lowed 1t to this region, by the Indians
called the summit of the world because
1t is the source of all the great rivers in
the West The roadway between Old
faithful and Yellowston lake crosses the
grand continental divide twice, where a
little spring upon the summit Of the con-
tlnent feeds two rivulets, flowing in diff
Ierent directions and forming thus con-
tlnuous water connection between the At
/lantic and Pacific oceans and covering a
distance of over 5000 miles.
Beside the road between Mammoth Hot
springs and Norris Basin and the Twin
lakes present a similar phenomenon
Ihey were formerly a single body of
water until the beavers built dam across
the middle and divided them almost
equally. The water of one Of these little
lakes flows northward into the Yellow
stone and finds its way through the Mis-
souri, and the Mississippi rivers into the
gulf of Mexico. The other feeds Gibbon
river, which flows westward into the
Snake, the Columbia and the Pacific
ocean. When they were one lake they
had two outlets as now. The water of
one of these lakes is a dense dark blue
and sparkles like a sapphire. The other,
from whatever point you observe it, IS a
Ifvid green, like the color Of the waves
of the ocean when they rise between you
and the light.
There is no doubt that Golfer discovered
the geysers, the Yellowstone lake and
other of the most remarkable curiosities
In the park, but when he told about
them upon his return to St. Louis In 1911
people refused to believe him, and, in
ridicule, called the region which he claim
ed to have visited Golfers He'll This
name appears upon many OF the early
maps and was attached to the Yellow
stone Park country for at least a quarter
Of century.
Golfer was not> only the discoverer Of
the Yellowstone Park, but suffered the
most extraordinary experience of
any. man that ever visited this
region. The Indians attacked
him and killed his partner. Golfer was
taken prisoner, stripped naked, led to q
point three Of four hundred yards in ad-
vance Of a body Of about 500 bucks and
ordered to run for his life. He did 50,
with half a thousand bowling savages
after him This happened, fortunately for
CNA1N hAfn 1,11<
supplied It's wild wards with shooting i'm
Elements, and 1t seemed to be understood
that bows and arrows must not be used
against the fugitive. Golfer, being over
taken by one fleet Indian, turned and kill
ed him. Then, resuming his flight, he
plunged into a river and concealed him
self under some logs so effectually that
the indians supposed he was drowned.
The next man to bring news of the Vel
lowstone park and It's wonders was Jim
Bridger, after Kit Carson, the most ia
nous scout ever known upon the frontier.
He was Carson's partner, was with FIRE.
mont on both Of his expeditions to Cal
ifornia, discovered the Great Salt Lake
and the pass through which the over
land caravans crossed the continental
divide. Army engineers used to say that
Jim Bridger was the best natural topog-
rapher ever born. Capt. GunniSon, In
a report to the government, declared that
Bridger could draw an accurate map of
the entire Rocky Mountain region from
memory on the back of buffalo hide
with a piece -of charcoal.
The public refused for" many years to
accept Bridger's report of the Great Salt
lake, and the remarkable narratives he
told of the wonders of the Yellowstone
country were universally characterized
as "Old Jim Bridger's les He tried
to have d description of the country pub
lished, but no newspaper Of that day
would accept It, Col r. T. Van Horn,
for many years editor of the Kansas City
Journal, and for several terms a mem
Der of congress, prepared q series Of ar
ticles with mateial furnished by Bridger,
but 1t was impossible to induce any mag
azine or other reputable periodical to
accept them. Although they were unusu-
ally accurate descriptions of natural phe-
nomena since witnessed by every visitor
IN this park, they were then regarded
as the inventions Of vulgar Munchau-
sen. Bridger described the country terse-
ly as "a place where hell bubbles up
For example, he never could make any
body believe In the existence of g. noun
tain of glass which Is now known to all
tourists as Obsidian cliff, remarkable
formation of volcanic glass rising like
basalt in vertical columns several hum
dred feet high. A considerable portion
of the soil in that section of the park Is
silica, a crystal sand Of which glass is
usually made. At this particular spot
in some remote age. the silica was melt
ed by volcanic heat, and, running togeth-
er, formed a mountain of glass when It
cooled. The Indians used the material
for arrow heads and came hundreds of
miles to obtain 1t, because It was better
than flint A singular method was
adopted to build the road along here.
The glass can not be cut or blasted like
ordinary stone and the hest means de-